Clear COSTAATT RACE ISSUE

THE EDITOR: The chairman of the Board of Trustees for COSTAATT, Mr Trevor Boopsingh spoke recently at the college’s graduation. In his speech, Boopsingh is reported in the newspapers as having said that “COSTAATT does not and has never had a recruitment policy that discriminates on the basis of race, religion or gender.”

Boopsingh clearly has never been to most of the COSTAATT campuses, and/or has never looked at the statistics of those who attend and work at these colleges. I am a frequent visitor to all seven campuses as part of my duties. And what do I see? More than 80 percent of the students are Afro-Trinis. More than 90 percent of the administrative and clerical staff are Afro-Trinis. And more than 70 percent of the adjunct staff are of the same ethnicity. I understand that most of the adjunct staff have been recruited through a network system that is neither fair nor transparent. These positions are not advertised. Some of the part-time lecturers are not qualified to teach in their area of instruction. Students at the Mt Hope campus call these adjunct lecturers “geriatrics” because they comprise mainly elderly people. They are retirees from other institutions of learning. Let Boopsingh clear the air on this with empirical data.

SHERRY MUHAMMED-KHAN
Tunapuna