The University of the West Indies (UWI) should consider establishing a law school at Medgar Evers College in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the home of the majority of our West Indian citizens in the United States of America. It would be beneficial to the University and all of our citizens.

by Wellington C. Ramos, Adjunct Professor of History and Political Science

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

In the late 1980’s when I enrolled in New York City Community College (NYCCC), it was a part of the City University of New York (CUNY) colleges in downtown Brooklyn, New York City. The college population was about twenty thousand students, and it had the largest Black and West Indian student population in the Borough of Brooklyn. I met many West Indian students from all the countries in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa on that college campus. We started to interact with each other by discussing the problems we experienced in our countries before we migrated to the United States.

Many of my friends made it clear, like most West Indian citizens, that as soon as they completed their education and accumulated enough money, they would be returning home to their respective countries to help develop their countries of birth. Many of us were working 9-to-5 jobs during the day, raising our children, supporting our families in the United States and abroad, and attending school in the evenings, on weekends and during the summer. I was planning to transfer to Medgar Evers College when I completed my Associate Degree from NYCCC to work towards my Bachelor’s degree.

Medgar Evers College is in the heart of Brooklyn and is named after the famous Black civil rights leader, Medgar Evers, who was killed in Mississippi because he was fighting for his people’s civil rights in that state. Unfortunately, while I was attending NYCC, there were constant student protests taking place at the Medgar Evers College campus.

Civil rights leader Medgar Evers, assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi on June the 12th, 1963.

The students wanted more Blacks like themselves to be a part of the administrative staff, but the administration kept refusing to honor their request. The college was eventually sanctioned by the State of New York. Their budget was cut, some academic programs were eliminated, and the college lost its Senior status. I then decided to continue my studies at Hunter College in Manhattan.

While I was at NYCCC, I was also a member of a student organization and was very active in the student council on my campus. Through this activity I met members of the Medgar Evers College Student Council, [who] were advocating for an affiliation with their college and the University of the West Indies (UWI).

We discussed things like student exchange, academic programs, a law school, and many other issues related to nation-building, and human, community and economic development programs. These ideas just died, and none of them were adopted by Medgar Evers College. Professor Jackson became the president of Medgar College years after I had graduated from NYCC and Hunter College, and he brought Medgar Evers College from the ashes to the sky through the reinstatement of their courses and Senior status.

These ideas are still in the minds of most West Indian students and their families who came from the Caribbean region, Latin America and Africa. If the law school establishes a branch at Medgar Evers College, the tuition will bring much needed finance to the University of The West Indies. Why? Because, even though the tuition for the University of the West Indies is inexpensive, most of the West Indian students living in New York City and the Tristate area would prefer to study law here at Medgar Evers College. I do not know if the University of the West Indies (UWI) has ever conducted a feasibility study on this proposal, but if they have not, I would strongly urge them to do one now.

A picture of Medgar Evers College campus, Brooklyn, New York

Whenever I communicate with my classmates, former students, friends and family members who live in the city of New York, this law school topic keeps coming up. I hope and pray that other West Indian students, former students living in New York City and the Tristate area, and the UWI Board of Trustees, who are interested in seeing this dream come true, advocate for this cause to become a reality.