enjoy the rest of your weekend. >> buenos d^as y bienvenidos. good morning and welcome once again to "tiempo." i'm joe torres. lehman college's longest-running president is stepping down after 26 years on the job. dr. ricardo fern*ndez was the first latino president of the cuny 4-year college. we will talk to him about his tenure at the university and what goals still lie ahead. that's coming up in just a few minutes. right now, though, new york city mayor bill de blasio recently gave his third state of the city address, and the mayor renewed his pledge to create a more equal city. among his many ambitions, the mayor promised to increase benefits for immigrants, regardless of immigration

affordable housing for everyone. now, some latino advocates think the mayor's speech marks significant progress on some key issues affecting latinos, but they also feel there is some room for improvement. here to highlight some of those issues, daniel altschuler, director of research and civic engagement at make the road new york, and natalia aristizabal, the lead organizer at make the road new york. good to have you both. let me get your general overall impressions of the mayor's state of the city address, daniel -- you first -- and then we'll break it down into specifics. on an overall scheme, in terms of how it relates to latinos and the direction they're going, what do you think? >> i think we've seen some really substantial progress on a number of key issues, including workers' rights, some portions immigrant-integration initiatives. on the other hand, there's some room for concern on issues affordable housing. >> okay. we'll get to those in a second. overall thoughts? >> very similar to what daniel just said -- that there is some initiatives on terms of

he's launched an incredible plan that is aimed to help, you know, thousands of new yorkers, and so we're happy with that. and on the other hand, we do want to see a lot of changes of what the nypd looks like -- not only in the streets but inside the schools. >> before we get to some of those changes, let me ask you this -- how's your relationship with the administration? when you have an issue or a concern, do you have people that you can call that will pick up the phone when you guys say, "it's make the road"? >> that, absolutely, and that -- i do want to commend that office, the office of the mayor, that they have been able to create plans or departments that work with community members, i think, excellent, and staffers are very competent in working latinos. >> do you get the impression that they're more than just giving you the time of day -- that they're actually listening to what you have to say and, in some cases, taking and heeding the advice? >> yeah. i think we've had very constructive relationships on a number of issues that people really have. we have seen movement where there are things that aren't working and trying to figure out how to solve problems.

housing, correct? >> sure. >> i mean, this has been a big part of the mayor, since he was elected into office -- affordable housing. are you happy with the direction that the mayor's going? because we've had some people on the show -- latinos -- who say, "you know, the housing isn't all that affordable." where do you stand? >> i think, for us, affordable housing is the issue, or one of the key issues, of the day. we know it's a huge crisis, and the question for our communities is will el barrio still be el barrio, you know, in a number of years? and what we've seen is the mayor has a plan called m.i.h. he's trying to create 200,000 new units -- create and preserve 200,000 new units. part of the concern in this mandatory inclusionary zoning policy is about how deep is the affordability gonna go? is it really going to be affordable to folks in our communities? and, unfortunately, the big concern has been that, you know, perhaps despite best intentions,

units promised for folks who are low- or middle-income folks. >> so, what's the solution? what do you propose to help you get to that location? >> so, what the m.i.h. plan does is it basically trades rezoning and the ability to create new housing for certain restrictions on affordability. what we're saying is that those units should be affordable to people who earn less money, who are low-income and working-class folks, well below 60% of area median income, and that there are also other mechanisms that the administration can use to really make sure that happens, including, for instance, trading privileges to build with greater density. >> and their ear is still open to those suggestions? i mean, i know the mayor's pitched it and pushed it forward, but i'm sure you've gone to him, saying, "we still want you to work with this area," and they're listening, as far as you know. >> there's been a lot of very public debate about this issue, and i think we are hopeful that there will continue to be debate and folks will heed these very real concerns. >> let me move over to immigration, yes?

we -- our next guest -- you were just praising him, the president of lehman college, where they have a huge, huge impact on the education of immigrants, regardless of status. do you feel the direction the mayor's taking the city in the role of immigration and particularly status is a good one and a positive one? >> yeah. when it comes to the topic of immigration, that makes me a very proud new yorker. the mayor has done an excellent job at thinking of initiatives that benefit and substantially increase the quality of life of latinos, one of them being the idnyc -- the fact that it's available to everyone. it's excellent. it has beautiful perks to go to the museums. but it's accessible for folks who are undocumented but need, urgently -- when they're going to visit their son or daughter at the school for parent-teacher night or going to a hospital or federal building, they need an i.d., and the i.d. allows them to show who they are. >> few people would argue that that program hasn't been a big success -- in fact, so successful, the city of newark,

they've adopted an id, sort of, newark card, if you will. all right, sit tight. a couple more issues i want to get with you guys. more when we come back on the mayor's state of the city address. still ahead on "tiempo," the first latino president of a 4-year cuny school retiring after 26 years on the job. we will talk to him about his many milestones and accomplishments.

>> welcome back to "tiempo." the reaction to mayor de blasio's state of the city initiatives, initiatives largely impacting latinos, and here with us this morning, daniel altschuler, director of research and civic engagement at make the road new york. natalia aristizabal -- she is the lead organizer from make the road new york. before we move off that topic, idnyc -- as good as it is and has been, there's also been some criticism -- the fact that one of the big selling points of the card was it would serve as principal -- a form of identification at banks, and many banks -- wells fargo, bank of america, citibank -- do not accept that. are you guys working with the mayor and perhaps with the banks

>> yes. we're working with the mayor's office. we are working with comptroller's office. and it's basically pushing the banks. the banks are saying that they want to make sure that they're using identification that has high standards, and what we're trying to let them know and clarify to them is that the idnyc actually has standards that are higher than other state driver's licenses, right? and so they need to understand that, and so that's taking a while. there's also a question of what clients the banks have or want, and so i think that because of that, it may be undocumented immigrants are not necessarily their number-one client. they still haven't done the homework internally. >> i'm sure, as part of your argument to the banks, you say, "listen, the card is accepted and widely recognized by the nypd, and if it's good enough for them, why isn't it good enough for you?" i would think that's part of the pitch. >> it's part of the argument, and we keep on pushing the banks, and we'll continue to do that. >> in the realm of education, as good as it is -- and there's always room for improvement, i think, education -- overcrowding remains a huge, huge issue. what are you guys working on

him to solve that problem? >> yeah. i mean, overcrowding's an issue that's plagued the city for years, in particular because of underinvestment during the bloomberg administration for many years. we see it in particular in latino and immigrant communities, and we know that there are tens of thousands of seats that have not been created that need to be created. one piece of good news the mayor has recently announced is that he's proposing an additional $900 million in investment to create new seats and really start to address the overcrowding issue. will it solve the problem once and for all? no. it's a much bigger problem than that, but is it a good step absolutely. >> is it really the only step, daniel? because if overcrowding is a problem, schools don't get built in a week or in a month. other than creating and building new construction, how do you fix the problem that's not going away anytime soon? >> yeah. i mean, i think the city has a big challenge ahead, and part of that is physical space and dealing with that, and

reforms that are -- you know, the city is experimenting with public policy. we've seen, for instance, one exciting new initiative, which is the community schools initiative, which is saying, "how do we make schools not just a place of learning for a student but also to include wraparound services that will benefit all communities, in particular, latino and immigrant communities?" >> and i think that would go a long way towards what was another concern of yours -- is the pipeline that often goes, for so many kids, from high schools sometimes to prison and how you would -- either one of you want to tackle that? -- how that gets addressed. >> yeah. well, part of it is talking about the discipline codes and, inside, what are the reasons that students are being suspended? and when we look at the numbers, the suspensions have decreased within the last year, like from the '14 to '15 fiscal year. however, when you look at it, it's latinos and black students who are predominantly being suspended, and so there still needs to do -- we need to do a lot of fixing around the discipline code,

something authority. i'm forgetting the name right now of the clause, but it's -- the cities of san francisco and los angeles, for example, have taken that clause out, and it has stopped impacting students. we realize that when students get suspended for wearing a hat in school, carrying a cellphone, it affects them in the learning term, and it makes it easy for them to drop out of high school and then end up in prison. and so we want to make sure that instead of investing in policies that are not working and are hard on our students, maybe it goes to making schools bigger or more schools. they're not learning. i mean, i think that's the bottom line there. very quickly, before we're done, policing and criminal-justice reform -- i guess that falls in that category -- something that you've been looking at in terms of trying to get changes from the administration. >> yeah. currently, we're working on the right to know act, which is a continuation of the stop-and-frisk. again, the numbers say that the stop-and-frisks have diminished or stopped or decreased, but we're seeing that the numbers of the people who are being stopped

again, black and latino folks. and so we're making sure that our communities are having more tools to defend themselves when interacting with the police, and even though that bill has majority of support in the city council, it hasn't moved, so we're hoping that we can move that bill very soon. >> make the road new york fighting on behalf of many latinos and others throughout the city. thank you for your continued good work and for helping us shed some light on what direction the city's going, particularly in the realm of latinos. coming up next on "tiempo," lehman college's latino president retiring after nearly 26 years on the job. he's here with us to look back at the past and maybe to prepare

>> dr. ricardo fern*ndez has been the president of lehman college in the bronx for almost three decades. he is the longest-serving among cuny's 24 current presidents, and throughout his tenure, he has overseen the development of many multimillion-dollar programs at the school, which, by the way, remains a top college choice each year for high-school graduates. what a pleasure for us to welcome to "tiempo" dr. ricardo fern*ndez. felicidades, seor. 26 years, correct, officially? >> 26. that's right. >> and "retirement" probably isn't the right word, correct? >> well, i'm retiring as president. >> you're ceasing to be >> yes. >> and 26 years -- when i say that and you hear it, does it feel like 26 years? what runs through your heart? >> in some ways, yes, and in others, not at all. >> not at all? not at all? let me talk broad generalities,

specifics. one of your proudest achievements would be what? >> well, since i've been at lehman, we have graduated over 58,000 people... >> wow. yes. >> ...undergraduate degrees and graduate degrees. and those people -- most of them stay in new york, a lot of them in the bronx, and they're making significant contributions to the life and culture of the city. >> in fact, some of them come back to teach at lehman. >> yes. yes. >> when you've ben around for 26 years, right? >> yeah. >> that's great. some of the changes that you have seen in the course of a quarter-century of work -- let's talk first from the perspective of students. are students today the same as they were 20 years ago? >> uh, students are students, but the demographics have changed. when i came, it was about, in terms of latinos, about 50-50 puerto rican-dominican. there were a few others.

latino students are dominicans. in fact, there's more dominicans in the bronx than in any place on earth other than the dominican republic... >> are you serious? >> ...currently. >> wow. and many of them go to school at lehman. what do you think is the attraction for them specifically? >> well, it's a local institution -- the city university. it's affordable. we have excellent-quality programs, and, you know, it's easy for them to access that. >> mm-hmm. do you think your heritage and your relatability to them has helped both you and them? >> yes, i would think so. i don't know that that's necessarily a determining feature, but it helps. >> changes in the realm of curriculum -- how has curriculum evolved over the years? >> well, we have a lot more students in careers and professional areas, in health, which is the biggest industry in the bronx, business -- economics and business.

focus on the workforce. we still have the core training in the liberal arts and sciences, because we want to train people not for just the first job or the second job -- maybe the 10th job. >> yeah. >> and to do that, you need a strong base in addition to the professional. >> and i would argue that that's one of the biggest changes, at least that i've seen, in younger generations is that the tendency to move from job to job now is a little more welcome than it was perhaps for our generation, where you've been with the college for 26 years. i've been here at channel 7 for 19, 20 years. you don't see that as much in the younger generation who are willing to move up a ladder by moving around. >> not at all. i mean, companies are being bought by others, and jobs are changing, so competition is now global, and that changes the game. >> what changes have you seen in the realm of teaching methods or teaching approaches? >> well, technology has taken

in the classroom, right? >> in the classroom. students -- i mean, you have accessible information at your fingertips on a phone. >> yeah. >> so, students walk around with phones. you know, you have a library right there. you have movies. you got everything. you can google anything. >> your textbook, right -- it can be in your phone? >> yes, textbooks. in fact, we have an experimental program in business where the students are all getting, in one section, electronic texts. >> are they really? >> yeah. i think we're moving eventually to have everything electronically. >> doctor, what have you learned in 26 years? i mean, among the changes, i'm sure there have been some changes for you. >> well, the city -- i've seen the city change. i've seen the bronx change. people didn't even want to call it "the bronx" when i came. >> what did they call it? >> well, i lived in a section of the bronx called riverdale, so they said, "no, you live in riverdale, new york." i said, "no, i live in the bronx, new york," and i've

but the demographics of the city have changed. >> yep. >> the way people interact, i think -- the neighborhoods, the faculty -- have become, i think -- we've hired a lot of faculty over the last 25, 26 years. we have retirement of many of our faculty but a lot of new ones in different areas. >> you know, 26 years is such a long time. it begs the question, "did you have opportunities along the way to go to another school, to a bigger college, more students, different location, that sort of thing?" >> yes. in the late '90s, i was invited to apply, and i considered -- i explored an opportunity to become president of the university of new mexico. >> big school. >> and for a number of reasons, that just didn't work out. it was a personal reason, primarily, that drove me. my family -- my wife grew up in that area. >> yes. all right.

questions about what's next for you and maybe, speaking of your wife, what she wants to see you do. [ laughs ] you'll be home a lot more, right? okay. when we come back, more with dr. ricardo fern*ndez, the retiring president of

>> back now for our final few minutes with dr. ricardo fern*ndez, the president -- retiring president -- of lehman college. in may he will retire -- actually, june, right? -- after 26 years on the job. >> end of june. >> but your wife is retiring

>> yeah, at the end of this month. >> at the end of february. my, oh, my. that's fabulous. i just want the viewers to understand a little bit not so much where you're going but where you've come from. puerto rico was home, correct? >> yes. i grew up in puerto rico. i went to school in puerto rico. i graduated from high school, and then i ended up in a place called milwaukee, wisconsin. >> wow. >> i had never seen snow. >> el `nico boricua. >> and i saw a lot. >> did you? you saw a lot of snow? you got your b.a. in philosophy -- right? -- from marquette, and then continued your education at princeton... >> right. >> ...studying...? >> romance languages and literature, latin american literature. >> so, where along the line does your career turn towards education and policy? >> after i graduated, i ended up -- i became involved with a number of community-based organizations in milwaukee, and at that time, they were encouraging the university of

more latinos into education. and a position was created. i decided to apply, and i got it, and that took me into education. and i ended up being a professor of education at that university many years later. >> and here we are, close to the end. so, what's next -- fishing, golfing, raising your grandkids? >> i'm not much of a golfer, but i'm gonna take some time off. >> yes. well deserved. >> yes. we're gonna be moving to washington, d.c., because we have two children and four grandchildren. >> yep. >> but we have two children here in new york, so i anticipate we'll be coming back and forth. >> you'll be riding the amtrak back and forth between the two? >> yes, i think so. yeah. >> what challenges do you think will face your successor? or what challenges are you facing that will be passed on? >> well, we're facing some of the same issues in higher education. the support for higher education has really gone down.

>> yeah. support financially? >> financial support from the state. >> yeah. >> i'm talking about a public institution, public higher education. and, for example, in cuny, we've taken some significant hits in the last couple years, and right now, the legislature is debating on that, and by the end of march, we'll know what the situation is. >> are you actively involved in the search as to who will replace you? >> no. no. the policy is that the trustees create a committee, and the search committee has mostly trustees, but it also has a representation of faculty, students, alums, and one of my colleagues, president f\lix matos rodr^guez... >> yes. a good friend of ours here at "tiempo." >> ...is representing the presidents. >> yes. okay. should one of the finalists come to you and he or she says, "give me some advice," "give me a tip

mind -- based on your 26 years," what will you tell them? >> well, you know, when i came from milwaukee here, which was a different time, the advice someone gave me was, "don't get indicted." [ laughs ] >> i think that's helpful for a lot of professions. >> i wouldn't say that to my person right now because we're in a different situation. but that was a different time. i would say you have a basic -- you have a solid crew here. there are some challenges, as there will always be, but i think the future is very positive, not only for lehman college, for the bronx and for higher education in new york city. >> it's a pretty well-oiled machine, isn't it? yes? >> well, yes, and we do good work. >> oh, that's for sure. before we go -- we've got about 30 seconds left -- lehman college. was it a year ago? >> no, he was there in may of >> in may? and did you have a chance to shake his hand and to meet him

>> all of the above. >> yeah? yeah? what kind of uplifting significance does that do for a college when the president comes? >> oh, we -- we were -- there were people from about 800 different places around the world... >> yeah. >> ...hitting our website because we were streaming his presentation, and everybody wanted to go there, but we didn't control who came. >> right. >> in fact, i had to be invited to this. >> wow. when the president comes to town, it's always good. un placer, seor. continued -- enjoy retirement. our regards to your wife -- her retirement, as well. and take care of the grandkids. they've got someone nice to look up to. much^simas gracias to you at home. we thank you for spending part of your sunday with us. if you missed any part of our show, don't worry. you can watch at abc7 on the web, on your tablet, or even on your smartphone. i'm joe torres. thank you for watching. we'll see you next time on

>> "here and now," the program featuring the news and interests of the african-american community. here's your host, sandra bookman. >> coming up, as we celebrate black history month, we're taking a closer look at slavery on long island, including shelter island's sylvester manor plantation, still a working farm today. also, new york city's first female district attorney and the first african-american woman to hold the office in new york state. award-winning actor courtney b. vance talks about his role as famed defense attorney johnnie cochran in "american crime story: the people vs. o.j. simpson." and later, "on kentucky avenue," the musical inspired by atlantic city's historic club harlem, a one-time epicenter of black night life.