CLASSES U. CAN’T GET INTO Additional reporting by Chris Perez
Rap, trapeze among faves
There’s no room as a matter of “course.”
Sought-after courses at city universities have amassed huge backlogs for the fall semester — with several schools opening extra sessions for their most popular educators, some of whom have even earned nicknames like “Notorious Ph.D.”
“They cap the class at 19, but I could easily get five times that,” said Mark Naison, a Fordham history and African- American studies professor.
Students perennially vie for the chance to take his course, “From Rock and Roll to Hip Hop: Urban Youth Cultures in Post War America.”
Naison, 72, nicknamed Notorious Ph.D. by his fans, is famous for rapping songs that originated in The Bronx, including rhymes by Grandmaster Flash.
He also gives walking tours of the borough, including a recent jaunt that ended with a meal at Johnson’s BBQ.
At Pace University, the lucky few who managed to get into this semester’s Aerial Arts class will get to dangle from trapezes and spin on floor-to-ceiling silks.
Over at NYU, fall’s hottest class is Intro to Urban Agricul- ture — taught by Melissa Metrick, the brains behind the Bushwick farm for buzzy Roberta’s restaurant.
The class, which often meets in a Soho garden, has become so popular that NYU added two more sections.
“Oh, my God, I was so happy,” to land a spot in the muchsought-after agriculture class, said sophomore Zavy Miller, 19, a nutrition major.
“I told my friends and they were like, ‘You what?!’ ”
Professors don’t have to be cool, though, or offer trips outside the classroom to be the envy of the registrar.
Brooklyn College’s most popular course is a summer session focusing on ancient Latin and Greek.
Five years ago, the class attracted only about 50 students.
Enrollment has swelled to nearly 80, and the waiting list for the class generally holds about 12 names, says program director Katherine Lu Hsu.
“Sometimes people say, ‘ People still study that?’ ” said Hsu. “But learning Latin and Greek involves memorizing a lot of small pieces of info and learning to put them together, like a puzzle. People find that very exciting.”