In 2002, Barron was appointed chair of the city council's Higher Education Committee. As chair, he criticized the City University of New York (CUNY) for eliminating remedial courses and raising admission standards, claiming CUNY raised the standards in order to restrict minority student access. He argued that students should not be denied admission to CUNY because of their performance at the pre-college level, adding that when the CUNY ended open admissions the number of black students declined while changes in the proportions of other ethnic groups were minimal.