STUDENTS RALLY AT MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE

STCC Students at March 8 Rally for Public Higher Education at the State House in Boston:

Back Row: Angelina Cavallini, Daniel Murphy, Sheila Colon, Joseph Kakley, Jonathan Santos

Middle Row: Richard Calderon, Micki Betton, Rose Hill, Denise Moore

Front Row: Luis Gonzalez, Beverly Wiggins, Andrea Craddy

On March 8, a contingent of STCC students joined hundreds of others from public colleges across the Commonwealth to press for more funding for public higher education.  Organized by PHENOM, the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts, demonstrators asked that Massachusetts "be average".  By that they meant that funding per capita in Massachusetts should reach the national median.  At present Massachusetts ranks 46th among the 50 states by this measure.


Speakers at the rally argued that public colleges which are witnessing dramatic increases in student enrollment require more rather than less money from the state government.  Even in a state like Massachusetts noted for its many private colleges, the Great Recession has altered the landscape of higher education.  Students who could once afford a private college are opting for public colleges.  Students who once would have gone to a four year college are choosing community colleges because of their low cost.


The demonstration was organized to coincide with budget season at the State Legislature with the House now considering next year's budget.  Governor Patrick has submitted a level-funded budget for public colleges for fiscal year 2011.  It remains to see how the Legislature will treat the public colleges.  

The March 8 rally on the Boston Commons opposite the State House.

Cultural Landscape Report of the Springfield Armory Site

Springfield Technical Community College occupies with the Springfield Armory Museum a 55 acre national historic and cultural site. Founded by President George Washington in 1794 as the first national armory, the site is the only one in the nation that houses a college.


To management this asset the National Park Service has conducted a cultural landscape report that traces the history of this geographic area. The landscape report focuses on everything but the buildings – plants, animals, water resources, roads, fences – found on the site.


The report will be the basis for a joint management plan that will allow the college and federal government to protect and enhance the Springfield Armory National Historic Site. Both parties want to ensure that this plan will protect for future generations the beauty of the area as well as a record of its rich military and industrial history.

Historic Fence That Surrounds the 55 Acre Site

Students in Professor Raschilla's English composition I class on Thursday, February 11, 2010

Professor Raschilla invited me to speak to his English composition one class.  While he asked me to give students ideas for persuasive essays, I also had an opportunity to listen to their comments and to explain to then broadly about the system of public higher education in Massachusetts.

This class was typical of those at STCC: it was a diverse mixture of ethnicities, and ages; almost all the students worked; most were in school to secure a good paying career; all seemed bright and serious about their education.

Students had a number of comments about the college: they wanted better parking (“Why doesn’t the college build a parking garage?”); they were concerned with rising college charges (Will STCC be affordable next year?); they suggested changes in the class schedule (Why can’t we take two evening courses on the same day?) 

To provide a context to respond to their comments, I explained how the college is governed and how it is funded.  I discussed the dilemma of public higher education – how the withdrawal of state support for its colleges has forced students to pay an ever increasing share of the costs of their education and required colleges to cut budgets. 

Finally, we talked about old and new ways of publishing written material.  Among the traditional media are newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, books; the new media include blogs (including this one), twitter, email, Facebook.  Each of these media generally has associated particular forms of writing.  The persuasive essay that they were required to write was one of those forms; social networks were another.  We agreed that understanding what the rules and constraints for each medium would help them in their writing.

EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The STCC team at the Strategy Institute from left to right back row -Diane Ryzewicz, Veena Dhanker, Jessica Hill, Matt Gravel, Ira Rubenzahl; front-Arlene Rodriguez, Pat Tigue, Christine Tigue

Equity and Excellence were the themes of the February 2 Achieving the Dream Strategy Conference held in Charlotte, North Carolina. (For information about the national initiative go to achievingthedream.org/
Achieving the Dream colleges from 22 states, a team of eight STCC faculty, counselors and administrators heard speeches and presentations aimed at one goal - increasing students' success in college. Workshops topics included: reforming college mathematics, accelerating developmental education, closing the achievement gap of ethnic minority male students, deepening the use of evidence to inform decision making, partnering with high schools. (More information about our efforts can be found at http://www.stcc.edu/achievedream/
The conference gave us an opportunity to study best practices at our sister schools, to dialogue with colleagues, and to learn about national developments. At the conclusion of the conference the STCC team met to review our findings and determine recommendations to bring back to campus. Some of the key ideas we decided to pursue were:
1) To provide faculty and staff with information that will guide college improvements, strengthen data collection and analysis;
2) To help students orient to college, publish glossary of college terms;
3) To speed students through developmental courses, consider re-organizing writing, reading and basic mathematics;
4) To help students receive the mathematics education relevant to their careers, participate in the Carnegie Foundation led program to revise the college freshman mathematics curricula.
5) To bring Achieving the Dream initiatives to more students, redirect college resources;<
6) To reduce barriers to student success, challenge conventional wisdom about college policies and practices.

CAMPAIGN TO FUND PUBLIC HIGHER ED

Victor Sanchez, president of the University of California Student Association, speaking at the PHENOM conference

This past Sunday, January 31^st, I attended the kickoff at the Student Center at University of Massachusetts/ Amherst for the PHENOM campaign to reverse the decline in funding for public colleges in Massachusetts. The campaign which has the tagline “For a Great State of Mind” will have two phases. Phase one to take place this year is an educational effort to engage individuals who are running foroffice to pledge to make public higher education is Massachusetts “affordable for all”. Phase two will try to secure from the Legislature and Governor a long-term commitment for increased funding and lower student costs. More details are available at the PHENOM website: http://www.phenomonline.org/

How serious is the funding problem in Massachusetts? By far the most important measure is the cost of public higher education to students. Massachusetts public colleges are more expensive than others nationally: our four year colleges cost 33% more than the national average while our community colleges are 49% higher than peers across the country. (For details go to

http://chronicle.com/article/Massachusetts-Almanac-2009/48120/ )

Meanwhile PHENOM argues that Massachusetts simply uses fewer state resources to support its public institutions. A comparison of state efforts entitled “State Higher Education Finance FY 2008” published 2009 by State Higher Education Executive Officers shows Massachusetts near the bottom in the fraction of state expenditures devoted to public colleges. According to this report, 3.9% of Massachusetts revenues go to public higher education (FY 2006); the national average is 6.5% with only 4 states spending a smaller portion than Massachusetts.

PHENOM which stands for Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts is the first grassroots organization to address the needs of public higher education in the state. The organization hopes to unite public college students, faculty, staff, administrators, alums and parents – all of which have a stake in quality public higher education. With 29 institutions throughout the state and over 200 thousand students, united public colleges could be a potent force in the Commonwealth.

OLD INDUSTRIAL CITIES IN THE NORTHEAST – THE CASE OF HOLYOKE

Map of Downtown Holyoke showing the Connecticut River and numerous canals.

I had the opportunity recently to be briefed about Holyoke, Massachusetts, as a member of a task force to leverage a planned green high performance computing center (GHPCC) to be located in this old industrial city. Yes, three major research universities – MIT, the University of Massachusetts and Boston University – have chosen Holyoke for this joint high tech venture. At our first task force meeting, the reasons for choosing Holyoke were explained: inexpensive electricity, green (non-carbon) electricity, excellent internet connectivity, available land and excellent superhighway and rail transportation access. (See www.innovateholyoke.com/about-the-project/ for more details).

The electricity is generated by Holyoke Gas and Electric, a city owned utility that uses water power from the Connecticut River to generate the majority of its electricity. Holyoke was originally developed in the 19^th century as an industrial powerhouse with numerous factories run by water power from the Connecticut. How fitting that this same asset may attract a new industry – high speed computing - that may revitalize the City.

Furthermore, to my surprise, the computing center is slated to be built in the center of Holyoke, not on some former farmland at the City outskirts. But on further reflection, downtown Holyoke has an asset that is both extremely desirable and in short supply: waterfront property. The City is built on a bend in the Connecticut River and has numerous canals downtown that provide additional water frontage. And Holyoke was fortunate to have avoided the fate of many Connecticut River cities – Northampton, Springfield, Hartford, and New Haven – that had their frontage on the Connecticut severed by Interstate 91.

In many ways downtown Holyoke is a canvas that although once painted now is ready for a new picture. To see it, we should follow the advice of Massachusetts writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau, “This world is but a canvas to our imagination.”

A view of one of Holyoke's canals with industrial buildings taken in 1941 from Library of Congress Archives.

THE STCC DIVERSITY INTIATIVE – HOMEGROWN AND POWERFUL

Myra Smith, VP for Human Relations and Multi-cultural Affairs and one of the leaders of the STCC Diversity Council

Five years ago the STCC Diversity Council was formed to lead efforts to make our college multi-culturally competent. During that time, the college has developed a unique approach that stresses connection to the broader Springfield area community.

With limited resources, the Council wanted to bring national speakers to campus. To augment college funding, they reached out to other area colleges and major businesses. Thus was born an informal diversity network that now includes Peoples Bank, Baystate Health Systems, Mass Mutual Financial Group, Springfield College, Western New England College and Westfield State College. These businesses and colleges have partnered with STCC to bring such luminaries as Juan Williams, Bill Cosby, Morris Dees, Dick Gregory, and Nikki Giovanni.

This institutional partnership mandated that the college open diversity events on campus to Western Massachusetts residents. Because they are our future, we were motivated attracting area high school students especially those from the City of Springfield. We wanted to expand high school students’ understanding of diversity issues but also to expose them to the idea that they should and can attend college. In fact, a number of speakers stressed that theme – education is the key to economic opportunity and community empowerment.

To bring high school students to campus diversity events we reached out to teachers and administrators and, in many cases, assisted with transportation using college vans. As a result of this work, crowds at events have grown and area high schools look forward eagerly to each year’s programming. More area high school students, especially from the City of Springfield, are attending STCC, a result that I believe is directly linked to our diversity programming.

This spring’s events include: Chloe Arnold, Tap Dancer on Thursday, February 11; Nu Direxion, Jazz, Reggae, Pop & Classical R&B on Thursday, February 25 and Dr. John Francis, "The Planetwalker" on Thursday, March 11.