Nader: Don’t merge community colleges

Add Ralph Nader to the list of those who think consolidating the state’s 12 community colleges into one is a bad idea.

Nader, the quintessential consumer advocate, Connecticut native and sometime presidential candidate, wrote a letter to Gov. Ned Lamont on Monday asking him to put the brakes on a plan that he calls dangerous, embarrassing and half-baked.

“Community-based education is so essential for democracy in an age of relentless concentration of decision in even fewer hands,” wrote Nader.

Nader, in a phone interview, said he believes he has the ear of the governor.

“Oh yeah, I have talked to him on other things,” Nader said, adding the new governor has visited Winsted, where Nader still lives, on more than one occasion.

Mark Ojakian, a former chief of staff of former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, became president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system in 2015. Less than two years later, he was the architect of a plan he called Students First, which would combine community colleges, consolidating administrative and back office services but leaving 12 campuses. The idea, he said, would save money and provide a better experience for students.

A large number of faculty and members of the community disagreed. So, too, did the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, which rejected the plan, calling it unrealistic.

In his letter, Nader appeals to Lamont to turn his attention to the community college situation — and remove Ojakian and stop the consolidation process.