Community college plan faces final test
There’s been an ongoing multiple choice test to determine the future of community colleges in Connecticut: A) Close some of the 12 schools. B) Reduce staff. C) Raise tuition dramatically. D) Transition the two-year colleges into a single accredited institution by 2023.
There may never be a unanimous agreement that “D” is the correct answer, but we’ve offered cautious support since it was unveiled by System President Mark Ojakian three years ago.
The plan may not seem like a priority during the pandemic, but it seems appropriate that it took a significant step forward just days before phase one of reviving Connecticut’s economy is launched this week.
The plan may have been prescient. The colleges, which have been struggling, could see an uptick in enrollment with family finances under stress. Students who otherwise would start at more costly four-year institutions might hold off to save money, or because the high-priced offerings are online this fall.
It could be reassuring to the skeptics that the lineup of chief executive officers revealed last week includes several familiar names in this community. The acting president overseeing some 48,000 students will be David Levinson, who recently retired as head of Norwalk Community College.
His team will include William “Terry” Brown, the new CEO at Gateway Community College in New Haven, who has worked at Housatonic, Norwalk and Naugatuck community colleges; Middlesex CEO Steven Minkler, who has been at the helm on an interim basis; Capital Community College in Hartford CEO G. Duncan Harris, who also graduates from acting status; as well as several new names that should ensure fresh perspectives are included.
The projected $23 million a year in savings would come from the elimination of 117 jobs. Most would be administrative, including the CEO structure replacing individual presidents.
The consolidation, boasted as the largest of its kind in the history of New England, also finally has a name, the Connecticut State Community College.
Ojakian has faced formidable resistance throughout the process, but has maintained that answers A, B and/or C were inevitable without drastic action.
Critics have expressed concerns that campus identities, so vital at community colleges, would be diluted under a monolithic structure.
Such feedback must be welcomed by Ojakian’s team and the New England Commission of Higher Education, which should continue holding the initiative to high standards.
Meanwhile, faculty senates at five of the community colleges, as well as two state universities, have delivered votes of no confidence in the plan.
It’s understandable that replacing one-on-one leadership with a zoned approach feels less personal. But now that the plan is three years old and two years away from students enrolling, it’s time to notice the train has left the platform.
The new managers should face the same kind of heat a student feels during finals. Challenge them, test them, grade them.
But a passing grade is only assured if everyone involved finally accepts that the answer isn’t going to change.