Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Closing a Meriden campus just the beginning of college cuts

  • Education
  • by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas
  • April 8, 2015
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"
Students walk into a building on Middlesex Community College's Meriden campus

CTMirror.org

Students walk into a building on Middlesex Community College’s Meriden campus.

As public protests mount against the unexpected announcement that Middlesex Community College’s Meriden campus will close this spring, students and the public can brace for many more sudden cuts at the state’s community colleges and regional universities.

While closing the Meriden campus is expected to save the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities less than $1 million in the upcoming fiscal year, college leaders have said they intend to cut $22 million across the system’s 17 colleges and universities.

System officials also say, however, that they will not disclose the cuts they are considering, and the public will be informed after decisions have been made. Robert Brown, chairman of the Faculty Advisory Committee for the college system, said faculty also have not been informed of plans for cuts.

“It would be irresponsible and misleading to place the larger lists of ideas discussed in the public forum for discussion and response. To disclose that would, in our mind, serve no compelling public purpose,” CSCU spokesman Michael Kozlowski said in response to a Mirror request for reduction plans individual school presidents have provided to the central office.

Two weeks ago President Gregory W. Gray told the system’s governing board, the Board of Regents, that his staff had informed the individual college presidents how much each was required to cut and had received back “statements on how they are going to deal with these individual assessments.”

While the statements will not be released, sources have shed light on a couple of cuts that have already begun to be implemented. Southern Connecticut State University is paring back the number of courses its College of Arts and Sciences will offer next semester, and Three Rivers Community College is notifying some staff their employment agreements will not be continued.

In Meriden, students like Genesis Robles were angry and surprised by the closure.

“I was shocked,” said Robles, who joined other students, local business owners and state legislators on Monday to lambaste the closure at the end of the semester.

“I am upset. It’s really going to be a struggle now for me to finish school,” said Robles, who works and babysits her younger sisters between classes.

With the Meriden closure, 700 students will have to travel to Middletown if they want to continue their community college education — an hour-long bus ride.

“It takes a really long time,” said Anna Wasescha, the president of Middlesex Communty College. “We made the best choice among a lot of lousy choices.”

Genesis Robles was shocked when she heard her school would be closing at the end of the semester

Genesis Robles was shocked when she heard her school would be closing at the end of the semester.

The state legislators that represent Meriden aren’t convinced of that, including the Senate chair of the higher education committee.

“This is an outrageous, shortsighted decision, and the board knows it,” said Sen. Danté Bartolomeo, a Democrat. “It may be hard for the Board of Regents president to understand from his desk in Hartford, but by shutting down this campus he is telling these students that they cannot continue to pursue their degree. We cannot let that happen.”

Funding to support the sprawling network of schools has been on a roller coaster over the last several years. Facing an historic $3.7 billion budget shortfall in 2012, state lawmakers reduced funding to the system by 10 percent. But funding has since rebounded, and last year the state spent $522.7 million on the colleges — more than in any of the five previous years.

But the state is facing a deficit for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has proposed cutting state funding to the system by $20.5 million next year. The legislature has until June 3 to adopt a budget.

College leaders, however, cannot wait to see how the state budget will play out because students need to start enrolling in classes now, financial aid decisions must be made, and some staff have to be notified well in advance if their employment will not be continued.

The system’s Board of Regents is expected to consider a budget for the colleges and universities in May, and presidents at that time share highlights how proposed funding levels impact their schools.

Because of the delay in the budget adoption, Wasescha said, the decision was made ahead of time to close the Meriden campus after a meeting with the system president. Students have already begun enrolling for classes next semester, and the Meriden location will not be an option.

Vowing “to fight like hell,” Bartolomeo pointed to several expenditures that she said could have been better spent keeping the Meriden campus open.

Sen. Danté Bartolomeo

CTMirror File Photo

Sen. Danté Bartolomeo, flanked by community college students, calls the decision to close the Meriden campus an “outrageous, shortsighted decision.”

That includes $750,000 in pay raises for administrators, to match the percentage of raises given to unionized staff. Another $1.97 million was paid to consultants to come up with a plan for the system’s future, and the planned spending of $60,000 on marketing to attract more students.

“Really? We are going to spend $60,000 on marketing to attract students, but we are going to disenfranchise the students here behind me,” she said Monday outside the Meriden campus. “I find that actually insulting,”

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas is CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter and an original member of the CT Mirror staff. She has won first-place awards for investigative reporting from state, New England, and national organizations. Before joining CT Mirror in late 2009, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. She has also worked for Congressional Quarterly and the Toledo Free Press. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Will getting teachers vaccinated get students back in school full time? It might not be that easy
by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, Kasturi Pananjady and Adria Watson

Districts will have to convince parents and students that in-person learning is safe and that students won't bring COVID-19 home.

Senate confirms Miguel Cardona as U.S. Secretary of Education
by Adria Watson

Cardona was the youngest principal in the state of Connecticut.

CSCU students and faculty push back against contract proposals
by Adria Watson

Connecticut State Colleges and Universities faculty and students gathered outside of Central Connecticut State University Friday morning to protest the Board of Regents’ recent contract proposals, saying the changes could lead to larger class sizes and possibly losing accreditation. “The BOR must … understand their proposals are developed with union-busting in mind,” said Eastern Connecticut […]

Report: Twice as many CT high schoolers are in danger of being held back
by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

Research released Monday confirms what many parents and educators already suspected — more students than ever are falling behind during the pandemic, a problem especially present among those learning entirely from home in some of the state’s larger districts. The RISE Network tracked about 12,000 students in nine high schools in historically struggling districts to […]

State community college system deficit up nearly 38%
by Adria Watson

Much of the shortfall is due to a sharp decrease in enrollment.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Fitness is part of Connecticut’s COVID solution
by David Humphrey

Based on what we now know about infection rates and transmission, it is more apparent than ever before that gyms, fitness centers, and the physical and mental health benefits of exercise are essential to help our state get through the months ahead.

Opinion Connecticut can’t afford state government-run health insurance
by Mike Licamele

As much as I support strengthening and improving healthcare, I do not believe SB 842 is the way to do that. Instead of trying to force Connecticut residents into a new, government-controlled healthcare system, lawmakers should focus on improving our existing one by building on what’s working and continuing to address lowering costs, not raising taxes

Opinion Disabled, marginalized, stalled and walled
by Doris Maldonado

As a bilingual health information specialist for PATH P2P Family Voices CT and National Family Voices Cultural Responsiveness Telehealth Team, I offer more than professional expertise as well as despair for the marginalized within marginalized communities. I am a Latina with disabilities, adoptive mother of 17-year-old twins with special needs and a thriving toddler.

Opinion The marijuana legalization debate must be based on facts
by Will Jones III

In response to my earlier piece on why Connecticut lawmakers should reject marijuana commercialization,  Brendan Ruberry wrote a rebuttal that, on its face seems scathing, but to be clear, the attempted rebuttal falls flat and well off the mark.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO