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

Regents approve plan to consolidate community colleges in 2023

  • Higher Education
  • by Clarice Silber and CTMirror Contributor
  • June 21, 2018
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Clarice Silber :: CTMirror.org

President Mark Ojakian answers questions about the new plan to merge Connecticut’s community colleges in 2023.

The governing board of Connecticut’s 12 community colleges voted Thursday to move forward with implementing a new plan to merge the schools into a single accredited institution — but this time in five years.

The vote by the state Board of Regents for Higher Education pushes back the merger of the 12 schools to 2023, hires three regional presidents in the spring of 2019, and saves an estimated $17 million compared to the $23 million originally proposed.

Mark Ojakian, the president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system, said the new plan would develop a slower and more deliberate academic planning process, while also allowing the system to act more cohesively as it moves toward a single accreditation.

“At the heart of this is our need to stabilize financially our community college position into the future,” Ojakian said. “We also recognize that we need more time to get the foundation in place for a change of this magnitude.

The plan would still create a regionalized structure and align curricula for more than 200 degree programs. But it would maintain the current academic department chair structure, and gradually shed 117 administrative and other full-time equivalent positions compared to 163 proposed in the first plan. A contentious part of the original plan was the proposed removal of department heads.

Clarice Silber :: CTMirror.org

Board of Regents Chair Matt Fleury, left, and President Mark Ojakian at the board meeting Thursday.

The new pitch comes after the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), a regional accrediting body, rejected the original proposal in April. NEASC Chairman David P. Angel wrote to Ojakian that the commission didn’t believe that plan was realistic.

Some faculty and former officials remain opposed to the plan while slightly softening their disapproval. No one spoke in opposition to the revised proposal at the Thursday board meeting.

Serafin Mendez-Mendez, a professor at Central Connecticut State University who has been critical of the “Students First” plan, said the new proposal is a lot better than the Regents’ previous plan, but said officials should still gather more input from faculty.

CSCU faculty and former presidents have voiced months-long opposition to the plan while the Board of Regents has persisted in trying to implement it. Those resisting the plan have had concerns about campuses losing their autonomy, losing their community connection, and that student services would suffer.

Merle Harris, the board’s academic and student affairs committee chair, said the committee was concerned about maintaining community connections at each campus, but is confident they will be preserved through the new plan.

Cathryn Addy, the former president of Tunxis Community College in Farmington, said she is concerned the regionalization will add another layer of decision-making and questioned if all options have been explored.

Addy said she supported giving the process more time and reinstating department chairs, but maintained her other concerns and doubted the plan would save money.

Naomi Cohen, the board’s human resources and administration committee chair, said her committee is evaluating the qualities and the titles needed for all of the system’s leadership positions.

“We’re looking for people with strong academic backgrounds, strong administrative skills, strong organizational skills, valuing past community college experience as it’s available,” Cohen said.

Ojakian said once the merger is formed, each campus will still maintain a chief executive officer, chief academic officer, and a chief financial officer under direction of the three regional presidents and the overall college president.

“Through our regionalized effort, we believe that we can continue to collaborate, to share resources, and to save money to reinvest that money into places that students need and also begin to make some enrollment and transfer opportunities easier for students as we transition towards a single institution,” Ojakian said.

Board of Regents Chair Matt Fleury kept his comments about the new plan brief, but noted it was reviewed extensively by the different board committees.

Fleury finished by sharing a statement by the Student Advisory Committee that offered support to “President Ojakian’s efforts to maintain low tuition costs, keep community college campus locations open and move ‘Students First’ forward, as well as his steadfast leadership of the CSCU system.”

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

Clarice Silber

CTMirror Contributor

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
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 […]

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

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

Lamont keeps school funding on auto-pilot, despite calls to end ‘funding discrimination’
by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas and Adria Watson

The move is sure to displease groups that have been calling for a major increase in state education spending.

Lamont proposes legislation to improve college enrollment
by Adria Watson

The governor plans to establish a guaranteed admissions program to Connecticut State Universities and make advanced placement courses more accessible.

If COVID-19 makes campus life less attractive, CT universities will pay a stiff price
by Keith M. Phaneuf and Adria Watson

If the coronavirus changes students' attitudes toward residential life, the state's public university's and colleges face severe financial risk.

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