Where’s the governor?  In office for 100 days, we’ve heard from the him on tolls, legalizing marijuana, the economy, and the Board of Trustees shakeup at the University of Connecticut — though it has fewer than half the number of students attending community colleges and the other state universities.  But no word on community college consolidation.

For billions across the world, and many of us here in Connecticut, Passover and Easter are opportunities to pause our hectic schedules and re-center our connections to our faiths and to our communities. As Passover and Easter week near their ends, we hope we can all carry that re-connection with our values back into the world around us.

Connecticut has a serious problem. As America’s economy booms, Connecticut continues to suffer. Its financial woes have become cannon fodder for national news media and have legislatures around the country warning their members: “Don’t become like Connecticut. It had it all and is now losing it all.”

The wild west faded into myth long ago. While we continue to grapple with the aftermath and moral implications of Manifest Destiny on both the western lands of the U.S. and the original inhabitants of it, many long for the opportunity to encounter a similar spot on earth and, perhaps, do better by it. The Arctic, long our wild north, currently peaking the interest of the oil and logistics industries, presents us with just such an opportunity.

In the last two months, 11 academic senates or faculty and staff governing bodies have voted to endorse an online petition opposing the BOR’s plan for the consolidation of Connecticut’s community colleges — or have passed their own statement opposing consolidation. Nine out of 12 of the state’s community colleges have done so. They have done so, it should be noted, emphatically.

For many years the 12 community colleges in Connecticut had the most diverse leadership at the presidential level of any of the higher education institutions in the state. In addition to several presidents who were from underrepresented groups, in 2015 eight out of the 12 community presidents were women, thus reflecting the student population of the colleges which is in its majority female.

Criminal justice reform is no longer a controversial issue in the United States with recent polling suggesting that over 90 percent of Americans believe that the current criminal justice system is broken. The poll also concluded that almost three quarters of the population would like to see a decrease in the prison population size. This past December, Congress passed the First Step Act, which as the name suggests, did very little to challenge the status quo.

OK, so Ned Lamont isn’t FDR. He hasn’t yet passed 15 bills. His toll and regionalization proposals became toxic issues. Stevie Wonder could see that coming. But he put it out there anyway, largely because our states to the south (New York) and north (Massachusetts) have been able to pull themselves out of fiscal doldrums by adopting the very same strategies.

I recently met a father, Donte Palmer, who is crusading for diaper changing stations in men’s restrooms. How extraordinary that he should need to do this.  If men and women are equally responsible for childcare, then it becomes inconceivable that a father would not have access to changing facilities while out in public. Our architecture betrays our thinking. A dirty diaper is mom’s problem.

I’d like to address some misleading statements made by Leigh Appleby, Director of Communications of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, in an op-ed published April 4. The statement that the main objective of Students First “is to ensure our students receive the supports they need from the time they enter our colleges through the time they graduate and enter the workforce” is a bold-faced lie. Recently, the chair of the Board of Regents stated that the consolidation was and always has been primarily focused on students success. This directly contradicts the key points CSCU President Mark Ojakian has been reiterating for the last two years: Connecticut community colleges are broke and this is being done to save money.

As a former atheist I read with sadness Patrick McCann’s opinion piece regarding the death of another proposed bill on assisted suicide. This is the fifth time after a public hearing that this bill has failed to come up for any committee vote in Connecticut’s General Assembly. It is a humiliating defeat for its proponents. When I was an atheist I tried to keep an open mind and did not scorn or smear others for their beliefs as Mr. McCann does.

“Lamont predicts state will pass bills” (Courant, April 3).  The bill aimed to legalize marijuana for recreational use, according to the governor is “the right thing for the state.”  This is another example of the governor not thinking an issue through. If he and the legislators thought this bill through, it would not have gotten this far.  If their minds were right, they would not want to make this drug more readily available to:  1. make the roads less safe, 2. facilitate another addictive drug crisis, and  3. decimate lives.