Eastern Community and Technical College has not gone the way of the Edmund Fitzgerald yet, but it is certainly sailing into rough waters. What began as a curious experiment in grass roots academics mixed with state level pork is shaping up to be a possible disaster. Two presidents have resigned in the past eighteen months and an $8 million grant to construct a main campus has been reversed.
When political considerations get in the way of common sense, situations such as this occur. Eastern CTC represented a nice cut of bacon for Delegate Harold Michael to bring home to his Hardy County constituents, but it also tries to compete with a long established two year school only a short drive up the road. Eastern has very little advantage over Potomac State College due to PSC’s merger with West Virginia University and Eastern’s continued lack of accreditation. All it has to offer residents of Hardy County is a somewhat shorter commute. It currently is banking on federal funds that would come if the school gets accreditation, but it also lacks a college president.
Governor Joe Manchin and the CTC council chairman for the state, Nelson Robinson, have both expressed concerns about the institution’s future. However Eastern does have students, instructors, and an army of deans. What it lacks is vision, focus, and seemingly coherent organization. A simple answer lies in folding Eastern into either Shepherd University or Potomac State College either of which offer a much wider variety of potential services for students.
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Speaking of lacking a college president (at least until last Friday) West Virginia University’s Board of Governors approved the candidacy of Mike Garrison, former Wise Administration aide. The student government leaders conversely had voted strongly in favor of Garrison.
In the strange world of academia, presidents have different roles. They are stewards of institutions that invest heavily in advancing knowledge and ideas, so some believe that university leaders must have impeccable academic credentials. One professor's quoted statement leads one to believe that a WVU degree in itself represents insufficient credentials. That being said, they must also have the political skills and experience to slug it out in the trenches of legislative politics. Finally a university president needs the charisma and connections to be chief fundraiser. What each person felt was the most important role of a university president went a long way towards determining who they backed for WVU president.
What seems to be happening here also is a backlash by proxy against Manchin. Could it be the case that the ultraliberal faction of state Democrats fought against the presumed Manchin choice? Could they have been wanting to make a political statement about the Governor without attacking him directly? It is probably best to reserve judgment about Mike Garrison until he has been on the job for a while. After all David Hardesty came from a rather unconventional background for a university president and had done a pretty good job.
The WVU presidential selection process, if nothing else, has been an interesting display of state politics in action. Thank goodness we could hire a basketball coach without this much fuss.
Oh, sir, where to start? While it may seem fashionable to blast politicians for pork-barreling, Eastern CTC is actually a major achievement of a visionary representative of the people, and a tremendous opportunity for residents and employers of the Potomac Highlands.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, the $8 million grant to fund a new building has not been "reversed" as you say, but rather put on hold. Apparently, someone in the Governor's office lacks the imagination to realize that rooms labeled on blueprints as "resource," or "labs," or "conference" are actually multi-purpose rooms whose first use is as classrooms. Thus, the Governor's false conclusions that Eastern's new building plans lacked classroom space, and his (somewhat autocratic) intervention into the normal process of the Community College Council that interrupted what had been a well-organized and smoothly transitioning process.
While it is true that 2 presidents have resigned, it is also true that they and the college have come a long way in 6 short years, and have birthed out of the dust and rain a brand new higher learning institution.
The college lacks neither vision, nor focus, nor organization (if anything, its organization has been disrupted and distorted by interference from Charleston). And far from having "an army of deans" it employs only 3, one for Academics, one for Learner Support Services, and one for Business and Finance. And these are extraordinarily hard-working individuals, as is the entire Eastern staff.
And while Potomac State is a fine college, it does not offer the flexibility, affordability and accessibility that Eastern does, with its access centers across 6 counties and its large technological infrastructure. Also, Eastern has earned an outstanding reputation as the place where people get the sort of individual attention that some folks need in college. Student after student testifies to the close, supportive atmosphere at Eastern, and the very real benefits it provides.
Part of Eastern's mission is to offer higher education to people who otherwise would have no chance of getting it. Many of its students are "non-traditional" in that they have been away from school for a long while--in the workforce, or raising a family--and need transitional 'refresher' classes within a very supportive learning environment in order to get back on track. For all its stature, Potomac Sate does not offer that in the same way that Eastern does.
Furthermore, as a community college, Eastern offers customized workforce training to area employers of the sort unavailable elsewhere. (It is true that the college has had difficulty finding a replacement to head the Workforce division--after a very successful one resigned after finding better pay elsewhere--but has recently resolved that problem.)
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, you mention "Eastern’s continued lack of accreditation." In doing so, you reveal your ignorance of the accreditation process. In fact, the college took a major step towards full accreditation last spring when it earned "candidacy status" after a visit by a team from the North Central Association that accredits colleges for the federal government.
And Eastern is marching full steam forward on the road to accreditation, looking forward to a second successful visit and review from the accrediting organization next spring.
But you make it sound as though the college is standing still, lame, unfocused, disorganized and blind. In doing so, you do a great disservice to your neighbors, your community and our region. And you dishonor all of the excellent accomplishments that dozens of Eastern graduates and hundreds of its students have achieved during its so far very brief existence.
Your concluding suggestion that the college should be folded “into either Shepherd University or Potomac State College” is based on false assumptions, flawed reasoning and bad judgment (a recipe for disaster we have witnessed in other precincts).
What the college needs now is not sniping form the peanut gallery, but community support in the form of voluminous letters to Charleston, and generous benefactors who can launch an endowment that will provide a strong financial foundation for the college as it continues to grow and establish itself as a very necessary and highly admired institution of post-secondary learning in the Potomac Highlands.