On Tuesday, January 30, the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly held a forum on the proposed Community College Consolidation, known as "Students First." The forum can be watched on demand from CT-N here.
CSCU President, Mark Ojakian, was questioned by legislators for nearly two hours about the proposed consolidation. President Ojakian shared the following PowerPoint Presentation with the Committee:
A representative from NEASC also testified and answered questions for over an hour. The Standards for Accreditation are shared here.
Several faculty and staff from the 4Cs, CSU-AAUP and SUOAF-AFSCME attended to testify against the consolidation, along with students from the community colleges and representatives of the various community college foundations.
While 4Cs President Bryan Bonina was not able to testify in person, he submitted testimony electronically, which can be read here. Other testimony can be viewed here.
Many media outlets covered the forum:
- Legislators Pepper Ojakian With Questions About Community College Consolidation Plan (Hartford Courant)
- Lawmakers question college consolidation plan (Connecticut Post)
- CSCU President Pushing Plan for Community College Consolidation (NBC Connecticut)
- Proposal to consolidate state's community colleges (Fox 61)