MVCCGLACIER.COM
APRIL 29, 2016
VOLUME 49, ISSUE 15
Discussing the struggle Students discuss their educational blues at for community college the Blue Island Center By David Alexander Staff Writer
State Representative Kelly Burke discusses the dialogue in Springfield for Higher Education. [Alex Huff] Alex Huff Features Editor Students and educators were invited by members of Moraine Valley’s Political Activist Club to attend a discussion with Illinois State Representatives on the future of funding higher education. At the event, held on Apr. 26 in the U Building, was State Rep. Kelly Burke, (D), from Illinois’ 36th District, which represents areas including Palos Hills and Evergreen Park. She was joined by Brenna Conway, the director of the Roosevelt Institute of Illinois, a non-profit organization which promotes student empowerment and involvement in the spending procedures of universities. They were joined onstage by three Political Activist Club members, Jesus BenitezGorstieta, Karina Lopez, and Joshua Mira, all of which contributed personal mvccglacier
testimonials to the value of community college and higher education as a whole. The meeting came just days after an announcement on Tue. that Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner approved a bill providing over $600 million in funding for Community Colleges and the MAP Grant program, which offers scholarships for underprivileged students. However, that amount is only a fraction of the $1.7 billion that lawmakers had requested last year. “The measure is only going to get us until July,” said Burke, who is the chairperson of the General Assembly’s Higher Education Subcommittee. “Then this crisis will rear its ugly head again.” A longtime booster at Saint Xavier University before rising to office, Burke spoke on her understanding of the fundraising problems that institutions face, adding that many institutions “would not
be sustainable without state funding.” Such stop-gap measures were also denounced by Conway, who urged for more bipartisan cooperation in the state government. “If we focus on the budget and what people need, then we can all come together.” The members of Moraine’s Political Activist Club expressed the immediate impact of budget cuts on institutions from a student’s perspective. “When you cut funding for public education, that is a tremendous insult to students, educators, and communities,” said BenitezGorstieta. Especially during a time where tuition rates have increased by nearly 50% at private and public colleges over the past 8 years, cutting scholarships prevents so many prospective students from attending school. “Even with public funding, even with grants, that’s still money that many families don’t have.” FUNDING| page 7
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In a bid to engage students and ascertain their concerns, Moraine Valley’s Blue Island Education Center held a threeday long panel that ran on Apr. 19, 20, and 27. The focus group discussion panel which brought together both current and past students of the Blue Island campus was moderated by the Coordinator of the Blue Island Education Center, Lindsey Zerbian and Moraine Valley’s Blue Island Student Development Specialist, Eduardo Lopez. The students who participated in the focus group panels raised concerns about a wide range of topics, there were concerns about the lack of general education classes at the Blue Island center, a lack of bookstore amenities, a lack of a dedicated quiet zone for studying, a lack of cafeteria facilities among other issues that the participants at the four session long focus group panels raised. One particular area of concern that the students kept reiterating was the lack of general education classes at the Blue Island, which necessitated a trip to the main campus in order for the students to take these classes. Focus group participants felt that this was a hardship since all of them were mainly resident in Blue Island and its near environs, and many of them rely on public transportation to commute back and forth from the main campus. Many of the students who participated in the focus group discussions seemed rather uninformed and amazed at the level and number of student services that were available for students at the Blue Island
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Education Center. While many focus group participants were aware of the tutoring services available upstairs at the Blue Island Education Center, the GED preparatory classes, the adult literacy programs and the academic advising, many of them confessed that they were not aware that they could be registered at the Blue Island location, have financial aid services provided for them, get their Moraine Valley ID cards, or even plan their classes online towards graduation, or even pick up books that they ordered from the main library, from the Blue Island Education Center. Eduardo Lopes, the Student Development Specialist said that “it was important that many students are aware of the services that the Blue Island location offers,” and they “don’t have to travel to the main campus for the same services we offer here.”Lindsay Zerbain, the Coordinator of the Blue Island Education Center stated that one of the main aims of holding the focus group discussion panels was to see how students “have an interaction with staff and faulty, and how to make their college experience better.” Both the Coordinator and the Student Development Specialist conceded that the drop in enrollment over the past three years at Moraine Valley Community College may have being one of the incentives for running the focus group discussion panels, but they both stressed that the main reason was to find out how they could improve the students experience at the Blue Island Education Center. David Alexander can be contacted at alexanderd36@ student.morainevalley.edu. mvcctheglacier