[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 55 (Tuesday, April 27, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E651-E652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        A MODEL TWO-YEAR COLLEGE

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                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 27, 2004

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased to see 
the Boston Globe, in an editorial on Thursday, April 22, give 
appropriate recognition to the excellent job that

[[Page E652]]

is done by Bristol Community College. As the Globe editorial correctly 
noted, ``Bristol Community College in Fall River has been performing . 
. . superbly for more than 30 years and is a model for other community 
colleges . . . as they strive to prepare Massachusetts residents for 
the jobs of today and the future.''
  Dealing with a changing economy, in which workers lose their jobs 
through no fault of their own because of technology, globalization, and 
other factors, is the single most important issue facing us as a 
nation. The private sector is a great creator of wealth, but it does 
not by itself resolve the problems that are created by this ongoing 
transitional process, especially at times such as now when economic 
transitions are even more rapid than at other times.
  This is why a well-funded, vigorous public sector is important to 
work along with the private sector in enhancing the quality of life for 
all Americans. And in the economic sphere, as Federal Reserve Chair 
Alan Greenspan frequently points out, community colleges have an 
essential role to play. I was therefore very pleased that the Boston 
Globe Editorial Board recognized Bristol Community College for the 
wonderful work it does.
  I have been fortunate to be the Representative of Bristol Community 
College in Congress since 1983, and I have had numerous occasions 
during that time to see how well the people at BCC perform. To former 
President Eileen Farley and current President John Sbrega, I send my 
congratulations, along with my congratulations to all of the faculty, 
administrators and students who have done so much to make this 
institution an educational model.
  Mr. Speaker, community colleges are an essential part of the way in 
which we should be responding to economic change, and because Bristol 
Community College is such a good example of how to do this, I ask that 
the editorial from the Boston Globe be printed here.

                 [From the Boston Globe, Apr. 22, 2004]

                        A Model Two-Year College

       Community colleges have a threefold mission: They prepare 
     some students for further schooling, they educate others for 
     immediate entry into the work force, and they enhance the 
     skills of those who have already been working for years. 
     Bristol Community College in Fall River has been performing 
     these roles superbly for more than 30 years, and is a model 
     for other community colleges around the state as they strive 
     to prepare Massachusetts residents for the jobs of today and 
     the future.
       ``This school is wonderful,'' said Janet Maynard, 39, who 
     is getting an associate's degree in nursing after a 19-year 
     break from school. ``The staff is incredible. They don't 
     leave anybody behind.'' Maynard, one of 6,600 students at 
     Bristol, is juggling a paid job--one day a week at St. Anne's 
     Hospital in Fall River as a unit secretary--with the hard 
     work of rearing five daughters. St. Anne's, which has worked 
     with Bristol's nursing program for decades, is paying 
     Maynard's tuition in the conviction that it is investing in a 
     more skilled work force.
       Jason Brilhante, 21, attends Bristol because ``it's 
     extremely affordable''--$2,544 a year--``and has high 
     standards.'' After graduating from the two-year business 
     program, he'll go on to Bryant College in Smithfield, R.I., 
     with the aim of becoming a certified public accountant. 
     Bryant will give him a partial scholarship, confident that 
     his fine work at Bristol will continue in later years.
       ``We partner with them all the time,'' said Irene Olsen, 
     retired personnel manager for the AT&T call center in 
     Fairhaven and now a consultant with the union-management 
     Alliance for Employee Growth and Development. Bristol offers 
     business-related courses to 40 AT&T employees at the 
     Fairhaven workplace. If students can't come to the beautiful 
     Fall River campus, Bristol goes to them.
       No wonder that Judith Gill, chancellor of higher education, 
     praised Bristol in draft assessments of the 15 Massachusetts 
     community colleges last fall--along with Middlesex and 
     Holyoke community colleges--as a high-performing institution.
       Other colleges complained that the six criteria used for 
     the ratings were too few, so Gill took away the ``high 
     performing'' designation from all three colleges. Gill 
     promises that by 2006 the Board of Higher Education will 
     devise better assessments based on 30 criteria. When that is 
     published, the differences between high-performing colleges 
     and those not doing well should be clear.
       Assessments are important as community colleges make the 
     case that they are vital to the development and maintenance 
     of an educated work force in Massachusetts. They should never 
     again have to endure the deep cuts in state aid--nearly 20 
     percent--they have experienced since 2001. Not all community 
     colleges follow the example of Bristol in providing essential 
     services to students and the wider communities they serve. 
     Those that do earn the support and gratitude of everyone in 
     Massachusetts.

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