[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 108 (Tuesday, July 19, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1354]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN RECOGNITION OF THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HARRY VAN ARSDALE JR. 
         CENTER FOR LABOR STUDIES AT SUNY EMPIRE STATE COLLEGE

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                          HON. JERROLD NADLER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 19, 2011

  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the Harry Van 
Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies at SUNY Empire State College on 
the occasion of its 40th anniversary.
  The New York State legislature created SUNY Empire State College in 
1971 in order to provide educational opportunities to adults not 
adequately served by traditional residential colleges. At the same 
time, it also established the Center for Labor Studies, which was 
renamed in 1986 to honor the distinguished labor leader, the long-time 
business manager of LBEW Local 3 and president of the New York City 
Central Labor Council, who did so much to support its creation.
  The Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies at SUNY Empire 
State College continues to fulfill its namesake's dream of providing 
wage-earning adults with an opportunity to develop their labor 
leadership skills and to earn a college degree in a learning 
environment that celebrates their achievements and recognizes their 
particular needs. To do so, the Van Arsdale Center provides flexible, 
worker-friendly educational programs delivered by highly qualified 
faculty to ensure that its trade union students and other working 
adults may acquire the analytical and communicative skills that are the 
hallmark of a college degree.
  The center currently serves several important constituencies in the 
New York City area, including IBEW Local 3 and United Association Local 
1 apprentices, as well as paraeducators affiliated with the United 
Federation of Teachers. The longest-standing of these partnerships is 
with the Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry in New York 
City (JIB), and it is one of the center's most successful partnerships. 
Since 1978 every registered electrical apprentice in IBEW Local 3 has 
been required to complete, in addition to their related classroom 
instruction in electrical theory, an academic course of study in which 
they learn to read and write at the college level and for which they 
are awarded a college degree; or, if they already have a degree, a 20-
credit certificate in ``Labor and the Construction Industry.'' Other 
programs were added later: the paraeducator program of the UFT in 2006, 
the college degree program of UA Local 1 in 2008; and others are in 
development.
  The Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Center for Labor Studies has graduated more 
than 5,000 men and women, many of whom have gone on to hold positions 
of honor in the New York City labor movement and beyond. Please join me 
in congratulating this exemplary educational organization on the 
occasion of its 40th anniversary.

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