[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 8767-8768]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING MERRITT COLLEGE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 5, 2005

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Merritt College, one of 
the 9th Congressional District's outstanding institutions of higher 
education, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
  Located in the East Oakland hills, Merritt College is part of the 
Peralta Community College District in Alameda County. Merritt College 
is named for one of the pioneer developers of Oakland, Dr. Samuel 
Merritt, who first came to Oakland in 1850. When the community college 
concept was still evolving, Merritt College and one of its sister 
campuses, Laney College, were known earlier as the Merritt School of 
Business and the Joseph C. Laney Trade and Technical Institute. In July 
of 1953, the Board of Education created Oakland Junior College, 
developing Laney and Merritt as separate and distinct campuses of the 
new institution. The following year Merritt added a liberal arts 
curriculum to the already established business program, and in June 
1955, the first students graduated with Associate in Arts degrees.
  In November 1963, local residents voted to establish a separate 
junior college district, which was named in honor of Sgt. Luis Maria 
Peralta, the 19th-century owner of the 44,800 acres throughout which 
the district campuses are located. The following summer, the Board of 
Education voted to offer vocational, technical and liberal arts courses 
on each of the existing campuses. In 1965, voters passed a $47 million 
bond issue for the construction of additional campuses, and in 1971 
Merritt College moved from Grove Street to its current home in the East 
Oakland hills.
  Since that time, the faculty and students at Merritt College have 
continued the campus'

[[Page 8768]]

tradition of academic excellence. Offering programs in over 70 
different academic and vocational fields, Merritt enrolls more than 
6,500 students each semester and equips its graduates for careers in 
law, medicine, art, nursing, government, radiological technology, early 
childhood education and more. Merritt offers day and evening programs 
of transfer, technical, occupational and basic skills education, and 
its programs and services have historically been provided by 
distinguished faculty and staff who are widely known and respected in 
their disciplines.
  In addition, the student body at Merritt College represents a variety 
of cultures from throughout the U.S. and the world. Merritt is known 
for its outreach efforts and initiatives that seek to make education 
available to all, as evidenced by its work at the Fruitvale Education 
Center, local high schools and child care centers, and at Oakland City 
training centers for the police and fire departments. Merritt College 
sets a leading example of the steps that our educational institutions 
must take in order to make high-caliber educational experiences and 
credentials available, accessible and affordable to all.
  On Friday, May 6, 2005, our community joins together to celebrate the 
innumerable contributions Merritt College has made to Oakland and the 
East Bay during the past half-century. Particularly during a time when 
our educational system is facing new and growing challenges, it is 
important for us to be able to look to exemplary institutions such as 
Merritt for encouragement and inspiration. On behalf of the 9th 
Congressional District, I salute and congratulate Merritt College for 
50 extraordinary years of service to our community. Merritt's students 
and stewards have demonstrated that an institution of higher education 
can not only be dynamic and innovative, but can truly be a force for 
hope, community empowerment and social change.

                          ____________________