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This year Election Day and Veterans Day fall within days of each other, bookending the week with powerful imagery that each day offers independently but which links them inextricably together. On November 8, even in the midst of a divisive and toxic political environment, Election Day reassured us—everyday Americans that we are—that we have the power to define or redefine…
Continue readingA national decree in 1934 declared a day in October as Columbus Day. Last year, President Biden issued a proclamation announcing the celebration of Indigenous Peoples to coincide with that day, this year being October 10. I doubt that celebrating Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day on the same day is intended as a slight to the Italian American community. …
Continue readingSunday, September 11, 2022 marked the 21st anniversary of a day of acute national tragedy. Although the distance of time and memory has dimmed the shock of the horrific events of that day 21 years ago, the omnipresence of a slightly tamed, but still foreboding pandemic reminds us of the long reach these national disasters have upon us. Simultaneously, they…
Continue readingAlthough the perception of America’s colleges as tranquil oases of learning may have always been little more than a fanciful image, a harsh reality faces every community college president today. In a world seemingly gone mad in terms of gun violence, we are confronted with a challenge framed by a simple question: How do we keep our campuses safe? No…
Continue readingAs each new academic year begins, our college community assembles for a convocation (we call it Fall Focus) to launch a new semester and a new year. This year’s event was powered by the theme “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Focus.” Writ large, this title translates into a universal theme “Leading with Equity,” a mantra which transcends a single event,…
Continue readingMany of us think of commercials as a time to get up from the couch to grab something to drink and a bag of chips before Downton Abbey or the last episode of Game of Thrones resumes. CCBC commercials, however, strike a note worth heeding. We are not selling jewelry or potato peelers; instead, we are selling “futures.” CCBC College…
Continue readingFor many reasons, our community colleges will not look the same when we finally emerge from the pandemic. Recently I read a review of a first novel, titled “You Never Get it Back,” by a young woman named Cara Blue Adams. Her title offers an apt description of the ennui that many of us are feeling right now as we…
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