By Carolyn Inmon
CCA President 2005-2007
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| CCA President Carolyn Inmon is flanked by CCA board member for part-time faculty Dee Wood and CCA Vice President Lee Haggarty, winner of the CCA/CTA State W.H.O. Award. All three are leaving office after several years of service. |
Recently, I heard from a former student who is now an intern in the Los Angeles Mayor’s office. She had two brothers killed in gang violence and became a foster child. Although angry, she realized that her future was up to her. Like so many she had one choice – a community college. Two years later, she transferred to UC Berkeley. My husband and I took her to that beautiful campus where a few months later I watched her induction into Phi Beta Kappa, one of 18 juniors chosen out of 7,000. There was no way that she could have been there without the community college. It was an impossible dream.
Community colleges make dreams come true. Each of you has stories like this. In fact, this is why you chose our system – so you could be part of the miracles. Thank you for keeping the miracles alive!
Making dreams come true
As I leave the CCA Presidency I want to thank you – all the miracle workers – for the work that you do. We are the largest system of higher education in the world but we make the dreams come true one dream at a time. The dreams are of transfer, improving job skills, entering the work force, learning a new language, and many more. We are the community’s colleges. Thank you for keeping the dream alive!
Unfortunately, the voices of the critics are getting louder. They have been attacking us for not having enough graduates or transfers. They don’t understand our multi-purpose endeavors. Thank you for standing up to them with your letters to the editor.
I want to thank everyone for the work you do in the classroom. You are present when the light bulb goes off in a person’s head. You are present when life interferes with perfect attendance and a motivated but busy student needs your help. You are present when that student needs encouragement. The critics aren’t there. You are and it is you that deserve the kudos. Thank you for keeping education alive!
Thanks to faculty leaders
To faculty leaders, I want to thank you for the work you do in the Faculty Association office. The hundreds of hours you spend negotiating, handling grievances, electing faculty-friendly board members, being trained, serving on committees, rewriting documents and sitting in meetings are appreciated. Our system is an interesting one. At the state level we fight for systemwide concepts, legislation and regulations but you still have to negotiate most everything. Thank you for that. Thank you for keeping local control alive!
Whether you are primarily in the classroom or primarily in the union office, you keep democracy alive because you keep hope alive. I love the sentence, “The mission of the community college system is to prevent the permanent underclass.” That is not a sentence that the critics understand as they focus on their numbers and their business model. Thank you for keeping upward mobility alive!
The critics who wrote the recent report Rules of the Game would like to institute inappropriate entrance requirements, assessment and placement. They would like flexibility with money and hiring so they can do whatever they want with both of them. They would like to raise student fees and tie state funding to completions. They believe that we give a false sense of opportunity. Well, I’d rather have that than no opportunity at all. Thank you for keeping opportunity alive!
Uniqueness makes us great
As mentioned before, we serve many people and many goals. Because we are unique they want to change us. It is our uniqueness that makes us great. Thank you for keeping uniqueness alive!
Thank you for the privilege of representing you in the state conversations about these and other important topics. Thank you for allowing me to be “the Voice of CCA” at the Board of Governors, the Consultation Council, and the Council of Faculty Organizations. I often thought of the faculty representatives as “the conscience.”
It has been a pleasure to serve you at the state level but one of my main goals has been to build stronger locals. Thank you for your hospitality as I made over 70 visits to almost all of our chapters on “The Listening Tour.” I loved visiting all the different places and learning about your cultures, your miracles and how you keep the dreams alive.
As I said at the end of the Spring Council meeting, “Thank you for allowing me to serve. Thank you for trusting me with this important position. Thank you for allowing me to be “The Voice of CCA” It was an honor!”
I wish Ron Norton Reel and his team maximum success and I thank them in advance for their hard work, wisdom, and dedication to CCA/CTA/NEA.
