Current News


23 September 2009

Fellow Students, Friends,

What an exciting September we’ve stepped into.  We’re well into MCTC’s first annual Leadership Week, and I’m excited by the outcome of the hard work that Director of Student Life, Tara Martinez, and students Jessica Braun, Geoff Dittberner, myself and countless others have contributed to making this event a success.  This week we’re honored to host Representative Rukavina, Senator Dibble, Wiona LaDuke, and Camille Cyprian from Welstone Action!.  I’m sure you’re all looking forward to the open mic at Coffeehouse on Tuesday, but don’t forget the State of the Student address on Wednesday too. 

I can’t deny that I’ve great anticipation for the outcomes of this week’s elections, and I’m beaming with pride at those student leaders who have taken up the task of running for positions which will foster the promise of a strong Executive Team while generating positive advocacy for the students of this great institution.

Interim Vice President, Geoff Dittberner and I, along with Academic Counselor and Advisor, Jamal Adam returned from the MSCSA Governing Council Conference held at Hibbing Community College this past weekend.  I’d like to congratulate Geoff for being elected Region Metro West’s Platform Committee Representative.  In addition, I was elected as MSCSA’s Presidents’ Group Vice Chair, and look forward to working with Inver Hills Community College’s President and Presidents’ Group Chair, Abby Ledvina in making this committee an active voice for the advancement of higher education in Minnesota.  Geoff and I will have an MSCSA report and presentation at the September 30th Senate.

Senate membership continues to grow by leaps and bounds.  I thank you all for your dedication and commitment to one of the strongest student governments in the state.  Continue to be active and make action happen, my friends, I am here to support you in every way that I can.

Shine on!

 

T.J.

State of the Student Address
23 September 2009

Today we find ourselves in a climate of changing priorities.  But as students, where do those changing priorities find us?  When many of us were infants, a college student could afford to pay tuition and a large portion of their living expenses working 12 hours a week on minimum wage.  Today, that same college student sitting next to us in English 1111, Math 80, or Drawing I, has to work over 60 hours a week at minimum wage to cover the cost of tuition and fees alone. 

 

Thirty years ago the priorities were standard, part of a middle class status quo existing from the American suburban golden age of the 1950s:  High school, college, job, retirement.  But now, the cost of attending an institution of higher education is so exorbitant, even students attending two year colleges such as MCTC are forced to prolong their educational careers by years in order survive at or even below the poverty level.

 

This shift in the financial fostering of education has led to the enslavement of students to debt, a consequence that requires a student to forego the control of their post degree destiny.  In short, one might say, the state of the student sucks.  But here’s where I’ll disagree.

 

In this same climate of changing priorities, students themselves have chosen to take back their student life, and reassess the priorities of their education.  In my two-and-a-half years at MCTC I have seen the advocacy and movements, the organization of a passionate league of students reject the traditional ideology of college life and carve out a place and society which is the legacy of our student body, and the inheritance of those students yet to come.

 

I do not have to ask you to catch a vision of the greatness of the student will, to catch the vision of a united union of persons who thrive to rise above the ignorance holding us behind.  Through self-betterment we have turned to face the achievement of education, the achievement of the student. We are a community.

 

This morning we have seen the activism of student life on this campus, we have heard choirs call a chant from the Central African Ituri Rainforest Nation.  This wordless song assembles the people while evoking the values and ideology of society: the gathering together of a community.  

 

And we are a community college, a community of students who have chosen to reassemble the priorities of our lives in order to maximize our time, to benefit fully from the advantages of higher education.  No longer are student fees subject to the restitution of previous years’ initiatives, instead they have been newly distributed towards the advancement of the majority of students.  On our campus, we have witnessed this progressive social movement led by students and supported by faculty, staff, and administration, take the form of institutionalized healthcare, subsidized public transportation, and an increased fostering of leadership within student life. 

 

While the country rages over the merits and demerits of socialized healthcare, and while H1N1 is a daily topic of discussion, we may look at the students of this very institution as models for the advancement of a universal healthcare system.  Two years ago, former Student Body President, Aaron Spiegel along with MCTC student leader alum, Charles Rinerson sparked the dream of healthcare for every student who was a member of this campus community, and with great admiration for the work led by my two dear colleagues, we can look forward to an unprecedented victory of student achievement with the November arrival of a student clinic on this very campus.

 

We are fortunate to have an administration that has pledged to maintain competitive tuition and student fees in comparison to other metro area schools.  But it is not only the administration’s pledge that advances the ability of an accessible education for our students; it is also the efforts of the advocacy work led by students themselves.  Student leaders have heard the concern of their fellow students regarding affordable transportation, and have again reassessed educational priorities in helping to subsidize the cost of our Metro Go-To Bus Pass, making it the most affordable form of public transportation in the state.     

 

But there is still work to be done.  The concerns of institutional racism, sustainability, and sky-rocketing tuition remain challenging issues for students to tackle.  The fostering of leadership within student life promises to help address these pressing issues on this, the most diverse and populous college campus in the State of Minnesota, and I pledge to work towards the goals of racial equality, sustainability, and reasonable tuition within this institution.  The past two years have seen a flourishing of student involvement and student life, the likes of which have rarely been seen on this campus.  This growth of social involvement and campus pride only serves to advance the progress of higher education at MCTC, and the prosperity of the individual student experience. 

 

My time at MCTC has been one of extreme personal growth, the greatest gift of which has been my pride felt in the fellow students who sit next to me every day.  This summer I had the honor of watching as two MCTC students, Danela Chavez and Giovana Nido, worked diligently to pass a nation wide initiative in favor of increased scholarships for international students.  At their victory, with tears in my eyes, I realized that such an experience—such a time of change—is one of magnanimous proportions, and one I am honored to witness and be a part of.  Never had I been more proud of anything in my life.  Never have I been more proud to be one of you, a student of Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

 

Last year we were told that the state of the student is strong, but again, I disagree.  The state of the student is not only strong, my friends, the state of the student thrives.