DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 220 140 JC 820 394

AUTHOR Vaughan, George B.TITLE The Community College in America: A Pocket History.

AACJC Pocket Reader, 4.INSTITUTION American Association of Community and Junior

Colleges, Washington, D.C.REPORT NO ISBN-0-87117-120-1PUB DATE 82

NOTE 47p.AVArLABLE FROM American Association of Community and Junior

Colleges, One Dupont Circle, N.W., Washington, DC

20036 ($4.00).

EDRS PRICEDESCRIPTORS

MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS.College Programs; *College Role; *Community Colleges;*Educational History; Educational Legislation;Educational Philosophy; Professional Associations;State Colleges; *Two Year Colleges; Two Year College

Students

ABA STRACTThis booklet provides a brief historical outline of

the development of community and junior colleges in the United

States. After a discussion of the philosophical basis of community

college education, the booklet considers the origins of the communitycollege movement, trading its history from the Morrill Act of 1862-

which led to the creation of land grant colleges; discussinglegislation passed in California in the early 20th Century to aevelop

and fund junior colleges in the state; and reviewing the development

of the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges:from its

creation in 1920. Next, the significance of the 1944 GI Bill and the

1942 Truman Commission on Higher Education are discussed in relation

to the mission of community colleges in the post World War II period.

The boom years of community college growth from 1960 are thendiscussed with reference-t-o key events and figures; the rise of

statewide systems and state support; the growth of the open door

concept and the increases in student financial aid during thisperiod; the role of leadership in the era of growth and in the

future; the position of student services and the increase inpart-time students; and the changing mission of community colleges.

Finally, an outline of the community college today discusses changes

in college governance, methods of maintaining leadership, thechanging political context, and the development of a body of

literature on the community college. (HB)

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"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLYHAS BEEN GRANTED BY

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TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."__

4.1. DEPARTMENT Of EDUCATIONLATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION

CENTER (ERIC)

11:1 This document has Wen reproduced asreceived from the person or orgaiazahonoriginating it. if

ri Minor changds have been made to wribrovitreproduction ouf lay.

.-,

Points of view or opinions stated in the docu-

rnericlinAssociation

ofmerit do not necesurip represent ottksal NIE

Cononinity

andJunior

Collegespo.toon 0,

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^ _

2

George Vaughan,

George B. Vaughan.is president ofPiedmont Virginia Community Col-lege, Charlottesville, Virginia. He alsoteaches courses on the community col-lege at the University of Virginia. Heis a former member of the AACJCBoard of Directors.

Dr. Vaughan earlier served as president of MountainEmpire Community College in Virginia and as dean ofinstruction at Virginia Highlands Community College.

He received his Ph.D. degree from Florida StateUniversity and has written extensively about the com-munity college.

Single copy price: $4.

Bulk orders sent to one address: 12 copies

for $25.

A FREE copy of Pocket Reader No. 3Some Tough QuestionsAbout CommunityColleges will be sent with every copy of any

other Pocket Reader ordered.

Copyright 1982; American Association ofCommunity and Junior CollegesOne Dupont Circle, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20036

Dale Parnell, Publisher

1. Printed in U.S.A.

ISBN 0-81117-120-1

Contents

Introduction 4

The Community College In America:Its Origins

The Community College In America:Establishing Its Mission

The Community College In America:The Boom Years

The Community College In America:The Scene Today

A Final Word

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21

33

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Introduction

A history of community and junior col-

lege development has been needed for manyyears. It has existed in bits and pieces inseveral places but not in a form easily used by

many people. Several books on communitycolleges have chapters on the history of themovement.- And there are histories of this

Association and of colleges and even statesystems.

What George Vaughan has attempted isa brief historical outline that identifies thesignificant es en ts, developments, people. anddates. He is the first to say his "pockethistory does not fill the need for a morecomplete study. However. what he presents isexactly what many people want: a quickand easy refereme to the .sequence of eventsand the bash.. relationships that make up the

community college story.This document is timely because we are

entering a period when hundreds of commu-nity colleges will be observing their twentiethanniversanes. It %Las approximately two dec-aderago that many states set out to createstatewide system of public community col-leges. From 1963 to 1975 nearly ((X) newcommunity colleges were established, morethan doubling the total number of such insti-

4

tutions. The story of that remarkable devel-opment will be retolthmany times in the nextfew years as hundreds of localities celebratethc achievements of their own communitycolleges as well as those of what is now anational network of more than 1,200 com-munity, technical, and junior colleges. Thisbooklet will be a useful reference for personspreparing for such observances.

George Vaughan is the ideal author for apiece like this. He has studied the communitycollege and taught courses about its devel-opment. He has helped establish and adminis-ter community colleges. He has been an activepartkipant in the national forums that examine critical policy issues that affect the institu-tions. And he is a thoughtful and carefulwriter.

The monograph is one of a series of"AACJC Pocket Readers.' initiated earlierthis year. Other titles in the series are listedon the hack cover.

Roger Yarrington

I-4

r5

Thomas Jefferson

6 r-C,5

The CommunityCollege In . .

America:A Pocket History

On July 1, 1981, Dale Parnell becamepresident of the AACJC. He is the first

person to serve as the head of the AACJCwho came to his position directly from apublic commanity college. Coming to thepresidency of the Association from the posi-tion of president-supenntendent of San JoaquinDelta Community College in California,Parnell's appointment )ymbolically representsthe last link in the transformation of theprivate junior colteg-e of -the early part of thecentury to the public community college oftoday.

The public community college in Amer-ica today is a coat of 'wily colors. Borrowingheavily from the public high school, theprivate junior college, and the four-year col-lege and university, the community collegenot only possesses characteristiLs found in all,

7

.4 these but at the same time maintains anidentity of its own.

lnflutmced ,!)\ such divcm forces,as theProgressie Moement and injustry's demandfor trained teLhnicians. the community col-lege embodies Thomas Jeffel-son's belief thatan education should be practical as well asliberal. The community college philosophycalls for. as did Jefferson. education to sere,ethe good of both the indi% idual and society.Egalitarianism is a hallmark of the commu-nity Lollege philosophy. Indeed, the commu-nity colkge's open door has often proidedthe only access to higher education for mil-lions of Americans.

Since the community college with itsbroad soLial implications did not deelop in aaLuum. one can point to certain bench-marks in its doelopment. Prior to 1930. the-iumor college- fundikm was in the ascend-ancy in public as well as prnate two-yearcolleges. The primary purpose of those col-leges was generally seen as proiding the firsttwo years of the baccalaureate degree. By the1930's. occupational technical education hadbeLome a permanent and major component)1 the community college curriculum.

While community ser% ices and continu-ing education hme long been a part of thecommunity 'college philosophy. it was notuntil the 1970's that the concept of lifelong

8 1

William Rainey Harper

learning fur 2(du Its gained hegemony in manycommunity colleges. Today, lifelong learningin its mans forms occupies a place of promi-nence beside the_ transfer and occupational-technical functions.

Before outlining the significant eventsthat have influenced the development of thepublic community college in America, somedisclaimers are in order. First, no attempt ismade to provide an in-depth analysis of anyof the acti,ities listed. The listing is rather aroadmap that might be useful to those whowish to have a general understanding of theflow of events that were important in thedevelopment of the community college.

Second, no attempt is made to deal withsuch ()load concepts and achievements as the

I1 4.

9

rise of affluence in ,American society, the--broad acceptance and usage of the automo-bile (the community colleges lifeblood aswell as its potential Achilles heel), the civilrights movement and its demand for equalaccess for everyone, and American democ-racy. These movwents, along with manyothers, have contrWited greatly to the devel-*pment of the.;community college, but theydefy cataloging in a sense that would becompatible with this pgcke reader.

JustinMorrill (courtesyLibrary oficongress)

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The Community College In America:Its Origins

The Mortill Act of 1862. The MorrillAct of 1862 greatly broadened the base ofhigher education. The land-giAnt institutionsresulting from the act taught both studentsand subjects previously excluded from highereducation. These institutions gav e credenceto the concept of the "people's college," aterm widely used to describe communitycolleges. In many respects. the land-grantinstitutions fought the battles regarding "prac-tical'. v ersus "liberar education. wh s ougo to college. and what courses and pro amsshould legitimately be included as a part ofhigher ..duLation. and thus paved the %ay forsmular battles later fought by communitycolleges. The Morrill Act of 1862 and thelater 1890 "second Morrill Ac( were thz:most impoitant moves by the fe5leral gov-ernment into the field of higher education in

the nineteenth century. These acts providedthe philosophic,i1 base on which later federalaid to higher education would rest. ,In sum-mary. the community college borrowed heav-

ily from the land-grant institutions andcontinued and expanded the democratizationtheme developed largely as a result of theMorrill Act of 1862.

II

Views of Nineteenth and Early Twenti-eth Cen to) Edut ational Leaders. Severaleducational _leaders of the last half of thenineteenth and early part of the twentiethcentury. many of whom were influenced bythe German unnersity model, adwcated re-moing the first two years of higher educa-tion from the uno,ersity setting and placingthem in a separate institution. Prominentamong those adwcates were Henry P. Tappan,president of the Unkersity of Michigan, Wil-ham Watts Folwell, president of the Unier-sity of Minnesot,t, Dam' Starr Jordan, presidentof Stanford Umsersity, Axis Lange, dean atthe Unnersity of California at Berkeley, andWilliam Rainey Harper. president of the Uni-i,ersity of Chicago. Lange was especially in-fluential in tht...gnelopment of junior collegesin California. Fie was an early achocate of theteaching of technical subjects and some -ter-minal- programs in junior colleges.

William Rainej Harper. Considered bymany to be the 'father of the junior college inAmerica,- Harper became president of theUniersity of Chicago in 1892. As president,Harper put Into operation many of the ideasof Folw ell ,md others. He established a juniorLollege within the organizational structure ofthe Unnersity of Chicago. Harper was suc-cessful in adwk,ating that some weak four-y ear colleges drop the last two years and

12 1Li

become junior colleges. Significant in thiscase was Stephens College in Missouri whichdropped its last two years and became one ofthe nation's outstanding junior colleges be-fore it reverted to its original four-year status.More significant for the development of thepublic community college was Harper's influ-ence 3n having two years added to the highschool program in Joliet, Illinois, in 1901.Joliet Junior College is considered to be theoldest existing public junior college in thenation. While the modern-day communitycollege is quite different from the juniorcollege as envisioned by Harper, he is never-theless still viewed bv many as the "spiritualfather" of the "movement."

Original building, Joliet Junior College

131

t.)

California Legislation. In 1907, Califor-nia passed legislation sponsored by state Sen-ator Anthony Caminetti shich authorizedhigh satools to offer postgraduate educationmany were already doing sot which approx-imated the first two years of college. The1907 law was the first state legislation toauthorize Imal junior colleges, although nofunding was prosided. In 1917, Californiapasseg a bill pros iding state and county sup-port for junior college students on the samebasis as that pros ided for high school stu-dents. In 1921, the state passed legislationpros iding for the organization of independentjunior college districts with their own boards,budgets, and operating procedures. The Cali-fornia legislation, permissise rather than man-datory, prosided for local control, equatedthe first two years of junior college work withthe first two years of unisersity work, ex-tended publk. eduLation to the thirteenth andfourteenth years, and endorsed the conceptof flaking public institutions of higher educa-tion asailable locally. The California lawswere models, in many respects, for legislationin other states.

Founding 0/1/it Atnerican Association ofJunior Colleges. A two-day meeting held in St.Louis, Missouri, on June 30 and July I, 1920,resulted in the founding of the AmericanAssociation of Junior Colleges (AAJC). The

14 "LI

1920 meeting was ca!led by the U.S. Commis-sioner of Educatit a and was coordinated by

George F. Zook, specialist in higher educa-tion for the U.S. Bureau of Education. A key

person in the conference was James NI. Wood,

president of Stephens College and an admirerof the ideas of William Rainey Harper. Dele-gates to the St. Louis conference moved to

organize a national association of junior col-leges. The first annual meeting of the AAJCwas held in Chicago in February, 1921. At

that meeting a constitution was adopted; thejunior college in America now had a nationalforum. ONer the years the American Asso-ciation of Community and Junior Colleges

(its name was changed in 1972 to reflectmore accurately its membership) has repre-

sented the nation's community colleges atthe national level. The organization's prin-cipal medium. begun in 1930, the Communityand Junun College Journal (the Junior Col-lege Journal until the association changed itsname to include 'community"), has providedthe mocernent with a detailed chronologicalstatus report of eents and practices affect-

ing the community college moement in

America. The Association was actively sup-ported by such early leaders as Doak S.Campbell, Leonard V. Koos, James Wood,Leland Medsker, Walter Crosby Eel Is, andJesse P. Bogue. to name a few. Campbell

15

served as executive secretary from 1922 to1938; Eel ls was executive secretary from19384945kand Bogue from 1946-1958. Today,

imembers n the Association consist of 917two-year institutions, of which 861 are publicand 56 are independent. Some 2,000 peopleattended the annual meeting of the Associa-tion held in St. Louis in 1982, quite a contrastto the thirty-eight representatives who cametogether in the same city almost sixty-twoyears earlier.

Early Works on the Junior College. In1924, Leonard V. Koos published a two-volumeset entitled The Junior College, and in 1925he published The Junior College Movement.In 1931 Walter Crosby Eel ls published TheJunior College. These three volumes are schol-arly works which contain much of the availa-

e

1 6

-1 r,

.0

/

He information on the junior college move-

ment during the first quarter of the current

century. The volumes contain valuable statis-

tics and provide the basis for much of thethinking that has shaped the community cOl-

lege during this centruy. Both Koos and Eel Is

are viewed as playing significant roles in the

shaping of the two-year college. Their hooks

should he read by anyone who wishes to

understand the historical development of the

community college in America.

The Community College In America:Establishing Its Mission

The GI Bill o/ Rights. The Servicemen's

Readjustment Act, popularly known as the

GI Bill, passed Congress in 1944. The GI Billprovided a form of scholarship for N e te ra ns ofNiorkl Viar II. V+ hile entitlement to the moneyrested on military service, and while thevoucher went to the educational institution,

the GI Bill nevertheless represented a ma"jor

step toward breaking the financial accessbarrier for millions of N eterans of World War

II and later U,S. military activities. Moreimportant. perhaps, is the fact that the 01

Bill marked a nia_wr milestone in regard to

federal involvement in the financing of higher

education for indisiduals. Although the pe-

nod following the war placed emphasis on

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17

the academically qualified, many social andeconomic barriers were broken by the return-..ing veterans. No longer was it fashionable ordesirable for only those people who wereextremely bright or who happened to be fromthe "right" family to attend college; the GIBill broke the barriers and provided the basisfor a later commitment on the part of thefederal government to see that no one wasdenied access to higher education because offinancial need. This philosQphy and laterprograms ol direct student aid have hadenormous impact upon the community col-lege's enrollments, its student body composi-tion, its programs, and us overall mission.

The 1947 President's Commission onHigher Education tor Anwrican Democracy.The so-called Truman Commission, reportingat the end of World War II, was conternedlest the democratic ideals for wfiich the na-tion had gone to war be lost in the post-waryears. Chaired by George F. Zook, the per-son who had played a major role in thefounding of the American Association ofJunior Colleges, the Commission believedthat if America was successfully to fulfill itsrole as the world's leading advocate for de-mocracy, the nation must break down thebarriers to educational opportunity at thepost-high school level. One way of breakingdown the barriers, the Commission felt. was

18,

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to establish a network of community collegesthroughout the nation, thus placing highereduC:ational opPortunities within reach of agreater number of citizens. These communitycolleges would haw no tuition, woukl serveas cultural centers for the community, offercontinuing education for adults, emphasizecmic responsibilities. be comprehensise, offertechnical and general education, be locallycontrolled, and blend into statewide systemsof higher education, while at the same timecoordinating their efforts with the high schools.The Commission's use of the term "commu-nity college" popularized the term and influ-enced its use by Bogue in his 1950 hook onthe community college. The Commissionclearly placed community colleges in highereducation's camp. Stating its belief that forty-nme percent of the nation's yiuth couldprofit from two years of educatibn beyondhigh" school, the Conunission's report did

much to thrust the community college intothe mainstream of the debate as post-warAmerica strose to define America's brand ofdemocracy in terms of an educated populace.

Jesse P. BoguePost-War Spokesmwi.-the emerging community college, much likethe rest of the nation, sought strong leader-ship during the period following World War

11. I he demand by returning veterans, thephthisophical boost gis en the community col-

(19

lege by the Truman Commission, new andexpanding industriesind a nation on theserge of a population explosion, all combinedto place the community college in a positionto proide sersices yet undreamed of. Yet theAAJC had suffered some troubled times dur-ing the war years. The Association neededsomeone at its head who could not onlyarticulate the new role of the communitycollege but who also had an appreciation ofthe contributions made by the Junior college.The person who emerged as this spokesmanwas Jesse P. Bogue. Bogue, former presidentof Green Mountain Junior College in Ver-mont, sered as executise secretary of theAAJC from 1946 to 1958. Bogue did much tocalm the waters,of the still fledgling AAJCwhen he became secretary. In 1950, he pub-lished The Communitt College, a significantstatement on the still emerging modern-daycommunity Lollege. The olume's title is sym-bolic of the transition that w:is taking pface asmore and more Cinphasis was being placedon the two-year college as a comprehensiveinstitution, supplementing and, in some casesreplacing, the more traditional Junior college.By the start of the boom period in communitycollege growth in the 196ifs, the communitycollege had a firm grasp of its mission and ofthe role it was to play in the nation's schemeof higher education. Bogue's leadership was a

20(-1)Afto

key factor in community college develop-ment during the post war years and prior tothe growth boom.

The Community College In America:The Boom Years

The W. K. Kellogg Foundation's Fundingof Junior College Leadership Programs. On

March 4, 1960, the W.K. Kellogg Foundationpnnounced a series of grants totaling over11.6 million for the establishment of univer-sity centers devoted to the training of two-year college administrators. By the time thesupport of the Leadership Program ended in1974, 485 persons had been fellows in theprogram and financial support had reached$4.389,413. The initial grants went to tenuniversities to increase the competence andsupply of community and junior college ad-ministrators. The original ten centers werelocated at the University of California, Berke-

ley. the University of California. Los Angeles;Teachers Collek,e. Columbia University; theUniversity of Flu:ida, the Florida State Uni-versity, the University o(Michigan; the Mich-

igan State University; Stanford University;the University of Texas; and Wayne StateUniversity. By 1968, the University of Wash-ington and the University of Colorado hadbeen added to the original list of ten. The

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Kellogg-funded Junior College Leadership pro-gram produced many of the current commu-nity college leaders. Furthermore. many pro-fessors associated with the programs havebeen leaders in community college develop-ment.

Edmund J. GIenzer, Jr. Gleazer, formerpresident of Graceland College in Iowa. cameto the AAJC in 1956 to direct a publicinformation project. He stayed with the As-sociation for the next twenty-five years. OnApril I. 1958, Gleazer became ExecutiveDirector (the title replaced that of E4ecutiveSecretary when Gleazer took office; 'in f972the title was changed to President). a positionhe held until June JO. 1981. As head of theAssociation, Gleazer was the national spokes-man for community colleges and, in his roleas spokesman. probably did more than anyother individual to shape the vision of thecommunity college. He also played a key rolein obtaining the 1960 and subsequent Kellogggrants. Presiding over the boom period ofcommunity college growth. Gleazer saw en-rollments increase from 585,240 in 1958 to4,826,000 in the fall of 1980. During histwenty-three years as the head of the Associa-tion, he literally gae thousands of speeches,wrote hundreds of articles and columns, andpublished three books dealing with the corn-niunity college. The last of the three books,

e

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The Communhy College. Values, Vision. and

Vilaho.. is a composite of Gleazer's views

regarding the integration of the community

college with us community. A strong advo-

cate end promoter of lifelong learning andcommunity-based education. Gkazer saw the

community college as a catalyst for commu-nity change. Gleazer's long tenure as chief

spokesman for the community college, cou-

pled with the great period of growth in these

colleges. saw a meeting of the man and his

times rarely seen in modern-day American

higher educaticin.The Ri.se vi Suuesside Sysiems and Suue

Support In IWO, the American Association

of Junior Colleges published a compilation of

articles entitled Junior Colleges. 50 States 150

Years. In the introduction to the voluma

Roger Yarrington. the editor, notes that in

the fall of 1965 fifty new junior colleges

opened. continues: -The reasOn for thisunprecedented growth may be found by look-

ing at steps recently taken in a number ofstates. ...",,Steps taken to promote growth

were taken because states "... have recog-

nized a need for increased opportunity for

higher education, hae commiWoned stud-

ies, written master plans, pass0 legislation,and begun budding. The goal: statewide sys-

tems of community Junior colleges." The goal

has, for the most part, been achieved in most

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states: But statewide systenis ,have beenachieved only with the help of state.fundmg.Today, virtually esery state prolades the ma-jority of the financial support for its commu-nity colleges. Indeed, the community college

/operated by the public school teict is al-bloc, extinct. With state funding came adegret: of state control, and in some cases"superboard's type organiutions have emergedwhic tightly control the deselopment of

iunity colleges. While the true superboardN 'e, legislators are keenly aware of' theexistence of community colleges. S. V.Martorana found that state legislatiirs havepassed literally hundreds of laws affecting-community colleges. For example, he notesthat in l917. states reported 5'78 pieces.oflegislation affecting community colleges. ihisnumber compare% to 394 pieces passed in1973-75,While the deselopment of statewidesystems supported mOly with state fundshas eroded some local control, state fundinghas also created a partnership between stateand locality which made possible the rapidgrowth of community colleges. More impor-tantly. state funding has made it posible formany areas to have a community collegewithin commuting distance. an achiesementnot otherwise possible without state support.Moreover, state support has permitted thecommunity college to broaden its mission

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and to make the dream of open access tohigher education a reality for4 millions ofAmericans. Today,, the trend is for most statejegislatures to be less generous with financialsupport for community colleges than in thepast. But the fact remains that state support isvital to America's corrEnunity colleges. Forthe most part, the pp, tnership between stateand locality is working well, for communitycolleges, with their local boards, are moreresponsive to local needs than any other

.1 segment of higher education."Rie Open Door. Perhaps no single con-

cept irfluenced the development of the com-munity colleges as did the belief that allAmericans should have access to higher edu-cation. While the way was paved for Jpenaccess by the Truman Commission, the GIBill, and various other ev ents, it was not untilthe l960's that society , in part as a result ofvarious soLial movements and in part due tothe availability of student-based financial aid,committed itself to the belief that educationbeyond high school was a right and not just aprivilege. The result was the entry into highereducation of "new students'. who Lame fromthe lower quartile of their high school gradu-ating clas unu from the lower socioeconomicsegment of society. Prominent among thenew students were members of minorir groupsand women. Open access through the cam-

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munity college's "ope'n door" became thehallmark of the community college, and thework the community college has done and isdoing with the new students is among its most

b significant contributiOns to the nation's schemeof education.

Student Aid Legislation. Open access tohigher education was achieved during the1960's. A key to this achievement was finan-cial aid which went directly to the student asa grant and which was transportable frominstitution to institution. As suggested earlier,the federal government's first major involve-ment with providing aid to students was theGI Bill. Beginning with te Higher EducationAct of 1965 and continufng with th6. HigherEducatioVmendments of 1972, thefederalgoy ernmery committed itself to putting highereducation within reach of lower socio-economicgroups. The Basic Educational OpportunityGrants (1972) reiulted in a student voucherprogram that permitted the student to 'decidewhere to "draw on" the voucher. These BasicGrants, coupled with the Supplemental Edu-cational Opportunity Giants, the College WorkStudy Program. and the National Direct Stu-dent Loans,' havL made it possible for virtu-ally every American who could profit froman education to have the financial resourcesto do so, and in most cases to do so withoutassuming a large financial debt. The commu-

26 r

nity college has served millions of studentswho, in all probability, would not have at-tended college were it not for federally-fundedstudent aid programs.

Transitional Leadership. Dramatic changestook place in.the lidd of community collegeeducation during the 1960's. With its roots inthe past, it is doubtful if the communitycollege movement could have made the tran-sition smoothly during its period of rapidgrowth without the outstanding leadership itenjoyed during the transition period. While itis not the purpose of this brief history toevaluate the contributions of individuals, afew names must be mentioned if one is tofollow the thin thread of community collegedevelopment as outlined here. While some ofthe transition leaders are deceased, othersare still providing leadership. Most lists oftransitional leaders would likely include all ormore a the folloi.ving names: Clyde Blocker;

C. C. Colvert; Joseph P. Cosand; Edmund J.Gleazer, Jr., Norman Harris; B. Lamar John-son; Leonard'V. Koos; John Lombardi; S. V.Martorana. Peter Masiko, Jr., Leland Medsker,Bill J. Priest; Raymond Schultz, and JamesWatteRbarger. Thqse men, for the most part,had roots in the pre-boom period, yet wereactive leaders throughout much of the 1960'sand early 1970's. They not only served asspokesmen for the community college but

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became mentors for many of the communitycollege leaders who are active today.

The New Leadership. Due in part to acore of transitional leaders who served asmentors, due to the Junior College Leader-ship programs and other programs in thesame mold, and due to the demand for newleadership. a group of bigorous, relativelyyoung. leaders emerged in the L960's. Today, ,a number of these people are at the prime oftheir careers and are writing many of thebooks and articles on the community college,as well as pro% iding leadership at the state,national, and campus lebels. A complete list-ing of names would be birtually impossible,how eber. the new leader is often a collegepresident or dean, or a scholar of highereduLation debuting most of his or her time tothe community college. or a faculty memberwho is teadung in a community college throughprofessional commitment.

Student Services. Student services con-stitutes a major dibision in practically allcommunity colleges. While some collegeshabe taken steps recently to integrate studentseri, kes more fully into the instructional pro-gram. the student seri, ices dib ision is prima-rily conLerned with non-instructional acthities.Among the deli% ities traditionally associatedwith student ser; ices are counseling, studentactibities, admissions and records, testing,

28 3 0

articulation with high schools and four-yearinstitutions, college orientation, financial aid,athletics, student conduct, placement, healthservices, and any number of activities whichsupport the student and the instructiotialprogram. Growing out of a philosophy basedon in loco parenti.s, student services emergedduring the 1960's as a much broader concept,and today is vital to the operation of thewell-functioning community college. Shiftingits emphasis from student discipline and con-trol, student services has worked diligently toshed its housekeeping image. Many studentservices administrators are advocating andimplementing a "student development model"whereby the educational process is viewed ina holistic manner with student services playinga key role in that proms.

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Parmme Students. The 1970's saw part-time enrollments in higher education reachnew peaks. Indeed, in some states, part-timeenrollment reached as high as eighty percent.These part-time students were often olderthan traditional college students. most workedfull or part-time. many were women. Signifi-cant is the fact that part-time enrollmentsgreatly changed the composition of the stu-dent body. By the late 1970's the number ofwomen outnumbered men enrolled in com-munity colleges nationwide. The enrollmentof part-ume students. new students, olderstudents, and working students all combinedto make up a student body that was far fromtypik..al when Lompared to traihtional studentbodies made up almost entirdy of 18 24 year

olds.The Changing Mission. The community

college of today is. in many ways, far re-moved from the junior college of the earlypart of the century. In general. the changingmission has been an addition to rather than adeparture from the junior college as describedby Koos and Eel Is early in the century. By the1950s the mission had broadened to such anextent that Jesse Bogue could endorse theslogan of a Texas junior college whiCh pro-claimed that "We will teach anyone, any-where, anything, at any time whenever thereare enough people interested in the program

30

to justify its offering" (quoted in Arthur M.Cohen and Florence B. Brawer, The Ameri-can Communitt college, Jossey-Bass, 1982).The sloganivr some it ariation, of it, becamesomething of -a, battle cry for communitycolleges during the boom years of the 1960's.The critics claimed, rightfully so in someinstances, that, the community college wastrying to be all things to all people. Whilenever advocating that the community collegebe -all things," but no, ertheless instrumentalin the changing mission has been the leader-ship of Edmund J. Gleazer, Jr., and RogerYarrington of the American Association ofCommunity and Junior Colleges (AACJC).Gleazer, during the latter years of his tenureas president of the AACJC. advocated agreatly, broadened role for community col-leges. Calling for them to be community-based, performance oriented institutions,Gleazer tended to view community collegesas new institutions IA Inch dev oted much oftheir energies to finding solutions to socialproblems such as housing and unemployment.Often going beyond the expanding mission asadvocated by Gleazer and Yarrington havebeen services offered outside the regularcurriculum, many of w hich have been pro-vided under the rubric of community serv-ices. Indeed, practically anything is acceptableto community seri, ices practitioners who often

31

view their role to teach "anything, anywhere,any time" if enough people will gather to"justify" the offering. Community service ac-tivities, coupled with the rise in occupational-technical education, squeezed the transferfunction so tightly that it became barelyvisible in soMe institutions, thus departingdrastically from the junior college of the fifsthalf of the century. With cuts in funds,especially for non-collegiate activities, with anew call for quality nationally, and withGleazer no longer serving as President of theAACJC, the pendulum seems to, be swingingtoward a return to more traditional acadethicstandards and courses leading to certificatesand degrees, although the transfer functionshows little sign of moving back into theplace of prominence it once occupied.

Edmund J. Gleazer, Jr.

32

rt 4ti

e

The Community College In America:The Scene Today

Changing Patterns of Governance. Thegovernance structure of the community col-leges borrowed much from the public schools,resulting in a hierarchial structure with thechief administrator at the top and the facultysomewhere lower in the hierarchy. Duringthe 1960s several community college leadersargued strongly, , and with some success, for ashared authority model of governance. Today,the governance structure of most communitycolleges is neither clearly hierarchical norone based on shared authority; several fac-

tors have made both models impractical, ifnot impossible. The first factor has been the

movement toward statewide systems of com-munity colleges and the resulting controlsand bureaucratic red tape that go with such

systems. In many cases, the state coordinat-ing body and the legislature have more influ-ence on curricular decisions than do the localcollege faculty. The other influence is theincrease in the number of colleges engaged in

collective bargaining. In 1980, approximately260 community colleges had bargaining units.Collective bargaining does not fit well witheither the collegial or hierarchical model.The influence of unions, state and federalgovernments, and state coordinating bodies

t..0 33

has resulted in a governance structure thatmight he described as a political-bureaucraticmodel devoted to regulation and control. Asa result, a number of local colleges, andespecially those tlyt are a part of a strongstate system, are placed in a managementrather than governance stance. On the otherhand, many governing boards have remainedstrong and in control of the local collegesdestiny. A major factor in the movement tosee that governing boards maintain their policy-making powers is the Association of Com-munity College Trustees.

The Association of Community CollegeTrustees The Association of Community Col-lege Trustees (ACCT) split off from the Na-tional School Boards Association in 1972.With its national office in Washington, D.C.,the ACCT "... is the only national organiza-tion devoted to meeting the needs of com-munity college. technical college, technicalinstitute, and junior college trustees." A vol-untary, non-profit organization, the ACCT isprimarily concerned with developing trusteeswho are informed about their role,-the-goalsofthrc011ege, the budgeting process, thelegislative process, collective bargaining, andany number of activities u ith which the effec-tive trustee must deal. The ACCT holds anannual national convention and sponsors anumber of regional and national seminars. In

ri I*34

t...0 ...../

addition, the kirganization gives four nationalawards annually and issues a number ofpublications, including the Trustre QuarterlyRecently, , the ACCT formed a Business-Industry Council for the purpose of promot-ing cooperation between business and indus-try and the two-year college. Politically active,the ACCT serves as a countervailing force toencroachment on the role trustees have tradi-tionally played in higher education. The ACCTappears determined to be the organizationwhich serves the two-year college trustee,thus easing aside the older, larger, and broader-based Association of Governing Boards ,ofUniversities and Colleges.

Maintaining LeadershipThe PresidentsA c ademj . From its founding. the AACJC hasworked to develop the leadership abilities ofthe two-year college president. A significantstep in this ledership ll es elo pme n t was taken

m 1975 with the founding of the PresidentsAcademy. The Academy is "... a professionalorganization for presidents_of community.Junior, and technical colleges that are rnem-hers of the AACJC." Established by theAACJC Board of Directors, the Academyworks closely with the Board in sponsoring anumber of activities designed to enhance theleadership abilities of two-year college presi-dents. Prominent among the activities spon-sored by the Academy are the annual week-long

d" .....

s.. I35

Presidents Seminar for new presidents and----the Presidents Forum for experienced presi-dents. In addition to these seminars, theAcademy sponsors regional workshops, aswell as forums at the annual meeting of theAACJC. In 1982, the Academy establishedthe Presidents Academy Emeritus Guild forretired persons who had served as presidentcif a two-year college for at least ten years.Occasionally, the Academy issues publica-tions dealing with areas which are of interestto the presidents. The AACJC PresidentsAcademy appears to provide an effectiveavenue for the professional development oftwo-year college presidents.

The Political Scene. In June of 1978, theCalifornia voters passed Proposition 13, a lawdesigned to reduce property taxes in thatstate. The result of the passage of Proposition13 was a drastic cut in the amount of propertytax revenues going to support the Californiacommunity colleges. Although Proposition13-type laws did not materialize in a largenumber of states as some people predicted,local support for community collages hascontinued to decline and state support hascontinued to grow, but not necessarily at thesame rate. Coupled with declining local sup-port are the accomplished and threatenedcutbacks in federal student aid by the Reaganadminlstration. One result of fiscal restraints

36

--:is a return to the age-old question of whoshould pay for educationsociety or theindividual. There is evidence to suggest thatmore of the cost of education will be passedon to the community college student. Forexample, the 1982 tuition for students attend-ing community colleges in Virginia, while stillonly 23.6 percent of the total cost, will show a45 percent increase over the 1981 tuition.AnOiher factor entering the picture is a na-tional call for quality. This issue of qualky hasthe potential for causing community collegesto exclude some students, thus serving par-tially to close the open door. If the door ispartially closed, community colleges will likelycontinue to prosper; however, it is also likelythat the student body will contain fewerI members of the lower socioeconomic groups.

..

37

..

The Evolving Mission: The mission of

the community college, like community needs,,

is in an almost constant state of evolutionln

1981 the AACJC Board of Directors fgrmu-

!alai and adopted the following statthent:

-The mission of the American Association of

. Community and Junior Colleges is to exert

leadership, act.as advocate, and provide serv-

ices in support of community, junior, and

technical colleges, as these institutions de-

liver accessible educational opportunities de-

signed t&address the needs of the individuals.

organizations. and communities forming their

constituencies." Althoqh the missions of in-

dividual colleges differ in wording from the

mission of the AACJC, one can assume that

the A ACJC mission statement captures the

spirit of the missions of the individual col-

leges. Furthermore, while the emphasis of

community colleges has shifted over the years.

the major tenets of the mission have re-

mained intact as community colleges have

continued to emphasize the teaching func-

tion, accessibility, low cost. and comprehen-

sive offerings.Enrollments: Whil.: numbers never tell

the full story of anyundertakhg. it is never-

theless significant that community college

enrollments have continued to increase na-

tionwide into the 1980's. Fall enrollment for

1981 was 4.8 million students in credit courses,

38 A

.

with another 4 million participating in non-credit community services activities. The fall1981 enrollment represents a 1.9 percentincrwse over the fall 1980 enrollment. Womenconstitute 53 percent of the fall 1981 enroll-ment, minority students make up 21 percentof the enrollment. A diverse student bodycontinues to be a hallmark of the communitycollege.... ..

Developing a Body of Literature. For themost part, histories of higher education havetended to ignore community colleges. Whilethe literature dealing with the communitycollege is far from adequate, significant stepshave been taken toward filling some of thegaps. In addition to the Community andJunior College Journal, other journals ap-peared during the 1960's and 1970s. Amongthose devoted exclusively to the communitycollege are the Communaj College Review,Cwnmumty College Frontiers (no longer anational publication), the Cwnmunity Serv-kes Catalyst. and the Community 'Junior Col-lege Research Quarterly. Important in thepublishing of literature on the communitycollege has been and is the ERIC Clearing-house for Junior Colleges, which is discussedas a separate topic. In,addition, a number ofN ol um es have been published which havehelped chronicle and shape the communitycollege. Some of the significant books pub-

4 s':t 1

39

,.I

lished since 1960 are the following: TheJunior College: Progress and Prospect byLeland Medsker; Beyond the Open Door:New Students to Higher Education by K.Patricia Cross; The Two-Year College: ASocial Synthesis by Clyde E. Blocker, RobertH. Plummer, and Richard C. Richardson, Jr.;Islands of Innovation, by B. Lamar Johnson;This Is the Community College by Edmund J.Gleazer, Jr.; Breaking the Access Barriers: AProfile of Two-Year Colleges by L. Medskerand Dale Tillery; The Open-Door College: ACase Study by Burton R. Clark; Dateline 79:Heretical Concepts for Community Collegesby Arthur M. Cohen; and Governance in theTwo-year College by R. C. Richardson, Jr., C.

40-

E. Blocker, and Louis W. Bender. Threemajor texts have been published. They are:The Community Junior College by James W.

Thornton. Jr.: Profile of the Community Col-lege, by Chatles R. Monroe; and, just pub-lished 119824, The American Community Col-lege by Arthur M. Cohen and Florence B.Brawer. In addition to the N ol umes and au-thors just noted, significant works have beendone by David Brenernan, Michael Brick.David Bushnell, Roger Garrison, James F.Gollattscheck. Ervin L. Harlacher, WilliamHarper. Norman Harris. Frederick Kintzer,Dorothy Knoell, Robert Lahti, John Lombardi,S. V. Martorana, William Moore, GunderMyran, Terry Manion. John E. Roueche,James L. Wattenbarger, Roger Yarrington,Steven S. Zwerling. and others.

The ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Cobkges. Founded in 1966 ith funding from theNational Institute of Elucation, the ERICClearinghouse for Junior Colleges (ERIC:JCLlocated at the Univ ersity of California, LosAngeles, is one of sixteen federally-fundedclearinghouses. ERIC, JC. which has madesignifiLant contributions to the literature oncommunity colleges. is a specialized, non-profit information serv ice Iv idely used by ad-ministrators, researchers, and practitionersinterested in the two-year college in America.Arthur M. Cohen. ho has served as ERIC 'JCs

',I

director from its founding, is a key figure onthe coinmunity college scene nationally. Theliterature produced by ERIC. JC is well re-ceired and widely used by professional edu-cators. According to one long-time andwell respected community college leader, the:Veit Direction.s for Communits Colleges se-ries produced by ERIC '.1C has played animportant role in shaping the der elopment ofthe community college in America. In addi-tion to the New Directions series, ERICACpublishes a number of other monographs andtopical papers. These publications are inaddition k) the thousands of documents arail-able through the ERIC. JC research process.

Dale Parnell. While it is too early toeraluate the direction in which Parnell willattempt to guide the community college more-ment, there are early signs of where hisemphasis will be. /le is bringing a missionaryzeal to his role that is reminiscent of thatdisplayed by leaders during boom years of theearly l9Ws. he places a great deal of empha-sis upon working with the members of Con-gress and upon haring community collegeadrocates placed on key gm ernmental com-mittees. and he is stnring to bring about acloser working relationship between commu-nity colleges and business and industry. Withthe selection if Parnell as its president. theAACJC seems likely to continue to serve as

A !42 1

an effective voice for the community collegesat the national level.

. Dale Parnell

A Final Word

t-

N

These few pages have attempted to bringtogether a number of the pieces that make upthe community college in America. As thereader has discovered, the pieces do notalways fall neatly into place, forming a uni-form picture. This perhaps Is as it should be,for the events influencing the dev elopment ofthe community college are often as diverse asare the 1,200 community, technical, and jun-ior colleges across the nation.

A tj

-

43

In spite of the incompleteness of thispocket history, it is hoped that it will serve asa guide for administrators, board members,faculty members, students of higher educa-tion, and others interested in a quick glanceat this very complex phenomenon, the Amer-ican community college.

44

Ms American As3ociation ofa Community and Junior Colleges

AACJC Pocket Reader 1Proven Partners: Business, Labor,and Community Colleges

AACJC Pocket Reader 2Teaching Writing with theComputer as Helper

AACJC Pocket Rcader 3Some Tough Questions AboutCommunity Colleges

AACJC Pocket Reader 4The Community College in America:A Pocket History

ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges96 Powell Library BuildingUniversity of California

Los Angeles, California 90024

SfP 2 4 1982 4