MCLA Opens New Year, Honors Bosley
 President Mary Grant seeks out some of the new staff at MCLA. |
The college, now part of the state's university system, is welcoming its biggest freshman class in years from 16 states and beyond. More than 1,000 students are on campus this fall, including seven exchange students from Hebei University.
News of the $54 million Center for Science and Innovation will have to wait, though. President Mary Grant said the site selection will be announced next month and thanked the many college administrators, faculty and employees who have worked through the summer preparing for the long-anticipated groundbreaking.
The college has also added a new professional master of business administration program that will offer its first classes in January. Campus improvements include new windows and furniture for the Townhouse dormitories (that drew some soft cheers), a new computer lab in Murdock Hall, workstations and a coffee bar in the library, and ceilings and lighting in Bowman Hall. The college has also received a number of grants, the largest being $1.4 million in federal funding for student services.
Grant, however, told the more crowded room in the Amsler Campus Center that the state had to do more to promote and support its public education institutions.
"We have challenges and opportunities ... we have a real problem in Massachusetts with the funding for higher education," she said. "When you look at these levels, that fact that we are back at the funding levels we had in 2001 ... that's a very, very serious issue for the commonwealth of Massachusetts; one that we better deal with because it's not going to help us to be competitive."
Compared to Massachusetts' main domestic economic competitors, the state lags far behind. North Carolina, at No. 7, has pumped up its education spending by nearly 40 percent over the past five years while the Bay State has cut its funding by just over a quarter, putting it at the very bottom.
"It's hard to be No. 1 when you're 50th in terms of support for higher education," she said.
 Rep. William 'Smitty' Pignatelli jumps in front of colleagues Sen. Benjamin B. Downing and Rep. Daniel E. Bosley as they pose with former State House staffer and alumni relations coordinator Brandon Prender, left. |
Michele Ethier, acting president of the faculty association, said agreements should be honored. "I'm here to tell you we've had enough: Fund the contract," she said to applause, adding "Plaques, awards and thank-yous are important, they are validating but in the end, it's money that counts. Money is better."
Charles Cianfarini, president of the local chapter of the Association of Professional Administrators, said he was confident that the funding will come soon but it was not just about money. "We are at or below critical staffing levels," he said. "There must be good decisionmakers at the top but we must remember that as workers we can only do so much; as workers, the stresses we are under are considerable."
Grant's response was succinct: "No argument here."
Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lee, a member of the House Committee on Higher Education, said he understood the frustration that was being felt by all public employees.
"We need to honor all of them," he said. "We can't just pick higher ed, or pick the police. We can't just pick health and human services because if we pick just you over the others it's unfair to the others. We need to step up to the plate and honor all of them.
"They were negotiated in good faith, darn it all, they should be honored in good faith."
Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, said it was "silly" not to invest in the contracts. "That's the message the Berkshire delegation has brought back to the State House time and time again," he said. Noting his own graduation from the college, he told those assembled that they were critical in imparting the innovative and creative thinking necessary to pull the economy out of its greatest recession in 80 years. "You're the people who are going to turn our economy around."
 Staff, faculty, students and guests were at the annual convocation breakfast. |
"There's no greater champion at pushing something like that through in tough economic times than Dan Bosley," said Pignatelli, who called Bosley his hero and mentor. "He has made me a better state representative because he's taught me what it means to be a state representative."
State Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, said Bosley was someone who could bring people together and dig down for the facts. "Thank you for being a friend but more important thank you for being an incredible public servant," said the young senator, who couldn't resist the jibe, "when he first got in the Legislature I was 5 years old ... and had hair."
Bosley, in turn, assured the crowd that with Pignatelli now the senior lawmaker in the delegation and Downing's hard work, "I'm leaving you in very good hands."
 Trustees Chairwoman Jane Allen speaks with fellow board member Richard Lamb. |
He'd brought Kennedy's book hoping for a signature only to have the senator began underlining his favorite passages. "How cool is that?" he asked.
He also led the attendees in a rendition of "Happy Birthday" in recognition of Grant's birthday, which was Tuesday.
Classes at MCLA start Wednesday; Xavier Jackman, a 2000 graduate of the college and an attorney in the state of Florida, spoke at the convocation on Tuesday night.
