Congressman Neal Tours MCLA Science Center
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U.S. Rep. Richard Neal was on the MCLA campus on Monday to speak with students and faculty and get a look at the new science center. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — U.S. Rep. Richard Neal got a close-up look Monday at the under-construction science center at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
"I think this represents a long-term state commitment in Berkshire County and this will attract more students: It's as simple as that," said Neal after looking over some of the science labs being finished on the upper floors.
"Every couple of weeks you come in and see profound differences, walls are being put up, walls being painted," said MCLA President Mary Grant, who is eager to take possession of the building this August. "You see that and you can imagine in short order the teamwork and community work that will happen in this building ... this will be a hub of activity."
The brief hard-hat tour (press excluded) was the congressman's second swing through the county in less than a week. On Thursday, he'd joined officials at the "lighting" up of the broadband project and stopped at some of the hilltowns.
He first met with a group of professor Robert Bence's political science students and President Mary Grant in the history building behind the new center, then later met with other students and faculty before heading to a reception hosted by the Williamstown League of Voters at the Clark Art Institute.
The veteran congressman is still introducing himself to the 1st Massachusetts District, which includes parts of his old 2nd Mass (the Springfield area) and the new (Berkshire County), since winning the reconfigured seat last year. The Democrat proffered some of his background and his legislative stands (which elicited applause in Williamstown), including his votes for the Affordable Care Act that he called "a monumental achievement" and more than once against the war in Iraq.
The students were interested in his thoughts on partisanship, third parties and what to do after graduation.
"In spite of all the talk about a multi-party system there's no evidence that the American people have ever been prepared to embrace it beyond the personality of one figure," he told them, saying "the group that determines elections are suburban independents."
Along with the suburbs is a fluid block that used to vote straight Democratic — like labor union members and Catholics — that now swing back and forth depending on issues and rhetoric. The swing vote gave George W. Bush two terms, then gave two to Barack Obama, Neal noted, and gave Massachusetts a Ted Kennedy, a Bill Weld and a Scott Brown.
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Neal speaks with Margaret Bowden after receiving a pin from the Williamstown League of Women Voters. |
He traced the roots of the current partisanship to Newt Gingrich's attack on then House Speaker James Wright through the increasingly partisan confirmation battles, President Clinton's impeachment to now.
"It is a lot harder to govern this country now because of the 24-hour news cycle," he told the 30 or so people at the League of Voters. Issues and statements become polarized with "instant opposition."
The key, Neal said, is not to get trapped in ideology. "I think you need independent thinking from time to time."
He urged students to consider volunteering if they wanted a career in politics or public service — as he had for the George McGovern presidential campaign and later as an intern for the late U.S. Rep. Edward P. Boland, whom he would replace. Neal pointed you didn't have to win to make an impression. McGovern lost big nationally, but Neal had delivered Western Mass. and 71 of 72 Springfield precincts: "Suddenly, I'm a player."
Both he and Grant extolled the benefits of a liberal arts education, including the sciences and engineering, in sparking creativity and innovation.
"If we were here in the '50s and '60s, the smartest kids in America were attracted to science," said Neal. "The salaries on Wall Street, by the time we got into the '80s and '90s became so attractive the smartest kids went into finance."
Students need to be encouraged and nurtured back toward the kind of research and engineering that made the moon missions, the International Space Station and the Hubble Telescope a reality, he said. Grant pointed to the college's adoption of the Region 1 Science Fair as a way MCLA is fostering education in science, engineering, technology and math.
The four-story, $40 million Center for Science and Innovation that's been rising along Blackinton Street is seen as key not only to nuturing STEM learning but in sparking job growth.
Grant said a recent roundtable with local entrepreneurs and business leaders discussed ways to tap into the potential the building and the college's curriculum will offer.
"Michael Tweed-Kent (of General Dynamics) talked about it being a game-changer for the region," said Grant, adding that "this is a powerul engine for jobs as well as graduate programs which produce the next generation of researchers."
Neal recalled President Kennedy's challenge to land a man on the moon as the kind of national project that excites imaginations. Do we need another big science undertaking? Yes, he said.
"The argument is you can't do big science and support domestic spending," he said. "Yes, you can ... America always needs a big science project."
Tags: MCLA, Neal, representative, STEM,
