I wanted to stand up and cheer when I read this account of a consortium of community college leaders working together to sustain the work that they're doing with their very diverse and very worthy student bodies.
They're encouraging each other not to give in. They're compiling resources on how to communicate to the public and to politicians about the value of the supports that they're offering students. They're talking about how to buy time when they're ordered to change practices that are in the best interests of students, and how to protect immigrants.
They've begun compiling resources on a website (some of which are password protected) and there are deeply valuable things here for anyone working in higher ed.
These leaders know the importance of supports for students denied resources elsewhere in their lives. No one has invested more in the success of diverse, first-generation, non-traditional, disabled, and immigrant students than community colleges.
In a mediascape focused too often on elite colleges at the expense of broader coverage of higher education, this is important and essential reading.
