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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message


Years ago, Erma Bombeck observed, “Some say the national pastime is baseball. Not me. It’s gossip.” 

One need only think of the last department meeting, conference, hallway conversation, email exchange, phone call. It quickly becomes clear that rumor and gossip often seem to be the strongest current of our (mis)information flow.

Academia has long been a hot bed of rumor culture. In fact, several of my presidential colleagues have taken to sending out weekly missives addressing rumors on their campuses. It’s really a futile effort. Do a search on “rumors and gossip,” and you will find them compared to everything from fog that cannot be packaged to harpoons that cannot be unstuck to bells that cannot be unrung to snowballs that turn into avalanches. In other words, gossip seeps through an organization or group like a perpetual motion machine. It cannot be stopped. But, that doesn’t prevent us from trying. So, here goes:

Recently, I shared a memo with President’s Staff regarding the impact of declining enrollments on our budget. The central message in the memo should not have been surprising (especially to anyone who attended this term’s Message to the College Community): as with most community colleges, MCC’s enrollment has declined from the peaks seen during the recession, and we need to bring expenditures in line with our enrollments. The memo goes on to state:

“We have a responsibility to fulfill all negotiated contracts and an institutional commitment to maintain all current employees, but it is clear that the lack of alignment between enrollment and staffing is not sustainable. As positions are vacated, we will be implementing stronger controls around replacements that will move MCC into greater alignment with enrollment while honoring our negotiated and institutional commitments.”

Despite this statement, since the release of this memo, rumors are circulating about what its contents “really” mean for our employees. I cannot put it any plainer than this: your positions are not at risk. We value the members of our community and what each of you brings to MCC. To be sure, we are implementing multiple cost-containment strategies, but frankly, most of these are driven by a simple equation: a smaller student population doesn’t just generate smaller revenues, it also should generate decreased expenses.

Now, let’s go back to Erma Bombeck’s observation about pastimes. With the change of seasons, Rochester changes pastimes. Instead of running, folks cross country ski. Instead of cycling, they skate. I hope that we can change our pastime as well. 

Rather than repeat a rumor, reach out to someone who should know and ask for information. I do this as a matter of practice, regularly reaching out when I hear a rumor or piece of gossip that has implications for MCC. I’ve called faculty and staff, community and business leaders, elected officials and their staff (at all levels), SUNY, national higher education leaders, and more. These are often not easy calls to make, but what happens when I make them is really remarkable: to a person, those I have reached out to have been pleasantly surprised that I made the effort to check in. Significantly, they always respond plus stay in touch. What was once a wall of rumor is now a door of communication.

We’re MCC. Let’s make connection and conversation our institutional pastime. Please share your thoughts on the
blog.

Anne M. Kress
Office of the President
11/19/2014