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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message


Last Tuesday—during MCC’s spring break--the Democrat and Chronicle ran a piece about MCC’s downtown campus enrollment. The suggestion was that MCC’s need to relocate the campus may no longer exist, and the paper followed on this story with an editorial calling on MCC to reopen the search for a new location to allow the public to voice their thoughts.

Unfortunately, neither of these pieces told the whole story.  

While the enrollment data presented in the article was factually accurate, the piece did not provide any context for that information. Enrollment at all colleges fluctuates in the short term in response to a variety of market forces.  The only valid gauge of the performance, vitality and impact of MCC-downtown is to look at annual enrollment numbers over the years. Since MCC’s temporary campus downtown opened 20 years ago, enrollment at that site has increased 170%, from 1,083 students in 1992 to 2,928 today. At that figure, our student body downtown exceeds the number of undergraduate students at Nazareth College, St. John Fisher College and many other Rochester area colleges.

But the real story goes well beyond the numbers.  Every MCC student deserves the highest-quality learning environment possible. Delivering on that promise to our downtown students was the number one consideration when we proposed relocating from the Sibley Building to the Kodak location.

This thought is left aside in Sunday’s editorial, which makes literally no mention of the needs of our students or the components of a quality learning environment.  It also does not share that, in a move almost without precedent in academia, the college as a whole—from trustees to faculty and staff to students—has unanimously recommended and endorsed the Kodak site.  Unfortunately, the editorial also suggests that there will be no opportunity for public input.  In fact, because this is a publicly-funded project, the review process (which is now in the hands of the County) will provide ample opportunities for public and stakeholder feedback at all stages. 

Perhaps the real “real story” is too complex for limited column inches in the paper.  It is about more than enrollment; it goes to the heart of our ability to create positive change in our community by helping our students fully realize their potential.  Today, we are in the enviable position of having a new location that does both.  In addition to providing a better learning environment, the Kodak site has the potential to lead to higher annual enrollment because it provides the space to accommodate a greater number of programs and initiatives. We will be able to offer new courses, grow workforce development and arts programming, meet the needs of new student audiences, offer expanded evening and weekend programs, provide students with nearby internships, and provide a full complement of student life and leadership activities.  This location also offers MCC a chance to partner in the revitalization of the downtown High Falls District.  And we will be able to accomplish these and other objectives in a way that is fiscally responsible, another important point that unfortunately was not included in either the article or the editorial. Moving MCC to the Kodak location costs $10 million less than renovating space at the Sibley Building.

We continue to offer tours of the Kodak site to internal and external parties.  If you are interested, please contact College and Community Relations.  Thank you for your advocacy on behalf of our students. Please feel free to share your thoughts
on my blog.

Anne Kress
President's Office
04/18/2012