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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message


In one of my first meetings with Damon City Campus student leaders seven years ago, a young man asked me a simple but pointed question, “Why don’t I get a discount on my tuition attending classes at DCC because we don’t have a campus like Brighton?” Throughout the years of early morning and late nights, of meetings and negotiations, of presentations and walk-throughs, of planning and unplanning and planning again, that followed, this question lit the way through to yesterday’s groundbreaking of MCC’s new downtown campus.

At each moment of those years, MCC found advocates who shared the College’s vision and understood why our students deserved a campus that mirrored their hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Our Trustees always prioritized the need that our students and faculty had for a state-of-the-art learning environment. County Executive Maggie Brooks never wavered in her commitment to funding the new downtown campus, or in supporting the College’s choice of location. Mayor Lovely Warren came out early in her campaign for MCC’s ability to choose its new home and in her advocacy for the power of our College to change our community. Chancellor Zimpher advocated for our new campus in Albany, and Governor Cuomo identified funding. The Monroe County Legislature backed its support of MCC with a commitment to bond the funds required to access state resources and, in so doing, helped our College create a new future for our region.

Behind the scenes, many of our new High Falls neighbors advocated for our campus. Whether through a signature drive at the Pizza Stop in favor of the new campus site or the use of Frontier Field parking lots to save project resources or time on meeting agendas to share updates, they were gracious and generous. We could not have chosen a more welcoming location.

And, most importantly, our students, faculty, and staff advocated for their future campus. Always respectfully but, equally, always visibly, they made their thoughts known. Our faculty and staff shared the history of the Sibley campus, the unrealized vision. They shared a new story of what could be: a campus that was MCC’s from the start, a learning environment designed to support the programs of today and the possibilities of tomorrow. Our students came up with their own advocacy campaign and bravely stood before the County Legislature to tell their personal stories and to ask our community to support and strengthen their futures.

As they say, it takes a village. At Tuesday’s groundbreaking, I celebrated the village that worked moment after moment, year after year to assure this time, the new downtown campus would be built. Thank you to all in our community who have helped to make this happen. You have been inspiring every day.


Contribute to our celebration and share your perspective on the blog.

Anne M. Kress
Office of the President
10/21/2015