To the Newsday Editors:
Missing from the June 20, 2012 article “No Tuition Hike in NCC Budget,” is the point that the NCCFT (Nassau Community College Federation of Teachers) did not call for any increase in tuition. Let’s be clear: the vision driving a budget is as important as the amount of money that is in the budget. Nassau Community College’s finances should be motivated by the same vision that has shaped the college into a nationally recognized institution of higher education.
Nassau Community College earned its reputation as one of the finest two-year institutions of higher learning in the nation because of its dedicated full-time faculty, its low faculty-to-student ratio (and correspondingly small class sizes), and its commitment to providing students the highest quality support services outside the classroom, including the personalized attention and extra help professors give during (and outside of) their office hours, the tutoring that is provided in the help centers, career counseling, academic advising and more.
No one denies the financial difficulties our college faces, but the Administration’s continued evisceration of the full time faculty is not just a penny-wise-and-pound-foolish recipe for failure, it expresses a vision of education fundamentally hostile to the long tradition of excellence that has made NCC a nationally-recognized leader in Community College education. The fundamental issue at stake here is about much more than the money.
Stephanie Sapiie, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Political Science
Nassau Community College
(516) 572-7429