A Message From Local 212 President
Michael Rosen
August 30, 2010
Welcome back.
I hope that you have settled into the new semester. This is always an exciting time of the year. The entire community -- faculty, counselors, staff and students -- are excited and enthusiastic about the beginning of the academic year. I hope all of you get off to a wonderful start.
Thanks to those of you who joined Local 212’s Committee on Political Education (COPE) for the first time and to continuing members who increased your contributions. The response this year was overwhelming, reflecting your understanding that the stakes this year are exceedingly high as well as your commitment to MATC, our students and public education.
While CiCi is still tabulating all of the more than 200 cards, I can safely say that every division responded to the challenge. Unfortunately, very few administrators did. Yet they benefit from COPE’s work as much as anyone else. So when you run into your Dean or Associate Dean, ask them if they gave and, if they haven’t, urge them to sign a card.
The latest news on Everest College, the technical college subsidiary of Corinthian College Inc. with the abysmal student repayment rates (19.2%), is that it will open some time in October. After our unsuccessful attempt to stop their zoning change request for the 6th and McKinley location, Corinthian made an open records request for all communication regarding Corinthian to several MATC board members, interim President Dr. Martin, Charlie and me. Of course, there was no smoking gun, and they probably knew that. We never hide our opposition to these parasites. If Corinthian/Everest was trying to intimidate us, they failed.
This summer we responded with our own open records request for all communications between the City of Milwaukee, Corinthian College Inc., its representatives and affiliates, its local public relations flak, Evan Zeppos, and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce’s (MMAC) Tim Sheehy who organized public support for the Everest development. We anticipate receiving the material this week and will let you know what we discover.
Don’t forget that there are important primary elections on Tuesday, September 14. It will be a very low voter turn-out election, so your vote will carry even more weight. Local 212 has endorsed several candidates who are MATC advocates in the primaries, and we need you to turn out to vote. We will be providing you with a voters guide the week before the September 14th election. You can also go to the Local212 web site to find out whom we endorsed. Just go to local212.org and then to the COPE section.
Have a great semester!
|
