A Message From Local 212 President
Michael Rosen:
 Welcome
back to a new academic year. As our executive VP,
Charlie Dee, said when he returned from his sabbatical as
a Fulbright Scholar in Norway: “It’s great to
come back to Milwaukee Area TECHNICAL College.” Welcome
home Charlie and a special thanks to Dr. Marlene Dombrowski
who filled in so capably while Charlie was away.
This promises to be a very challenging
year. But there is some good news. The equalized property
values were released on August 13 and came in higher than
had been projected. This means MATC which has had its state
funding cut by more than $5 million since 1999/2000 is eligible
to receive an additional $1.5 million. Given the college’s
financial problems last spring which culminated in the decision
to reduce the work year of over 30 paraprofessionals who
work directly with students, it is imperative that the college
invest these dollars in directly serving our students. That
means that the work year of our paraprofessional should
be restored and that the college should not use these dollars
in non-educational areas like marketing.
If last spring’s debacle taught
us anything, it is that MATC needs dynamic leadership. Unless
we grow this college, we will find ourselves in the same
financial bind next spring. Growing the college cannot be
reduced to logo or name changes, a branding campaign or
being content with increasing application. Growing the college
will require us to do three things: 1) Increase the recruitment
and retention of students (Increase FTE’s); 2) Increase
public financial support for MATC which not only trains
the area’s labor force but serves as the district’s
two year UW extension; 3) Build partnerships with the private
and nonprofit sectors that leverage additional resources.
Unless the college’s leadership
grows the college by pursuing these strategic objectives,
we will find ourselves in another contentious financial
bind next spring. Cutting will not solve the problems this
college faces... It only reduces the services we provide
to our students and the area’s businesses which undermines
MATC’s support among our most important stakeholders.
Only by increasing resources and using them more efficiently,
can we provide these stakeholders with the technical education
that they need and deserve.
Local 212 is ready and willing to help
the administration grow this institution. But we need to
be treated as real and full partners. This means having
us at the table and sharing decision making authority with
us. It does not mean telling us what the administration
has decided and asking us to respond. This latter method
is what led to so much trouble last year when decisions
were made to eliminate the adult high school or change the
college name without faculty and staff participating in
the decision making process. All we could do was react!
In fact if we hadn’t MATC would be opening this fall
without an adult high school, without childcare centers
and with a new name!
We face other challenges as well. We need
to elect an administration that supports two year colleges.
The current administration has frozen Pell grants as college
tuition has soared by 40% over the last four years. It attempted
to eliminate Carl Perkins Funding, the major source of federal
support for MATC. The dollars saved in cutting federal support
for technical colleges and our students, have been used
to line the pockets of the wealthiest Americans who have
been the overwhelming beneficiary of the Bush tax cuts.
We need to elect an administration in November that supports
our students and college.
We learned a lot last year. But nothing
more important than realizing that not everyone in the college
community recognizes that the heart and soul of this college
is the faculty and staff who provide our students with a
high quality technical education and that if we don’t
fight for MATC with our hearts, minds and solidarity, no
one will.
Archived Messages...
May 22,
2007
January
16th, 2007
October
29, 2006
August 4,
2006
May 16,
2006
April 28,
2006
August 23,
2005
May 15,
2005
April 15,
2005
March 11,
2005
February
11, 2005
January
18, 2005
September
29, 2004
Michael
Rosen's Speech to the MATC Board - September 29, 2004
Welcome
back, August 2004
"Jobs
report paints bleak picture for the nation",
Michael Rosen's editorial in the August 21, 2004 Journal
Sentinel
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