Proposal favors LCC removal from UK

Board approves consolidation of ECC and ETC

Special Report: Fastest Growing Community Colleges

Herald-Leader
December 10, 2003

Proposal favors LCC removal from UK
SCHOOL WOULD THEN JOIN COMMUNITY-TECHNICAL LIST

The University of Kentucky would give up oversight of Lexington Community College, ceding it to the state's community and technical college system, under a proposal being considered by UK President Lee Todd and the UK Board of Trustees.

But officials said yesterday that even if the current proposal aimed at keeping LCC's accreditation becomes reality, the school on Cooper Drive wants to maintain physical and bureaucratic proximity to UK.

"It's very, very important for us to keep close ties with the university," said LCC's President Jim Kerley after a meeting of UK's academic affairs committee yesterday.

Todd, who will ask the board of trustees for a final decision on the change as soon as next month, said he still had more questions about it.

"I'm not ready yet," he said. "It's a significant decision."

The proposal was made by a task force convened to deal with accreditation issues raised by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

This summer, the SACS put LCC on probation, saying it didn't have enough autonomy from UK to be independently certified.

That left the task force with three choices, members said:

• Become more independent but stay connected to UK.

• Become part of UK and lose separate accreditation.

• Keep independent accreditation and join the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, the agency that governs Kentucky's community colleges.

Kerley said becoming a part of UK was not an option because that would hurt the school's open access to anyone with a high school degree.

"Our admissions policy could change and we could simply become a remedial college for a big research university," he said. "I'm not sure we would be a priority."

LCC had been working on those issues since SACS first raised the autonomy question in 2001. An LCC survey of faculty and staff found that the most popular option was to remain independent but stay with UK.

However, UK Provost Mike Nietzel said, it became clear this fall that the SACS wanted much greater changes -- including an independent curriculum and separate fund-raising -- than could be accomplished by March, when the SACS review team returns.

"The consultant said, 'You guys are just rearranging the deck chairs and it's not even close to what they want,'" Nietzel said.

That's when it became clear to the task force that it would have to recommend a move to KCTCS.

"I would prefer to stay with UK, but we have to keep our separate accreditation," said Robin Gornto, who teaches dental lab technology. "Otherwise, it flies in the face of our mission."

LCC officials are bracing for a firestorm of reaction because rumors have been flying around the campus about its future.

A similar debate arose in 1997, when the higher education reform act removed the entire system of community colleges from under UK.

As a compromise to the powerful UK Board of Trustees, LCC was left in a kind of limbo, attached to UK and separate from the new system of colleges and technical schools.

One trustee thinks the proposal might not be as controversial as some expect.

"Over the years, LCC has earned great esteem in this community," said Marian Sims, a trustee from Lexington. "LCC means something it didn't in 1997."

Kerley said yesterday that there could be real financial advantages to the move because LCC receives much less funding and building space per pupil than other community colleges.

Other details, such as whether LCC students could still live in UK dorms, use the facilities or get football and basketball tickets, are important to students and would still need to be worked out.

Michael McCall, the president of KCTCS, said it was too soon to comment on any details of a possible merger.

"We support the university in whatever it decides," he said. "If they decide to transfer to us, we will be more than happy to work with them."

Kerley said that most faculty and staff members understood the issues, although students will probably need more information. About 60 percent of LCC students transfer to UK, one of the highest transfer rates among Kentucky's community colleges.

Several students interviewed at LCC yesterday had not heard about their school's possible move, and didn't like what they heard.

"I don't know if I'd want to go here if it weren't with UK," said freshman Rebecca Pease. "Now, at LCC, you get all the things like football tickets. It's a cheaper UK."

Students fear their academic credits would no longer transfer to UK under the new system, but officials said they would, just as other community college students transfer to UK.

"We're worried about the credits we've earned," said freshman Danika Cornett. "Plus, I think people like feeling like they're part of UK."

The News-Enterprise
December 9, 2003

Board approves consolidation of ECC and ETC

Two Elizabethtown colleges should be one at the start of the fall 2004 semester.

The Kentucky Community and Technical College System Board of Regents has approved the consolidation of Elizabethtown Community College and Elizabethtown Technical College.

Now both schools must be accredited as a single institution through the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), a final move ECC spokeswoman Mary Jo King said Monday officials are confident will happen.

"Anything we need to take care of, we are doing now," she said. "We've learned from other colleges who have consolidated, so we will be prepared."

The single school will be known as Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, and a new mission statement has been instituted that reflects the transition to a comprehensive community and technical college, said ECC President Thelma White, who will be president of the consolidated center. The new name will take effect Jan. 4.

"The college is truly comprehensive, with strong academic and technical opportunities that complement and support each other," White said.

Talk of consolidation started several years ago, and earlier this year, the schools conducted a forum to gauge public opinion.

Discussion ignited debate from students, teachers and administrators within the two schools and community members. Many argued the value of separate schools was individual identities, something some believed would be lost in a consolidation.

However, many KCTCS schools have already consolidated, and ETC and ECC were encouraged to do the same.

Some of the benefits officials have touted include cost-savings through a consolidated administration and streamlined resources.

ECC's board of directors voted to change the name to ECTC at its September meeting.

SACS accreditors will visit the campus in late January or early February, King said. Then SACS will vote on the consolidation at its June meeting.

"That is the final step in the several years' (-long) process," King said.

Community College Week
December 8, 2003

Special Report: Fastest Growing Community Colleges

Top 50 Fastest-Growing Public Two-Year Colleges:
Fewer than 2,500 Students