News & Events

Yves Salomon-Fernández and Christina Royal, the presidents of Greenfield and Holyoke community colleges, respectively, both said Thursday that the colleges have been asking Black students to share stories about their experiences and backgrounds as equity efforts continue.

“Our perception is that we need to bring everyone together. We need to acknowledge everyone’s experiences, approach this work with humility, and understand that we are all striving toward the same goal,” Salomon-Fernández said. “We will make mistakes but we will learn from those mistakes and support one another.”

A federal judge for the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts has enjoined a Department of Education rule that bars undocumented immigrant students and other noncitizen students not eligible for the federal Title IV financial aid program from accessing emergency grants authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

There is that hint of fall in the air. Nights are cooler, days are shorter and students are going back to college campuses across the country.

However, the pandemic has changed the college landscape.

There’s been a great deal of talk about four-year colleges and universities as students move back onto campuses, or maybe just log in remotely.
But what about Massachusetts’ community colleges?

The public-private partnership will offer cannabis classes, internships and other programming to people who have been negatively affected by the War on Drugs or live in disproportionately impacted areas.

Community. It’s in our name — Holyoke Community College. The key to recovering our economy and preserving opportunities comes from the strength of our communities. And building that strength is what community colleges are all about.

“I just knew that I didn’t want to be on campus with a ton of different people and I wanted to keep me and my family safe,” she said.

Maria chose Springfield Technical Community College instead. She is not alone in doing this college cost and health calculus.

Leaders at the 15 community colleges across Massachusetts made decisions months ago to move the vast majority of classes online this fall, a step that they said gave them ample time to prepare for the unusual academic year that’s about to unfold. Now, as many bachelor’s degree programs announce similar shifts, community colleges find themselves in a new position as the calculus behind where to attend higher education shifts.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on our community, and our city and state will be rebuilding for years to come. Yet, the pandemic has allowed RCC and all community colleges to remain firm in their open-access missions and better positioned to serve a larger, more diverse population of students. Regardless of circumstance, community colleges will always offer a quality, affordable education to anyone who wants one.

Today, historic racial discrimination still has lasting consequences, and its effect continues to impede some students from continuing to higher education. While community colleges work to combat this, they are not immune to the systemic structures of oppression and racism that plague our country. Yet, they have democratized education by making it more accessible to people barred from education, the poor, the underserved, immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities.