This morning, we attended the "Community Colleges and Competitiveness: Generating Economic Opportunity Through Innovation in Postsecondary Education" at the Center for American Progress which featured Dr. Jill Biden and then a series of discussions based on three new papers released today by CAP dealing with community colleges.  There were plenty of good observations and policy recommendations, although as a former faculty member, the gap between education as a policy area and education as an actual human endeavor always seems vast in those settings.  Not to mention that as the presentations went on, I was wondering how many presentations I have heard about improving higher education's performance and helping more students succeed that never mention the role of faculty.  I mean not at all. 

Well, until Gail Mellow, president, LaGuardia Community College began her response to one of the papers being delivered.  She noted that all the policy recommendations were great from a policy perspective. Spot on.  But then she put on her hat as a community college administrator and brought the perspective of someone who views policy from within the actual inner-workings of a community college and from that perspective, her response was: "Oh, c'mon, get real!"

Mellow pointed out that it is great to imagine how many other wonderful things community colleges could do or do differently "but first and foremost we need to talk about funding equity." She noted that community colleges receive far fewer public dollars than elementary and secondary education gets and one-third of what four-year institutions get, yet they must cover a large gap for the 80 percent of students who come in needing developmental education.   This is, of course, all the more true in the current economic climate in which community colleges are so overrun with students, they do not have the capacity to serve them-a point echoed today by Shoreline Community College history professor, Amy Kinsel.

And then, as if reading our minds, Mellow asked, "What about the forgotten middle--the faculty?  There are no words anywhere in all of this about faculty and the intellectual work they do. It's not easy."

Panelists responded quickly by agreeing that there needs to be more funding for community colleges and that is why the proposed American Graduation Initiative is so important, but alas, no one took up the question about faculty. 

So what will it take to get policymakers to recognize that the faculty-student relationship is paramount in achieving student success. It is more than just an information exchange that we need to make as efficient as possible?  What will it take to get them to recognize that if we want programs and courses that are relevant and challenging and help students become "expert thinkers" who can adapt and perform in our knowledge economy, we need to invest in instruction  so we have faculty who can ensure that learning happens?  What will it take to realize that no matter how much we fiddle with the educational process, it is still fundamentally a human endeavor that requires engagement?  Seriously, what will it take?