THE SPECTATOR: BLINN UNDER ATTACK AGAIN
Blinn College has been educating students in Brazos County for 46 years. In 1970, after consulting with A&M President Earl Rudder and the superintendents of the Bryan and College Station school districts, Blinn began offering night classes in Bryan. Allen Academy had closed its junior college division, and the leaders of Bryan/College Station asked Blinn to step in. My how times have changed!
After 46 years of stellar education….after millions and millions of dollars of investment in Brazos County…..after agreeing to put two Brazos County residents on the Blinn Board without a taxing district….and after purchasing property for a new Bryan campus….a group of Bryan/College Station folks want Blinn to get out. It’s not because Blinn doesn’t provide outstanding value and education for the 12,000 students on their Bryan campus. No…the folks that want Blinn out can’t attack the job Blinn has done. What they want….and are brazen enough to say….is complete control of the Blinn College Board of Trustees and the Blinn College budget. And if they can’t get that….they want to replace Blinn with their own community college.
On the surface, one might think that the Talent Initiative Steering Committee of the Research Valley Partnership….the group trying to push Blinn out of Brazos County…is a group of solid, thoughtful community leaders. But you don’t have to dig very deep to see that some of its members have their own, personal agendas. One is a former President of Blinn's Bryan campus who was passed over for the Presidency of the entire Blinn District. Another is a former Blinn professor who was dismissed from the faculty. Others are developers, builders and bankers who see dollar signs in their future should a new community college be formed in Brazos County. Now I’m not saying there aren’t some members who are sincere in their beliefs. But perhaps they are being led astray by others who are driven by revenge and greed.
At first, this committee claimed that Blinn was ignoring the workforce training needs of Brazos County. But after they were presented with the facts that Blinn was offering 83% of the courses they were requesting….and would offer 97% by the fall of 2017…the committee showed its true colors. Committee leaders told Blinn that they had two goals: To take over the Blinn Board completely, and to take over the Blinn budget completely. Why don’t you tell us how you really feel, Brazos County?
Any doubts about Blinn’s focus on workforce training in Brazos County should be put to rest by this afternoon’s news conference with Texas A&M. Here’s hoping that Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp does the right thing and publicly throws his support behind Blinn College.
i’ll give you more insight into these attacks on Blinn later this week. And that’s the way it looks to this Spectator.
Blinn Bryan is an example of decisions having consequences. It probably sounded like a good idea to build a campus in a jurisdiction that was not taxed so that the current power structure and control was maintained. Now, political forces are lining up and there are storm clouds gathering for Blinn Washington County. When Austin Community College (ACC) expanded and built a campus in Round Rock, Elgin, and several other places, it was put on the ballot, and the voters voted in a community college taxing district. In turn they got the privilege of paying more property tax for their decision, but they also got to vote on the board of trustees. I for one would be more than happy to let the good citizens of Brazos County get the privilege of getting taxed like I am and they can get to vote for some trustees.
That option was suggested to the Committee seeking to replace Blinn College. They had no interest in it.
Revenge and greed says it all. Good report Mr. Spec.
Their point is based on the number of Brazos Valley students that have made the Bryan Blinn campus larger than the Brenham Blinn campus. With the increased attendance, they believe the Bryan campus and through osmosis, the Bryan area politicians, businesses and citizens should be calling the shots. It should be pointed out the Brazos County taxpayers have contributed NOTHING towards the purchase of land, construction or staffing of Blinn College in Bryan.
In Bryan the “wannabees” are chafing at their position under TAMU’s shadow providing College Station constant growth and economic development opportunities for College Station businesses and politicos. At the same time, the growing Bryan Blinn campus stimulates growth and economic development, but the Bryan crowd is left to react to decisions made in Washington County. They see the revenue going to Washington County. The Bryan crowd wants to have some of that money run across their fingers. They want a tax revenue stream used to pay for streets and infrastructure in areas of their choosing, in areas their banks, realtors and businesses can develop.
They cannot afford to match the already massive investment in real estate, staffing and organization Bryan Blinn has in place. So, they envision a competing version, one in which they would be the stewards. They would do this with a new tax on Brazos Valley residents.
I was asked about partipating in this effort. I told them that in my years in education, Blinn College had supported the schools I worked in by providing scholarships in athletics, academics, vocational and fine arts. When I went to Blinn about offering dual credit academic credits, they worked with my staff to offer them at our campus with our staff. When I approached them about offering dual credit vocational classes on our campus with our staff, they provided avenues for the staff to get the certification and they developed the curriculum they needed to meet the college standards. These efforts saved parents at my last two jobs the cost of a college semester, about $5,000. When vocational training gained popularity, they solicited funds and built the Hodde Center. Blinn provided staff development, they hosted UIL academic meets, they hosted job fairs and college visits. Blinn College officials were always accessible.
After all those years of support, I plan to support them in this challenge. The Blinn Board and staff have earned it.
In my opinion, I think Blinn should get the Heck out of Bryan/College Station and should bring all the courses that are being taught there to Washington County. As a current student at the ripe old age of 48+, many of the courses that I would like to take entail me driving to BCS several times a week, although we have a college here. I wish more of the computer courses and such were offered here. Blinn could have invested the money spent in BCS into Washington County and we could of had one heck of a Jr. College here. Now we have split campuses and a war raging over one of them.
If Bryan and College Station give us problems, I say we bring back all classes to Brenham. Ditch the other towns that are causing problems.