Handbook For Student Affairs At Community Colleges

    Community colleges play and important part in American life, not merely in education, but in public services. They’re the colleges most often selected by older or working-class students, for two reasons; firstly the tuition is affordable, and secondly, they offer an easy commute from home. NYC’s junior and four-year colleges train nurses, paralegals, bookkeepers, and criminal justice graduates who go into law enforcement.

    Because the community colleges are publicly funded, tuition in usually lower than others, but students may still have trouble paying. After that, you’ll have to deal with remedial needs for special needs students, liabilities, nutrition, and more. HSACC is broken into chapters regarding all issues for students in community colleges, such as Legal and Policy Issues, regarding things like free speech. Where do we draw the line on free speech in a school? What about racist or hateful language? There’s been a Supreme Court case involving Saxe Community College, where Judge Alito wrote “no exemption from free speech, it protects offensive language.” Anybody remember CUNY and the Leonard Jeffries affair in the mid 1990’s? What about the Brooklyn student center named after Assata Shakur? There were many in the city who objected to having a criminal’s name in a city-funded school room. Then we have 4^th amendment issues, like searching student bags, or checking their personal laptops for evidence of cheating. Due process has to be observed for all disciplinary actions.

    There’s almost nothing here about fraternities, athletics, or housing, because those are not the kind of issued you deal with in a community college. The issues in this book are the ones that you deal with in colleges where the students commute, and where the learning is often specific to a career. Each chapter is written by an experienced college administrator, so you can expect to read advice from men and women with industry experience.