I find that it is sometimes difficult to make out what Michael Sylvester says in a post and, because he provides no links to supporting evidence, one wonders if he is engaging in a prank, misunderstanding a situation, or just being incomprehensible. This often requires the reader of one of his posts to search out additional information in order to determine if there is a reasonable interpretation of his post. Considering the importance of what is discussed below, I located some relevant sources which I think might make clearer what Prof. Sylvester is trying to say.
On Sun, 19 Apr 2015 14:12:06 -0700, Michael Sylvester wrote:
Deep down in Florida,many commuity colleges are dropping the term "community" and resurrect as "State College". Daytona Beach Community College is now Daytona State College and other community colleges in the State have renamed to State college.
A few points: (1) State governments typically govern the operation of colleges and universities. A key distinction that is often made is that only universities grant the doctorate degree while some colleges may grant the master degree as the highest degree. Some Tipsters have first hand experience with higher education in Florida and can point out where I am in error or have misinterpreted statements and positions. Community (aka Junior) colleges have traditionally provided two year programs of study but in recent decades some have developed 4-year programs/Bachelor degree programs, often in applied areas. (2) In 2009, the "Florida Community College System" was renamed the "Florida College System". One reason for the name change is that an increasing number of community colleges had instituted baccalaureate degrees -- a person could get a B.A. from a community college -- and Florida apparently felt this sounded somewhat weird or something. So, they decided to go from "community college" to simply "college" was the solution -- now colleges offered both two year programs and four year programs. For history on this and related points on the Florida College system, see the Wikipedia entry:: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_College_System By the way, the change of "Daytona Beach Community College" to "Daytona State College" took place in 2008 and it had been offering the Bachelor's degree since 2006 -- this info is available on the college's website; see: http://www.daytonastate.edu/catalog/facts/history.html NOTE: Florida is not unique in having community colleges offering bachelor degree (4-year) programs. For more on this point see the article below from "Inside Higher Education": https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/20/challenges-remain-community-colleges-offering-bachelors-degrees (3) It is not clear where Prof. Sylvester got the info about community colleges names being changed to "state colleges" but this is certainly NOT (a) a new thing, and (b) the Florida legislature is attempting to STOP colleges from using "State" or "Florida" in its name. For example, see: http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/article_0fa5ce70-a68c-58ed-bd77-47f948aa4d25.html and http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20150414/OPINION/304149996/0/search?p=all&tc=pgall&tc=ar Prof. Sylvester may soon find himself teaching at "Daytona College" if the legislators have their way.
Some of those renamed colleges are now offering 4- year Bachelor degrees in certain disciplines and
Something that has been going on for decades.
...some appear to be creeping to offer more BA degrees.
For some colleges, offering a Master's degree that is not offered in the Florida University system seems like a reasonable course of action.
The Florida State legislature is taking a look at this emergent tendency and halt the trend.
I'm not sure I understand which "trend" is being referred to here. The state name thing or the 4-year degree thingie. From the Herald-Tribune article (like above), if the 4 year degree program is not offered in the universities, I don't think they're going to try to eliminate it.
The University of Central Florida has objected to community colleges offering 4-year degrees.
Are you sure? Was it the "University of Central Florida" or the "College of Central Florida"? Are you sure that they objected to offering the 4 year degrees? I ask because one of the articles I link to above has the President of the College of Central Florida quoted on this issue, namely in support of 4-year programs. Again, see this link, about half way down or search for "Henningsen", the President's name: http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/article_0fa5ce70-a68c-58ed-bd77-47f948aa4d25.html
So how do you read this academic mission creep?
Not exactly sure I understand what you mean by "academic mission creep"? Given that Florida legislators and trying to make the college and university systems two different things, and there has been a moratorium on new 4-year programs in colleges, it is unclear what is creeping.
michael daytona beach,florida 'going beyond where no tipster has goe before'
The quote above reminds me of an article on the website for "Inside Higher Education" that Tipsters might find relevant for their students: https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/04/16/advice-students-so-they-dont-sound-silly-emails-essay#at_pco=smlwn-1.0&at_si=55352ffe21e45da4&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=0&at_tot=1 ;-) -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=44117 or send a blank email to leave-44117-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
