College of Lake County candidates address concept of offering 4-year degrees in some career areas
While five College of Lake County board candidates like a proposal for the school to offer limited bachelor degrees, there is disagreement on the value of experience in pursuit of that idea.
CLC trustees Amanda Howland, William Griffin and Richard Anderson, plus newcomers Phillip DeRuntz and Timothy Powell, are competing in the April 7 election. The top three finishers will receive six-year terms.
Howland, Anderson, DeRuntz and Griffin spoke of their support for the four-year degree concept and addressed other issues during a Daily Herald editorial board endorsement interview Thursday. The fifth candidate in the race, Timothy Powell, did not participate in the session but answered questions in an interview Friday.
Last month, the Illinois Council of Community College Presidents agreed state lawmakers should let them grant the bachelor's degrees in high-demand career areas, such as nursing, that proponents say could help working people who can't attend or afford traditional four-year university classes. General Assembly approval would be needed for the proposal.
Anderson, a Grayslake resident first elected to CLC's board in 1974, said his experience would serve the school well in pursuit of offering four-year degrees. He said he heads a committee studying the issue for the Illinois Community College Trustees Association and stressed the bachelor's degree would be offered on a limited basis for careers in applied sciences, such as nursing or firefighting.
"We should be looking forward," Anderson said. "That's the exciting thing about community colleges."
Powell, a retired Lake County sheriff's deputy from Hainesville, said CLC has enough resources to support limited bachelor's degree programs. He scoffed at the idea the experience of Anderson or the other incumbents would help CLC's quest for four-year degrees or in other initiatives.
"The big thing that I offer is fresh eyes and ears," said Powell, who holds elected offices with the Grayslake Community Park District and Grayslake Area Library District.
Howland, a Lake Zurich-area resident who joined the CLC board in 2009, said while she backs offering limited bachelor's degree opportunities, the school's foremost mission would continue to be serving students as a community college for two years.
"What happens, for example, with the nursing program, is we graduate so many students out of our nursing program that they can't find four-year schools to go to, to complete a four-year degree because the enrollment's full," Howland said.
Griffin, a Lake Forest resident first elected to the CLC board in 1995, said he expects resistance from four-year schools as community colleges push for bachelor's degree programs.
"It's a targeted approach," he said. "It's very selective. We're not competing against the four-year universities or colleges."
DeRuntz, a Grayslake-area resident who works as a university instructor and business owner, is making his first attempt to win election to the CLC board, said "without a doubt" he supports the concept of CLC offering four-year degrees.
"There's certainly niche markets that can benefit," said DeRuntz, who's an elected member of the Lake County Regional Board of School Trustees and has an appointed post on the Warren-Waukegan Fire Protection District board.