League for Innovation in the Community College March 2018 | Page 9

“
We need dedication, we need those who are
willing to set community colleges as a priority.
the League:
continuing to stay relevant, is continuing to be adaptable, to
be fluid, to be engaging, and to be a voice.” He spoke of the
We are finding ways to continue to advance and we're sometime lost voices of leadership: “So many times, you are
bringing in more support from different venues than we've finding that you don’t have the voice that you would like to…
done in the past, with different organizations, with different because of the positions that you might have.” He referenced
community-based groups, and…the ecosystem is helping the League’s Executive Leadership Institute as a place “to be
us to look at support for community colleges differently very open about how you not only survive, but you thrive as
than we did some 50 years ago. a leader.”
Looking to the future, Glasper revisited the access and funding Glasper merged the themes of innovation, service to students,
issues: “When we look at our three-legged stool of property and leadership, confirming that:
taxes, state aid, and tuition, [and at] the notion of access,
increasing tuition, disinvestment, we need to look at The League for Innovation moving forward will continue to
other options.” have innovation as its mantra. We will continue to define
it in a way that supports our increasing needs for our
He discussed pathways and dual enrollment, advising that “we students and in a way that we encourage others to follow
need to be more deliberate about where students can go,” and into the leadership roles…be cause we need strong leaders
that pathways can reduce the time it takes to get there. He in the community college movement. We need dedication,
added that dual enrollment offers “new avenues for students we need those who are willing to set community colleges
to begin a community college program sooner, go to our as a priority.
colleges, transfer to a university [or move into] the workplace.”
Nearing the end of the conversation, O’Banion connected past
Focusing on the workforce, Glasper explained, “the future of
and future:
the community colleges are that livable-wage jobs are in our
space,” citing graduates of technical programs who move into The League…under the direction of B. Lamar Johnson
those jobs. really had a good idea to keep the focus on [innovation]
under which they could do many, many things, and I think
Referencing the League’s expanded membership, Glasper said the League will continue to prosper and always be on the
the League needs to use “the new institutions, the changing cutting edge because you keep the focus on innovation.
leadership, to think about...the space that we can continue
to prosper in.” Corporate partnerships, he suggested, are
natural in that space since board and Alliance colleges can
help answer common questions about products and services:
“Does it work and under what conditions does it work?” And,
they can do so in an “environment that is safe…where risk
taking is acceptable and…welcomed.”
This article features highlights of a conversation between
Terry O’Banion and Rufus Glasper held on January 30, 2018.
Visit www.league.org/50years for more information.
“The League for the future, in my mind,” Glasper said, “is
MARCH 2018
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