Letters - Sunday

HIGHER EDUCATION

Weaning colleges from state will limit student services

Community colleges are full of students with life challenges that often prove to be impediments to higher education (“Circular arguments,” Our View, June 14). In addition, a large percentage of students in community colleges test into developmental education classes and others need special services. A growing proportion also needs crisis intervention and mental health services.

However, these students are remarkable in their perseverance and so are the faculty and staff who support them. Providing support services to students is a constant exercise in doing more with less.

In the past five years at Pikes Peak Community College, I have witnessed retirements and resignations with no subsequent new hires for the vacated positions. We have reorganized and implemented a new student information system in the name of streamlining, and “faculty deadwood” is almost nonexistent. System-wide, measures have also been taken to centralize duplicative functions across the 13 Colorado community colleges and college presidents’ performance is measured against student success and access, as well as operational excellence.

It is only through increased funding that institutions of higher learning will be able to grow, innovate and respond to the governor’s expectations of doubling the number of degrees and certificates, cutting the dropout rate, and aligning P-20 curricula.

The Gazette is correct; we do need revolutionary change, but not at the expense of our institutions. We need the type of change that will sustain our institutions and those who are served by them. To decrease educational funding any further would not wean, but starve, the very system that is trying to intellectually feed the masses.

Amy Valverde Martinez

Director

Student Success Services

and Area Vocational Program

Pikes Peak Community College

Students are the future and need our support

It is slightly disturbing to read that some people believe higher education is not using its funding to the best of its ability. As a student at a local Colorado Springs community college who serves on the student government, I can attest to the tight budget my community college works with.

A surprising statistic published by the National Center for Higher Education Management System stated that Colorado ranks 49th in the nation for money spent on higher education per full-time student, spending $3,202 per full-time college student in 2004, compared with national average of $5,721. The state ranked 47th a decade ago with $3,137.

The one thing we all need to think of is how important higher education is to us. Do we want trained medical professionals to fill the growing void in the medical field? They will need education. Do we want uneducated people in the leadership roles making the decisions that will affect everyone in the state? Coloradoans look to students to help solve the state’s future problems, now the students are looking for our support in making their education possible.

If Colorado wants to contribute to the future of this country and to the world, we must improve the funding of higher education. There are many different ways that this can happen, but first and foremost, we must get rid of the TABOR. As time and new laws have been passed, the budget has been stretched well beyond its limits. An example of this is Amendment 23, which requires an annual increase in the K-12 budget, which now accounts for 40 percent of the Colorado budget.

It is well known that if you wish to have any type of successful life in the future you must go to college. This is becoming more and more difficult as the price of textbooks and tuition skyrocket, but assistance stays the same.

Shawn Olsen

Colorado Springs

PIÑON CHASM

Salazar would sell out ranchers for political points

Sen. Ken Salazar missed the boat on Piñon Canyon. It was bad enough that the Army might use eminent domain to force ranchers to give up their land, but now I read that he supports the Army’s plans if it will commit a permanent force to Piñon Canyon (“A full brigade or no Piñon deal?” The Gazette, June 21). With this proposal, Coloradans will not only lose the land, they will suffer the burden of a rapid population increase where the environment is harsh and resources are scarce.

To me, it’s clear that the majority of Coloradans don’t want to see this area damaged by further development and overuse. It’s a fragile but important piece of native Colorado that should not be used for military training.

Lawrence M. Reisinger

Colorado Springs

If expansion is blocked, Army should go elsewhere

When did it become fashionable or legal for members of the Senate to use blackmail against the military services? Sen. Ken Salazar revealed his real concern is not Piñon Canyon farmers or military necessity, but more pork for Colorado.

I wish the Army would make a counter offer; full support for the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site or we move the whole operation to Texas, where there is plenty of room to maneuver and senators more responsive to the military mission. Then we put Fort Carson at the very top of the BRAC list.

It is long past time for our Colorado senators and representatives place the Army’s mission and military necessity ahead of pork for Colorado.

Wallace E. Smith

Colorado Springs

SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY

Hospice families appreciate zoo’s efforts

American Medical Response and Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care would like to say thank you to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and specifically to guest services manager Jane Majeske.

The “Sentimental Journey” program is one of the complimentary therapies offered by PPHPC. It provides an opportunity for PPHPC patients and families to create memories through a special outing near the end of life. AMR partners in the program by donating staff time and ambulances to ensure appropriate care and transportation.

The zoo provides exceptional support for our “Sentimental Journey” families. Majeske coordinates these visits, and often serves as a personal tour guide. The professionalism and compassion exhibited by Majeske and other staff members at the zoo speak volumes about this exceptional nonprofit organization.

Thank you for making these journeys possible, and helping us make these last wishes come true.

Tawnya Silloway

American Medical Response

Cheryl Amster

Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care

Colorado Springs

BORDER DISORDER

Schultheis plan just what doctor ordered

Hearty accolades to state Sen. Dave Schultheis for his wise, logical, constructive, insightful and cogent explication of, and solution to, the immigration issue (“Salazar ignores voters on immigration issue,” Other Voices, June 16). His six-step program is masterful. The key is to take immigration reform in separate steps, not one humongous, unmanageable and excessively costly and time-consuming bill.

What’s the hurry? We already have laws in place and funded that haven’t been implemented or enforced that would secure the borders. To rush into something “comprehensive” now without allowing these provisions to have effect is silly and just compounds the problems.

The pollsters mislead and propagandize us by asking leading questions that will evoke the answers they want to hear and propagate. The liberal demagogues of both parties play into their hands. They all, including President Bush, should actually listen directly to their constituents, not to the polls.

Derel Schrock

Colorado Springs