CSM Students Head to Annapolis Feb. 6

Community Colleges Rally for ‘Support=Success’ Campaign 2013

Student leaders from the College of Southern Maryland will join students from Maryland’s 16 community colleges in Annapolis Feb. 6 for Student Advocacy Day. The yearly event gives students an opportunity to urge lawmakers to keep community colleges affordable. Specifically, students are advocating that support=success, and asking for support of the funding formula for the amount of state aid granted to each college and support of capital requests at community colleges throughout the state.

Students will be joined by CSM Student and Instructional Support Services Vice President Dr. Bill Comey and CSM staff for a rally in the Presidential Conference Room of the Miller Senate Building. Among the legislators scheduled to address the students are Senator Thomas V. “Mike” Miller, president of the Maryland Senate, Delegate Heather Mizeur and Senator Delores Kelly. Dr. Guy Altieri, chair of the Community College Presidents and president of Hagerstown Community College, will also address students.

Following the rally, CSM students will meet with elected officials from Southern Maryland to ask for their support of the Governor’s proposed FY2014 operating budget that provides for a 7 percent increase in state aid to community colleges. Students will also seek to raise awareness of the important role of Maryland’s community colleges in higher education and their benefits to the state. Students representing each campus will tell legislators their stories of how attending a community college is helping them achieve their goals and what being able to access affordable quality higher education means to them and their families.

During CSM’s Winter 2013 Commencement Ceremony, the college celebrated 20,000 graduates since its founding in 1958.

To view two CSM student video testimonials by Erica Varesko and John Jones for Maryland Association of Community College’s Student Advocacy Day, visit http://mdacc.org/StudentAdvocacy/college.php?col=csm.

For information, visit www.csmd.edu.