As president of the American Association of Community Colleges, that is the perspective I hope to develop and encourage among professionals like you, among the community colleges, and within the Association I represent. The starting point for this perspective is in the concept of community. A community is a social entity with certain characteristics. The individuals within a community are bound together by common values and goals, by common benefits from their associations such as protection and stable governance, and by common communication conventions and vehicles. Schools, churches, hospitals, clubs, and businesses are all examples of institutions that play significant and unique roles in their communities.
Community colleges have their own unique role to play.
Community colleges, real community colleges, should occupy a special place in their community. While I cannot fully define that special place, let me point it out for, like pornography, I do know it when I see it even if I cannot clearly define it. During the recent Los Angeles riots, entire neighborhoods were ravaged. Yet a startling reality was the fact that no community college campuses within those neighborhoods were violated. While much of the neighborhood was seen as a contested terrain, the community college campus was seen as a neutral space, an aspect of the community itself.