Norwalk Community College Senate demands CSCU drop consolidation plan

The Norwalk Community College Senate has voted unanimously to ask that the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities”™ (CSCU) Board of Regents drop its plan to consolidate the state”™s 12 community colleges into one system.

The 31-0 vote comes about three weeks after the faculty senate at New Britain’s Central Connecticut State University, the largest school in the 17-campus CSCU system, voted 38-1 in favor of a resolution calling for CSCU President Mark Ojakian’s resignation and the abolition of the Board of Regents.

In April, the consolidation plan, called Students First, failed to receive the approval of accrediting agency New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Last week, Ojakian told the Business Journal that he was in the process of formulating a revised proposal to NEASC and flatly declared that he would not resign.

Ojakian also dismissed criticism from those at CSCU”™s state universities, noting that they would not be affected by the community college plan.

He said he intends to propose “some variation” of Students First to the CSCU Board of Regents in June.