FSCJ would have to change its name under Senate community college proposal

Times-Union

FSCJ would have to change its name under Senate community college proposal

http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2015-03-23/story/fscj-would-have-change-its-name-under-senate-community-college

TALLAHASSEE | Jacksonville’s community college would undergo its second name change in less than a decade under a proposal approved Monday by a Florida Senate committee.

The legislation requires Florida State College at Jacksonville to be renamed Jacksonville College. The same bill also drops the word “state” from the name of St. Johns River State College.

Sen. Joe Negron, who is behind the proposal, said he could be flexible about what the colleges ultimately change their names to. But he is not interested in allowing any of Florida’s 28 community colleges to include the word “state” in their names beyond 2015.

“They’re clearly regional in nature and therefore not statewide in nature,” Negron, R-Stuart, said during the Senate’s Higher Education Committee meeting.

The committee unanimously approved Senate Bill 1252 after tacking on Negron’s proposal. It has to be approved by two more committees before it is eligible for a floor vote. There is not comparable legislation in the House.

Florida Community College at Jacksonville changed its name to FSCJ in 2009 to reflect its membership in the Florida College System, which had dropped the word “community” to reflect the increasing number of baccalaureate programs offered at member schools.

FSCJ spokeswoman Jill Johnson said it would be “devastating” to require another name change.

“I think there would be a lot of confusion with Jacksonville University,” she said.

In addition to renaming 17 community colleges, the bill also creates a one-year process for approving new four-year degrees at community colleges and says no more than 5 percent of students can be pursuing baccalaureate degrees at any given time.

It requires any new baccalaureate programs to cost students $10,000 or less, mirroring a Gov. Rick Scott initiative, and gives the State University System more power to voice objections. The bill also returns the word “community” to the Florida College System name and makes it clear that the state’s 28 junior colleges are to have a regional workforce mission.

Jim Henningsen is the chairman of the Florida College System’s Council of Presidents and president of the College of Central Florida. He said the community colleges support much of Negron’s ideas, such as ensuring they only offer bachelor of science degrees and leave bachelor of arts degrees solely to universities.

But the colleges are concerned about limits on bachelor degree enrollment, since a handful of schools already exceed the cap.

“We are a diverse group of colleges across our entire state,” Henningsen said during the meeting.

Negron said he was open to discussion about adjusting the cap for certain schools to make sure no programs are shut down while students are still enrolled. And he will listen to their concerns about the name changes, to a point.

“I will continue to oppose the use of the word ‘state’ in the name,” he said.

Although the committee approved SB 1252 unanimously, Sen. David Simmons, an Altamonte Springs Republican, said he hoped Negron would work with the colleges to reach a compromise that everyone could live with.

“I’m just wondering if we can do this in a less adversarial-type situation and a more flexible-type situation,” he said.

Tia Mitchell: (850) 933-1321