12:00pm | In the backdrop of protests against fee hikes taking place on college campuses across the state and California’s elimination from contention for the much-anticipated “Race to the Top” funds, the announcement from the CSU Chancellor’s Office released this week looks even better. According to the statement, 14 CSU campuses received “the highest federal honor that universities can receive for their commitment to service learning and civic engagement.”
The selected CSU campuses were among 700 colleges that were recognized and named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. One of the CSU campuses was Long Beach State, which was named as an “Honor Roll” member.
This recognition should not be overlooked or dismissed as a simple feel-good award. The value of a higher learning institution is no longer limited to the minds within the classrooms that are being educated. For the communities that surround them, college campuses are engines of economic growth and centers for civic engagement. For the college campus, the surrounding community offers a real-world laboratory in which professors and students alike can test and apply the theories discussed in the classroom. There is a reason why college towns thrive – not just economically but socially as well.
For those of us who are privileged to live in Long Beach, we already know how connected and entrenched The Beach is in the community. The Pyramid stands tall not just as a symbol of The Beach’s greatness, but Long Beach’s as well. This recognition is significant because it validates what we already knew and because it gives us some much needed good news from the higher education sector in the Golden State.