Celebrating 25 years of education

Celebrating 25 years of education

Special gathering celebrates ASU Mid- South silver

news@theeveningtimes.com

Feb. 16, 1992, will forever go down as one of the most important dates in the history Crittenden County.

That’s the date when voters in the county passed a local millage tax to support the development of a comprehensive community college.

That millage transformed what was then Mid-South Vocational/Technical School — which had three buildings and about 120 students and was targeted for closure by the state — into Mid-South Community College, and finally, Arkansas State University Mid-South.

Today, the campus has five main classroom buildings; the 64,000 square foot Donald W. Reynolds Center for Academic Excellence; the Marion Berry Renewable Energy Center; Jeffrey Jacobs Hospitality Management Center; the 22,000 square foot FedEx Aviation Technology Center; has an enrollment of over 2,000 students, and has been recognized nationally as a leader in education and workforce development.

What’s more, the college contributes $32.8 million to the local economy, including $10.7 million in payroll, has attracted $100 million in outside funding, and adds more than $22 million in added income to the region as a result of higher earnings by graduates.

Dr. Glen Fenter, who served as the first president of what was then Mid- South Community College, looked back recently on the events over the last 25 years and the early days of the college, and said the community should be proud of its investment.

“To go from being targeted for closure to being recognized at the federal level in eight years, that is something that is miraculous,” Fenter said. “It was something that resonated with the community and the results were remarkable — passing a property tax increase of 12 percent in a community full of farmers, and doing it by a 3 to 1 margin.”

Passing that tax and convincing the state that they could accomplish their goal though was not an easy sell.

“You think about that. In 1992, the most affluent and most powerful people in the county were farmers,” Fenter said. “ Farmers own what? Land. What happens when you increase property tax? It costs those farmers money. So our idea had some issues to begin with.

But our community leaders stepped up. We had leaders in the farming community who recognized this was an important investment in their community and we were able to overcome that.

But it was not an easy decision.”

Fenter attended over 40 community meetings begging them to support the concept of a community college and extolling the virtues of what they would get for their investment.

He had to win over opposition from the local NAACP leaders and many prominent business leaders in the community like Leonard “Buddy” Wharton. Fenter recalled speaking to the men’s group at the Presbyterian Church known as the “frozen chosen.”

After making his pitch to the group, Wharton pulled him aside as he was ready to leave and told him that he didn’t have a chance in hell of passing the tax.

“I said, ‘well, sir, I can’t help it. I’ve got to try,’” Fenter said.

After the election, Wharton came to see him and asked what he was going to get out of the deal now that the tax had passed.

Fenter handed him a list of classes and told him to pick one and that he would pay for it. Wharton picked out a computer class but told him that he wouldn’t be the one taking the class. His wife would.

Wharton’s wife loved the classes and Fenter won Buddy Wharton over on the importance of the college’s mission in the community.

Wharton ended up becoming the college’s first major donor when he gave $200,000 to help the college.

“That was another example of someone experiencing what you do and being converted because he went from being a staunch opponent to being a major proponent,” Fenter said.

Fenter credited Evening Times publisher Alex Coulter for actually getting the Arkansas Legislature to give Crittenden County a college.

Coulter served as the first board chairman of Mid-South Community College from 1991-2000 and was responsible for convincing ASU

the legislature to fund the original vocational-technical school back in 1978.

“If there is one person most singularly responsible for there being a community college here in Crittenden County it is Alexander P. Coulter,” Fenter said.

“His conviction and bullheadedness and his refusal to be turned back by any obstacle served us remarkably well, especially in the early years. If anyone deserves credit for lighting the fire, it is Mr. Coulter.”

Coulter did some more political arm twisting in 1991 when he persuaded then Governor Bill Clinton to include Crittenden County in a bill establishing six technical colleges in the state.

When the bill in the legislature to create six technical colleges in Arkansas was first proposed, Crittenden County was not on the list.

Coulter was asked to represent West Memphis and Crittenden County and went to a meeting in Little Rock where Clinton would be attending. He cornered Clinton at the meeting and told him that the county wanted to be on the list to become a technical college. “He asked one question.

‘How much millage can you raise,?’’ Coulter said.

“I said, ‘probably around two.’ He said, ‘you’re on the list.’ Well, we got four.

And it made all the difference in the world. The people that provided us this opportunity are the citizens of Crittenden College.

They voted to provide us with the revenues that have been instrumental in the dollars that it takes to operate this facility.”

The next challenge was to find somebody to run the college.

Fenter was in his 30s and was principal of West Memphis High School at the time. Coulter asked Fenter to stop by his office at the newspaper and convinced him he was the right person for the job.

“We didn’t know anything about running a school,” Coulter said. “So we had to find somebody. And lo and behold, who was available at the time, but Glen Fenter.”

Coulter said Fenter did not disappoint. He brought not only ability to the job, but an unmatched level of enthusiasm, excitement, and dedication which helped turn the college into the institution that residents see and send their children to today.

“He has drawn this community together and has done an excellent job,” Coulter said. “And in my humble opinion, he has done more for education than anybody in the Delta.

And it extends beyond that because of his influence in the state.”

The college got off to a rough start. Arkansas Department of Higher Education blocked Fenter’s appointment and it took two years to get the prohibition removed.

“Immediately after I resigned (as principal) I was informed by the state board that you don’t have the credentials. You don’t have the background. You can’t be president,” Fenter said.

Then, the Department of Higher Education sent a team around the state to evaluate each institution to see what resources they would need.

The team spent time meeting with Fenter, the faculty, staff, looked over the facilities, and reviewed its financial condition.

Their report concluded that the college was so pitifully resourced, ill equipped, and inept in its ability to meet the current needs, no less its future needs, that it was in the state’s best interest to shut it down.

“They tried to convince (the legislature) to put us out of our misery, to pull the plug” Fenter said.

“They basically said there was no amount of money that anyone could raise to bring that institution up to an appropriate standard for the state of Arkansas.”

Fenter said he never forgot what they said. And every time the college got a grant, or broke ground on a new building, or held a significant event, he made sure he invited representatives from Arkansas Department of Higher Education to come over and watch.

“Those people eventually became our greatest supporters,” Fenter said. “And eventually they did apologize and tell me they were wrong. They didn’t think they were wrong at the time, and we came very, very close to not getting an opportunity to get this thing headed in the right direction.”

There would be other battles along the way to get the recognition and funding that the college needed. In 1995, the college was once again going to be left out of getting a share of $150 million in college bonds because of its status as a community college. The money was earmarked for four year colleges only.

Fenter tried to get legislators to change their minds.

Senator Mike Everett of Marked Tree brought him to Little Rock to address the legislature to make the case about why it wasn’t fair to exclude community colleges.

“I made a presentation and Lou (Hardin), who later became director of the Department of Higher Education, raised his hand and said, ‘Mr. Chairman, I know this boy. And I know that he means well. And he’s right. But this thing has gone too far,’” Fenter recalled. “They had already released the list of every penny of the distribution of this money. Every institution knew what they were going to get. That was basically saying sit down and go home.”

As he was walking down from the podium, Fenter heard one annoyed lawmaker remark ‘silly, stupid two year college people. ‘” But one lawmaker, Nick Wilson, who was the author of ACT 1244 which created the community and technical colleges, was reading a newspaper and lowered it as he walked by and told Fenter he would fix it.

Two days later, the $150 was completely redistributed and MSCC got $1.5 million.

“The lesson for me was, just because it is screwed up, doesn’t mean it has to stay that way,” Fenter said.

“And now, community colleges are a part of the future college saving bond distribution for ever and ever.”

Fenter recalled some of the major milestones including a $2 million grant from Southland Gaming and Racing for a science wing to what was then the diesel and welding shop; the 1999 visit by President Clinton as part of a regional workforce summit; and the recognition in 2008 of the Arkansas Delta Training and Education Consortium (ADTEC) by the U.S. Department of Labor as the best educational model in the country; and recognition by Southern Business and Development magazine as one of the top ten workforce colleges in the South.

“You can always hang your hat on the fact that if you are doing the right things for the right reasons, cool stuff happens,” Fenter said.

Fenter said ASU Mid-South is now recognized as a leader in education and workforce development and applauded the staff — both past and present — for the good work they have done and continue to do to impact the community.

“This is bittersweet for me,” Fenter said. “I remember starting out at the age of 31. It’s just amazing to me how fast 25 years has gone by. This is a special place with special people doing remarkable work.

There is no place on the planet where you can make a more meaningful difference in the lives of the people who live in your community than right here, right now.

“Regardless of what has happened here over the last 25 years, there are still great things to be done, great things to be accomplished, and you are poised to make the last 25 years pale on comparison to the next 25.

“I will forever be grateful for the small time that I spent here and the small part I was able to play in working with such great and talented people,” Fenter said. “I’m very proud of

what you are doing.”

By Mark Randall