Ted Kennedy and Community Colleges

President G. Jeremiah Ryan (second from right) with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (center), 1998

Ted Kennedy was a friend of mine.  More importantly, Ted Kennedy was the best friend community colleges ever had.

I got to know Senator Kennedy when I was President of Quincy College, a small community college serving the southern shore of Massachusetts with campuses in Quincy and Plymouth.  Quincy had an incredibly diverse student body, drawing its students from the hard scrabble, blue collar, ethnically diverse communities of Roxbury and Dorchester-Boston and middle class villages up and down the shore.  Because of its student diversity, Quincy College was a place Senator Kennedy loved to visit.

The Senator was a civil rights champion, Quincy’s students benefited from his work.

The Senator always fought for the underdog, the disenfranchised, the poor, and the struggling masses, all of which were present at Quincy College.

Quincy College’s students needed federal and PELL Grants and loans; the Senator made sure these programs were continued and expanded.

The Senator didn’t just help the students at Quincy.  His support was felt by all community colleges across the country where open access and low tuition enabled the people the Senator worked so tirelessly for to achieve the American Dream.

In 1998, Quincy College gave Senator Kennedy a “Lifetime Achievement Award.”  Ted joked with me at the time, saying “Jerry, what do you mean lifetime?  I’m not done yet.”  And he was correct, serving for another eleven years in a remarkable 47 year career in the Senate.

I was new to Quincy, having become President only in 1996, when the Senator first visited.  He was campaigning and loved the richness and the incredible desire for success shown by Quincy’s students.  I recall him saying to the candidates at the forum “Always go to community colleges.  The people are real there.”

The last time I had an opportunity to speak with Senator Kennedy was Spring 1999 when I went to Washington, D.C. on an advisory trip for the South Shore Chamber of Commerce.  He welcomed all of us as old friends and we discussed the topic of the day.  He asked me specifically “How are all those great kids at Quincy College doing?”

Ted Kennedy championed the underprivileged and the underdog.  Today’s community colleges give him a tremendous amount of gratitude for a lifetime of dedication to them.

Dr. G. Jeremiah Ryan
President
Bergen Community College