TSC HAS LOST SIGHT OF ITS MISSION

By Juan Montoya
“Texas Southmost College, which was established in 1926, was the first institution of higher education in the region. It was founded as the Junior College of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and was the first accredited public junior college in Texas.”

Elections are underway for the board of trustees at TSC. Perhaps this election is a watershed event to regain our community college.
The administration's candidates - Rosemary Breedlove, Eduardo "Pee-Wee" Rodriguez and Dr. Robert Lozano - are content to maintain the status quo. The others, Trey Mendez, Kiko Rendon and Robert Lopez are really the only alternative we have to counter the Juliette Garcia regime and all its attendant excesses.
With Rene Torres the lone dissenting voice on the current board, having three like-minded friends with him could change the direction of the college district once and for all and remove it from the grasp of the current leadership.
Rene Coronado, while a nice enough guy, has draped himself in the American flag and his military uniform seeking the patriot vote. We have joked with him in the past that he doesn't seem to be running for the TSC board, but rather, for a place with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Anyway, the next election is only two years away and as his Whistleblower's lawsuit wends its way through the courts, perhaps then will be a ripe time for his candidacy.
The question before the voters is a clear one: Will we continue to have a "remedial" community college, a stepchild of the UT System, or will we reclaim our once proud community institution?
Ever since it was established, the quality of education at Texas Southmost College was something to be respected. Whether you were pursuing a professional degree and would transfer to a four-year institution for a medical, legal, or other professional degree, or just wanted a vocation to better yourself and your family, it had something to offer everyone in the community.
Many local tradesmen and business people acquired their associate’s degrees or their certification in the various construction and other vocational careers. Welders, carpenters, body shop repair, air conditioning, etc., were available for local people to better themselves and raise a family.
A former student who attended a prestigious four-year Midwest university put it best: “When I transferred to the University of Michigan, I expected that few of my credit-hours would be accepted. Instead, of the 60 to 70 credits I had, only four from an elective course were not accepted. TSC used to be a respected community college.”
This mission - that of providing a hand up for the entire community - was originally embraced by our college.
We are losing that aspect of our community college. Continued increases in the cost of credit hours here are pricing TSC beyond the means of our local people. Our community college is no longer accessible to the average district resident.
We need to bring back the word “community” into our college.
We need to revisit the actions of former board that pegged the tuition rates at TSC with those of the UT System. There is no reason why someone who wants to acquire a certification in a trade has to pay comparable rates with someone who wants to acquire a professional degree at UT-Brownsville.
Let’s give back our college to the people that it was established for: our local residents who pay for it through their property taxes and who are paying the debt for facilities construction.
Future board members must make sure that college costs for our local students reflect the economy in which our families live. If that means that we have to review and change the entire tuition cost structure by undoing the actions of past boards, so be it. There is no reason that students in our college district have to go out-of-town to attend community colleges in Harlingen and McAllen because they are priced out of TSC.