ICC administrators on the verge of destroying student newspaper

July 31, 2006
By Billy Dennis

Full disclosure: I am a former writer and assistant editor of the Harbinger, and I consider retired adviser Mike Foster to be a friend. My two cents: Still, were I not associated with the Harbinger, I would be appalled by what Illinois Central College has done to this consistently award-winning student newspaper. As hard as the college tries to portray this as the result of student apathy, declining journalism class enrollment and (get this) unfavorable press attention the fact remains that there are people who want to serve, but are denied the opportunity. Any press attention the Harbinger received wasn’t critical of the newspaper or its student writers, but the ham-handed dictatorial policies the current ICC administration tried to put in place, such as giving the adviser veto power over stories. It was the administration that picked an adviser so unsuited for the job. The most important skill a college journalism adviser possesses is the ability to motivate and lead. This guy didn’t have it. AndI simply don’t believe that there’s no one willing to be the adviser.

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18 Responses to “ ICC administrators on the verge of destroying student newspaper ”

  1. Anon E. Mouse on July 31, 2006 at 9:23 am

    As Bill has stated before: “My two cents: I can’t work up much sympathy for ICC. Remedial education is one of the traditional tasks assigned community colleges. So is vocational education, but I don’t think preparing people to be low-paid fry cooks was what was in mind at the time.”

    http://peoriapundit.com/blogpeoria/2006/05/25/todays-news-budget-5252006/#comments

    I sez:
    Just a couple of months ago, ICC wasn’t worthy and now we must rush to save the student newspaper of that unworthy organization.
    The nice thing about your opinions on any given subject, Bill, is that there are so many to choose from. It doesn’t take an associates degree in the culinary arts to recognize a waffle like you.

    Oh – for the record – Yes, Bill, I WOULD like fires with that.

  2. Anon E. Mouse on July 31, 2006 at 9:25 am

    “fires” should be “fries”

    Dang!

  3. John Ruberry on July 31, 2006 at 9:27 am

    I wonder if FIRE, http://www.thefire.org, knows abou this case.

  4. Billy Dennis on July 31, 2006 at 10:01 am

    Mourse: Ummm … so, objecting to ICC course offerings is somehow incompatible with wanting to keep the college admins from wrecking a fine student newspaper? You baffle me.

  5. Anon E. Mouse on July 31, 2006 at 11:03 am

    You are baffled, alright, Bill. That comes through loud and clear when you write your opinions.

    Your “fine student newspaper” is intended for a “remedial” school that teaches “low-paid fry cooks.” If this is the case, wouldn’t these low-paid fry cooks-in-training do just as well with a single page of comic strips with a Search-A-Word on the reverse side?

    Your opinions of ICC (as well as those regarding Glen Oak School) are more based on nostalgia rather than rational thought. Things have changed in the 20 (or 30) years since you last attended, back in the goo-old-days when ICC was just the “High School on the Hill.”

  6. Debbie Adlof on July 31, 2006 at 11:39 am

    You really should check out ICC more carefully before passing judgement. It’s not at all what it first started out to be.

    They’ve been smart enough to team up with other universities, offering programs that seamlessly melds into the students’ next step. They’ve got a multitude of programs for students looking for certifications and other various associate degrees that would land them in their career paths. They’ve got an awesome Professional Development Institute to prepare students for entry into the technical world. They’ve even teamed up with Caterpillar to produce future workers in the engineer field.

    One doesn’t go to ICC to be a fry cook.

    ICC offers all sorts of options to students who cannot afford state tuitions. They also help those students who haven’t yet made a career choice and even help the more immature ones to make mature decisions.

    It’s not a remedial school at all!

  7. Tony on July 31, 2006 at 12:10 pm

    I want to see Bill argue with that.

  8. another js'er on July 31, 2006 at 12:48 pm

    I didn’t attend ICC, but I did spend two years at another junior college in Illinois. I had very fine teachers and classes there. Mouse is all wet.

    I only met Mike Foster once or twice, but he’s obviously a hard adviser to replace. I never met anyone who worked with him who didn’t like and respect him.

  9. Anon E. Mouse on July 31, 2006 at 1:15 pm

    another js’er sez:”I didn’t attend ICC, but I did spend two years at another junior college in Illinois. I had very fine teachers and classes there. Mouse is all wet.”

    I am “all wet?” The words you see in quotes in my previous post are not mine, but from a previous post belonging to Mr. Dennis. It is BILL who is bashing ICC, not me. I quoted him just to point out (yet another case of) his own hypocrisy.
    Bill is the one calling ICC “remedial” and the students as being trained only to be “low-paid fry cooks,” not me.

  10. Billy Dennis on July 31, 2006 at 1:51 pm

    Mouse: You need to take a reading comprehension course. Obviously (to all but you) I was complaining that the ICC administratio risked changing its mission from trying to elevate people from low-paying jobs to instead training people how to perform low-paying jobs. I was not saying all ICC students are remedial, by any means.

  11. Woodford Pundit on July 31, 2006 at 2:32 pm

    Look, they’re too busy sending students to China to worry about the newspaper!

    The missing part of the equation here is that ICC is PROPERTY TAX funded, unlike the state universities. We property owners can’t afford their taste for Champagne and Concrete. They should be concentrating on the simpler things – like getting a newspaper right.

  12. Democrat on July 31, 2006 at 3:00 pm

    Let me guess they printed something about David Leitch, That the powers to be at the school didn’t like.

  13. Anon E. Mouse on July 31, 2006 at 3:17 pm

    Mr. Dennis, you force me to direct quote you AGAIN –
    “Remedial education is one of the traditional tasks assigned community colleges.”
    http://peoriapundit.com/blogpeoria/2006/05/25/todays-news-budget-5252006/#comments

    Now you sez:
    “I was complaining that the ICC administratio risked changing its mission from trying to elevate people from low-paying jobs to instead training people how to perform low-paying jobs. ”

    Low paying jobs – like those in the journalism field?

    …what about your well-expounded theory that print media is dead, anyway?

  14. Eyebrows McGee on July 31, 2006 at 3:34 pm

    John Ruberry says, “I wonder if FIRE, http://www.thefire.org, knows abou this case.”

    John, one of my best friends from law school is their VP of Operations (not to mention a fine lawyer). I worked at a realted organization, the Student Press Law Center, as a law clerk. We at the SPLC thought they at FIRE were wound a little tight, but they’re an excellent organization I encourage everyone to support.

  15. Emtronics on July 31, 2006 at 3:49 pm

    My son got one heck of an education at ICC which helped him transfer to Illinois State. He graduated magna cum laude from Illinois State and went on right out of school to be a music and US History teacher at an area high school. Not a fry cook. He’s working on his Masters. My other son is doing the same just leaving ICC and on his way to U of I. A fry cook school? Anybody who makes that statement is either an idiot, never visited the school lately, or both. ICC takes a lot of heat from people in this area who call it “Harvard on the Hill” or whatever but simply put, it offers people a chance at a college education, a starting point, and a continuing point for higher learning and narrow minded idiots that need a clue don’t help.

  16. Tony on July 31, 2006 at 4:16 pm

    Ouch… Bill may ban you for that.

  17. Debbie Adlof on July 31, 2006 at 4:52 pm

    I agree with Emtronics that ICC is a great stepping tool for area students to use. I don’t agree with the antics of negative people such as Mr. Mouse, who seems to spew a lot at Bill. If you re-read what Bill wrote, he was NOT attacking ICC students. He was commenting on the specific issue of ICC’s attitude towards the school’s newspaper.

  18. Anon E. Mouse on July 31, 2006 at 6:52 pm

    I wholeheartedly agree with Emtronics and Debbie about the value of ICC.
    Emtronics put it very nicely when he said, “it offers people a chance at a college education, a starting point, and a continuing point for higher learning.”
    You guys are preaching to the choir, here.

    My point was to show how Bill is, yet again, a hypocrit. You can use Bill’s own words on almost any subject to show how he flips and flops when the mood stikes him.