Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | March 19, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 29 The Holy Cross compromise The Worcester Business Journal welcomes letters to the editor and commentary submissions. Please send submissions to Brad Kane, editor, at bkane@wbjournal.com. T he Alliance for Vocational Technical Education is a coalition of organizations and employers that came together in 2014 to expand access to vocational, technical and agricultural schools. This formation of AVTE is especially timely given the approximate wait list of 3,000-5,000 Massachusetts students looking to these career and technical education programs. This waiting list has grown because parents and students recognize our voke/tech schools prepare students with valuable skills for good-paying jobs and career paths in important sectors of the economy, and provide the academic rigor preparing students for post-secondary opportunities. The goals and objectives of AVTE are to better align existing resources and secure additional funding to expand access to our voke/tech schools and programs, and eliminate waiting lists. First, we are seeking out ways to open existing voke/tech schools during after-school hours and the sum- mer. Secondly, we are seeking funding through the Baker Administration and the legislature for the Massachusetts School Building Authority for a bricks-and-mortar expan- sion of the state's voke/tech schools, as well as for modern equipment. In both instances, funding would go towards expansion of schools and programs the state and local offi- cials – along with regional employers – have identified as in-demand jobs. Worcester provides a good example in this regard. Under the leadership of then Principal Maureen Binienda, Worcester's South High petitioned the state to open a Chapter 74 program in diesel, engine tech- nology and repair. This type of program is not currently being offered at Worcester Technical High School. The program at South has been a success with graduates work- ing in well-paid jobs locally and/or attending college. AVTE is working to require better outreach to students and parents at the middle school level, to help inform them of the educational and skills training opportunities. We hope to see the establishment of a deputy commissioner of Vocational/Technical and Chapter 74 programming within the Department of Elementary & Secondary Education. Additionally, we hope to change existing laws to allow a single community to veto a regional voke/tech's ability to expand and meet student enrollment demands. We urge business leaders to contact their legislators about the need to increase voke/tech school funding. By doing so, we strengthen regional economies across Massachusetts. We encourage business community mem- bers, if they are part of an industry association, to get involved in advocacy for career and technical education. Susan Mailman is chairwoman of Coghlin Electrical Contractors, Inc. in Worcester, and Timothy P. Murray is the CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. Voke/tech career development needs funding V I E W P O I N T E D I T O R I A L BY SUSAN MAILMAN AND TIMOTHY P. MURRAY Special to the Worcester Business Journal Susan Mailman WO R D F R O M T H E W E B Tweets of the week "Worcester should seriously embrace the creation of protected bike lanes to increase bike usage, safety and life in the city. Protected bike lanes on Main Street, Highland Street and Park Ave would be awesome and necessary." - Mateo Carvajal (@Matcarf ), March 8, on the need for bike-friendly roads in Worcester "I'm inspired every time I hear @ LaurieofMars speak! #boldleader #clearthinker #geekwithheart" - Bob Mason (@bmason), March 7, on a WBJ story about Worcester Polytechnic Institute President Laurie Leshin being named WBJ's Nonprofit Business Leader of the Year W Facebook feedback "But of course, no brainer!" - Lynn Stromberg, March 5, on Armsby Abbey in Worcester being named the best beer bar in the state by Craftbeer.com "We are so lucky to have this amazing woman at the forefront of our company. She inspires and motivates us every day. Congratulations, Barbara!" - Struck Catering, March 8, on a WBJ story about Struck President & CEO Barbara Cotter being named to the WBJ Hall of Fame A negotiation isn't successful until both sides are unhappy, and the hallmark of compromise is everyone getting something they want – but not every- thing. It's an art we seem to have lost the ability to create at the national level, at least among our political leaders. In what may seem like an attempt to please everybody in the debate over its Crusader mascot, the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester at first glance may have appeared to have failed making anyone happy. Yet, after taking a step back, the col- lege's approach to cutting the baby in two looks like it may have achieved an elusive balance. In the board of trustees decision in January to keep the Crusader name, Holy Cross disappointed, and in some cases angered the faculty, students and other advocates who wanted the college to com- pletely distance itself from the medieval Holy Wars where non-Christians were massacred. Those advocates even wrote a letter to school afterward, demanding to know what financial pressures influ- enced the decision. Now, in the school's decision on Wednesday to phase out its knight-and-sword logo and retire its costumed mascot, Holy Cross may have piqued its older alumni and other advo- cates who fondly remember the knight logo and its meaning to both athletics and as a symbol of the campus and their education. Hurt feelings and initial overreactions aside – Holy Cross President Rev. Philip Boroughs just may have crafted a solution to both honor the school's history and remove it from the negative connotations of the mascot. After the January deci- sion, Boroughs said the meaning of the school's mascot has evolved over time: the community of Holy Cross Crusaders – who in the college's Catholic and Jesuit tradition tries to do good across the globe and make positive contributions to soci- ety, faith and economic progress – is different than the medieval Crusaders, who in the name of reli- gion fought in Holy Wars resulting in the slaughter of men, women and children, including many of the Muslim faith. The decision on Wednesday fur- ther clarifies Borough's strategy, as the eliminating of the knight-and-sword logo and the costumed mascot will further remove the college from associ- ation with the medieval Crusader. The primary uti- lization of the existing secondary logo – the inter- locking HC on a shield – will help further brand the idea of an independent Holy Cross Crusader. While the sword was used to slay its enemies, the shield is used to protect its values. With no clear victor, expect hurt feelings on both sides. Will the compromise have a deleteri- ous effect on student applications, especially from minority backgrounds? Will resentful alumni who thought they had defended their mascot withhold with their checkbooks? Hard to say, but there is no denying the school recognized this debate as a watershed moment, and in the long tradition of its Jesuit order, engaged in a spirited debate where all voices appear to have been heard. Some feel the issue is critical, others see it as much ado about nothing. We think the school may well have put the camel through the eye of the needle with its artful compromise. Nobody got what they wanted, all appear heard, a compromise has been reached. Could this art of the compromise be brought to Washington, D.C.? Afterall, even if you don't like the decision, at least they stuck with the color purple. W Timothy P. Murray

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