After nearly three hours of public comment, the Cambridge City Council voted last night to oppose the scheduled closing of a community extension school on the MIT campus.
The plan, authored by MIT President Charles Vest, would abolish the Lowell Institute, a vocational and computer training school funded by MIT which has served middle-class Cambridge residents since 1904.
City councillors said they were surprised that MIT made the decision to close the school without first consulting city officials. They also said the proposal was insensitive to working class Cambridge residents.
"We will work hard to try and keep this program going," said City Councillor Anthony D. Galluccio.
Although the Lowell Institute does not issue degrees, the school provides an opportunity for area residents to acquire technological skills and job training, Bruce D. Wedlock, the school's director, said at last night's meeting.
Wedlock said that nearly all of the classes are offered during the afternoon or evening, and a large number of the 1,100 students at the school are minorities or immigrants who have had little previous education.
Lowell's tuition is only $300 per credit-hour, making it far cheaper than attending the Harvard Extension School, said Susan C. Gomez, a former Lowell student, who said that many area residents will be severely disadvantaged if the school closes.
"This is another example of the powerful denying power to the powerless," Gomez said.
Wedlock agreed. "This school allows many people to [attend college] who otherwise couldn't afford it," he said.
MIT officials previously have said that they are slashing institute programs in hopes of trimming the multi-million dollar budget deficit which MIT has accumulated over the past several years.
But Wedlock said that Lowell School only accounts for $100,000 out of MIT's annual budget of $1.4 billion. He added that most of the $100,000 is actually returned to the university as tuition from Lowell students.
According to Wedlock, the true cost of funding the community school is almost nothing.
"MIT makes zero financial contribution to this school other than [my] salary" of about $60,000, he said.
An 'Elitist' Attitude
Citizens and council members said they were surprised that MIT did not send any official representatives to last night's meeting.
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