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History of PHENOM
Formed during a period of growing excitement for education reform after the election of Deval Patrick as Governor, PHENOM began as a small grassroots effort at UMass Amherst during the early winter of 2006 .
Winter of 2006 – The Beginning of a Great Idea On December 1st, 2006, a coalition of students, faculty and staff, based primarily at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, hosted a Higher Education Summit. At the summit the coalition released a policy report entitled “Advancing Public Higher Education: A Roadmap for Gov. Patrick” to a crowd of 800 people, including Governor-Elect Deval Patrick. The Roadmap and the Summit sparked productive conversations about important issues facing public higher education, including the affordability and accessibility of public higher education and under staffing and under-funding. There was a consensus at workshops that day that a statewide organization was needed to pursue these goals. PHENOM is formed – February 2007 Well-received by the press, the Governor’s office and key legislators, the coalition reached out across the 29-campus system to broaden the movement. On February 1st, 2007, organizers from across the state met to formally launch a new advocacy coalition, and named that group the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts, or PHENOM. A draft of the organization’s principles was created and discussed, and an interim structure was proposed that would carry PHENOM until the Fall of 2007. This structure consisted of an Interim Steering Committee, a General Assembly, and individual campus councils.
First Legislative Action – February 2007 The newly-formed coalition of students, staff and faculty from around the state channeled the grassroots enthusiasm for public higher education reform into a combined Founding Convention and legislative action.
Originally scheduled for February 14th, 2007, snow forced a postponement to February 22. That day, representatives from many of our public colleges and universities came to the State House for briefings on higher education from the Co-Chairs of the Joint Committee on Higher Education and the Governor’s education advisor, a training session, and the election of PHENOM’s Interim Steering Committee (see attached). PHENOM advocates pushed lawmakers that day to prioritize higher education during the budget process and educated them about the pressing needs in the higher education system. This event also served as the kickoff for PHENOM’s spring campaign, and advocates began collecting thousands of signatures on behalf of PHENOM’s 5 principles.
Developing PHENOM’s Organization Capabilities – Spring 2007 During January and February, PHENOM members sought to build the organization’s capacity by hiring student interns interested in higher education reform. Creating opportunities for students to get involved in running PHENOM has been a focus of the organization since its inception, and interns have played an important role in each campaign .
During the Spring of 2007, PHENOM members also focused on securing initial funding to assure the long-term viability of the organization. Groups with funds available to contribute, including student governments and higher education unions, covered the costs of PHENOM’s first spring campaign and events.
The Interim Steering Committee, in consultation with many others, developed a list of legislative priorities. They focused on capital infrastructure improvements, closing the ‘funding gap’ in the higher education system, a loan forgiveness program, increasing transparency and lowering costs of textbooks, health insurance for part-time faculty, and in-state tuition for all Massachusetts high school graduates .
PHENOM also sought to improve the visibility of the organization by creating and maintaining a website, www.phenomonline.org.
Second Legislative Action – April 2007 On April 22, 2007, PHENOM advocates again descended on the State House to introduce legislators to PHENOM’s agenda, and to advocate for higher education legislation. During the event, over 15,000 signed postcards supporting PHENOM’s principles were delivered to the Governor’s Office and House and Senate members. Each legislator received the postcards from his or her constituents. The event was well-received in the press, and drew attendees from around the state.
Planning for a Second Campaign - Summer 2007 During the summer of 2007, the PHENOM board continued to meet regularly. A small staff consisting of the state-wide coordinator and one student intern managed PHENOM activities and administrative matters, as well as working to maintain solid connections with state legislators to continue to educate them on pressing needs. PHENOM members met individually with a majority of State Senators to discuss issues and strategy. At the end of the summer, attention shifted to an important PHENOM benchmark: the second annual higher education summit, to be held in the fall of 2007.
Second Annual Higher Education Summit – October 2007 PHENOM began the new school year by hiring three new interns and holding several meetings of the organizing committee. Preparations began in earnest for PHENOM’s higher education summit, held on October 26 at Framingham State College. Attendees had productive conversations in caucuses, workshops, panel discussions and plenary sessions about potential ways to increase revenue for public higher education; leadership in the organization; organizing and outreach in the higher education reform movement; accessibility and affordability; legislative goals and the Readiness Project. Panelists included legislators, representatives from the Board of Higher Education, the Mass. Budget and Policy Center, and others. During a general assembly, the organization decided on campaign priorities. The group decided to focus on the higher education Capital bond bill, which would invest two billion dollars into badly-needed physical infrastructure improvements to our campuses; increasing need-based financial aid, specifically through an increase in the MASSGrant program, and increasing funding from the state in the next year’s budget.
Sixteen campuses, as well as over 10 organizations, were represented at the event. The night before, students from around the state decided to form a partner organization, Massachusetts Students Uniting, which has continued working closely with PHENOM.
Report on the Affordability Crisis – October 2007 The summit coincided with the release of a white paper on the affordability crisis in Massachusetts public higher education, authored by PHENOM members. The report concludes that “the rapidly increasing cost of public higher education, combined with the decreasing availability of financial aid grants has led to: less education access for our residents; increased debt for our graduates; fewer people going into vital fields; the undermining of economic development. It is indeed a crisis of major proportions – but a solvable one.” Copies of the report were distributed on campuses and to organizations across the state, as well as to every legislator at the State House. The report outlined concrete steps Massachusetts could take to solve the affordability crisis in public higher education, including free two-year community college, debt relief for student loans, especially for those entering public interest employment; increasing and restructuring financial aid program; promoting educational parity for all Massachusetts’ residents; and unbundling text books to reduce prices. Copies of the report are available at www.phenomonline.org.
Planning for an Ambitious Spring Campaign Season – Winter 2007-08 Immediately following the successful October summit, intensive planning for the spring campaign began. Postcards outlining PHENOM’s legislative goals were printed, and copies were later distributed around the state. Meetings were held with state legislators, union leaders, and students groups about PHENOM and the upcoming Spring campaign. Small events were held at campuses across the state, bringing together students, staff and faculty together to discuss public higher education reform and PHENOM.
In January, a new Executive Committee (see attached) was elected to lead the organization. The group, alongside the rest of the PHENOM membership, immediately began organizing two legislative events, and a series of public hearings on Affordability and Access that would capture the attention of lawmakers, the media, and communities around the state.
PHENOM Asks Legislators to Show Their Love for Higher Education – February 2008 Over 100 members of the higher education community arrived at the Statehouse February 14th, 2008 to kick off PHENOM’s spring campaign, and listen to union leaders, PHENOM leaders, and state officials.
Dubbed the ‘Fix it! Fund It! Afford it!’ campaign, it would ask the state legislature to support three higher education initiatives: increase revenues for our higher education institution in the FY09 budget; pass the Capital Bond Bill, a landmark legislative initiative proposed by Governor Deval Patrick to fix and improve the infrastructure of our college campuses; and restore funding to the MASSGrant, the state’s principle needs-based financial aid program, which has suffered from significant budget cuts in the last 10 years. Postcards advocating for these legislative measures were distributed to attendees to get signed and brought back in April.
The Valentine’s Day events concluded with visits to every legislative office to discuss PHENOM’s legislative priorities and to deliver Higher Ed-themed M&Ms. Attendees left the State House energized and eager to take the campaign and the post cards back to their campuses.
Affordability Hearings Conducted Around the State – March/April 2008 As part of the spring campaign, hearings on the affordability crisis in higher education were held around the state. At each hearing, a distinguished panel of community leaders, college presidents, and legislators listened to testimony from community members, college and high students, and parents about the challenges they faced when paying for the cost of public higher education. Local print, radio and television media covered the hearings, which were held at Springfield Technical Community College, Fitchburg State College, UMass Dartmouth, and UMass Boston.
New Vehicle for Change in the Public Higher Education: The PHENOMobile – Spring 2008As part of PHENOM’s spring campaign and to increase awareness of the organization and its goals, members of PHENOM kicked off a tour of public higher education campuses across the state. To facilitate the tour process, and to insure that PHENOM members without access to a car had the opportunity to participate in state-wide events, PHENOM invested in the repair and painting of a donated van, named the PHENOMobile. At each stop on the tour, PHENOM members emerged from the brightly-painted van, distributed postcards for the spring campaign and other materials, and encouraged people to join PHENOM at an April rally on the Boston Commons in support of the legislative program.
Thousands of Post Cards to the State House – April 2008 After an ambitious two months of organizing, over 150 higher education advocates from all across the state came to Boston April 16th 2008. The event began with a spirited rally, skit and march on the Boston Common, which highlighted the spring campaign, the importance of the MASSGrant program, in-state tuition for all Massachusetts residents, and the importance of public higher education in the community. Thousands of PHENOM postcards, signed by constituents from around the Commonwealth in support of PHENOM three legislative priorities, were delivered to lawmakers, as participants visited offices around the State House to discuss higher education priorities. Like many other PHENOM events, the rally appeared in media publications around the Commonwealth, and was featured on the front page of Boston.com.
As a direct result of the sustained organizing throughout the fall and spring, the House Chair of the Joint Committee on Higher Education introduced an amendment to increase funding of the MASSGrant program, which would restore funding for the program to the highest levels achieved in the mid-nineties. The final budget from the Conference Committee on the Budget, signed by the Governor, included an additional $3 million dollars for the MASSGrant program. This was widely seen as an unlikely victory in a bad budget year, and testimony to both the dire need and to PHENOM’s powerful organizing. PHENOM has also continued to advocate for the higher education capital bond bill and increased revenues for public higher education institutions. Legislative and organizing efforts are ongoing, as is preparation for PHENOM’s third higher education summit, to be held in the fall of 2008.
Fall 2008: Election and Financial Crisis PHENOM mobilized students around the state to run voter registration drives and to fight against Question 1, the ballot referendum that would have eliminated the Massachusetts state income tax. The message to students was that tuition and fees would skyrocket, class sizes would increase, and course offerings would decline. Students did presentations in classes, knocked on doors in dorms, set up tables, held rallies, made phone calls and were published in their student newspapers. It was a successful campaign in that it helped defeat Question 1 and brought more students in contact with PHENOM.
At the same time, the financial crisis hit, and the Governor imposed unilateral 9C cuts on many parts of state government, including higher education. PHENOM disseminated a position paper arguing that tuition and fees should not be cut, that financial aid should be preserved, that layoffs should be avoided, that reserves should be tapped, and that some of the more expensive capital projects that may not be central to the teaching and research mission should be delayed.
Third Annual Higher Education Summit – November 2008Approximately 100 people attended, representing 15 campuses and numerous community organizations. Workshops included:
- Need-based financial aid
- Free K-14: how to get there
- Programs to improve access to public higher education
- The state budget and public higher education
- Involving alumni in PHENOM
- An introduction to PHENOM for newcomers
Panelists included students, two college presidents, policy experts, a representative of the Department of Higher Education, PHENOM activists, and a school superintendent.
The 20 minute PHENOM film was premiered, after which participants gathered for a plenary session to debate proposals and make decisions about PHENOM’s work. Priorities for the year will include a campaign to increase need-based financial aid, a campaign to expand/coordinate existing access programs, work for passage of the Education Parity Act, research and advocate for a pilot program for free community college as a 1st step toward free K-14. PHENOM will also participate in finding a progressive way to raise revenue in the state, and will support a public transportation campaign begun at North Shore Community College.
There was a tremendous amount of energy coming out of the Summit, and work groups around Financial Aid, Free Community College, and Access immediately began work to bring proposals to the December 3 PHENOM meeting, the largest planning meeting since the Founding Convention. PHENOM's Accomplishments 2008-09Major Events - Higher Education Summit, Boston, November 2008
- Reception with Legislators in State House, Boston, March 2009
- Rally/March/Lobby Day, Boston, April 2009
- Fundraising Party, Amherst, May 2009
- Annual Meeting, Springfield, June 2009
Mobilizations and Campaigns - Against Question 1: hired student organizers, assigned students interns, and coordinated student Vote No on One campaign
- Against 9C cuts: outreach and media work
- For maximum and appropriate use of federal stimulus funds: provided background information to Congress; call-in-days; media
- Higher Ed questionnaires to legislators
- Now More than Ever: Invest in Public Higher Education: rally, march, lobby day
- Increase/preserve funding for need-based financial aid and to increase revenue: calls, emails to legislators
- Education Equality: targeting key legislators
Publications and Media - “Making Free Community College a Reality” – working paper
- PHENOMenal News – first issue of PHENOM newsletter
- Legislative Agenda
- Fact Sheets about Question 1, MASSGrant and higher education budget
- Fundraising Prospectus, including detailed history of PHENOM
- 20 minute film about the crisis in public higher education and PHENOM
- ½ hour TV interview about PHENOM on Greenfield Cable TV
- Excellent TV coverage of April Rally, Springfield TV stations
- Enhanced web site
Visibility and Outreach - Mass Teachers Association Summer Conference, Williamstown, August 2008
- Commissioner Freeland’s inauguration, Framingham, February 2009
- Game Show about Public Higher Education, Mt. Wachusett Community College, March 2009
- "Coalition Building" workshop at Department of Higher Education Student Leadership Conference, Boston, April 2009
- Presentation/discussion about Free Community College, Holyoke Community College, April 2009
- Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention, Springfield, June 2009
- PHENOM meetings on different campuses: Bristol CC, Quinsigamond CC, Mt. Wachusett CC, Framingham State, Westfield State, Worcester State, UMass Lowell, UMass Amherst, UMass Boston
Capacity Building - Achieved 501c3 non-profit status
- Raised funds to hire interim Development and Administrative Director
- Created mechanisms for individual memberships and donations
- Expanded and consolidated lists of supporters
- Got bulk mailing permit
- Improved financial records system
- Meetings re fundraising with foundations, legislators, potential donors
Meetings to Make Connections and Build Alliances - Peter Schworm, Boston Globe Higher Education writer
- Richard Doherty and others, Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Massachusetts
- Coalition led by Crittenton Women’s Union around Educational Rewards Grant Program
- Coalition led by Student Immigrant Movement around Education Equality
- Clantha McCurdy, State Office of Financial Assistance
- Richard Freeland, Commissioner of Higher Education
- Paul Reville, Secretary of Education
- Senator Robert O’Leary, Senate Co-Chair of Joint Committee on Higher Education
- STCC administration, student and union leaders
- Jason Marshall, Legislative Director for Senator Galluccio, new Senate Co-Chair of Joint Committee on Higher Education
- MASSPIRG campus leaders
- UMass Amherst retired faculty group
- Fred Clark, Executive Director, Council of State College Presidents
- Governing Board, Massachusetts School Counselors Association
- Student governments and other student organizations
- Westfield State
- Cape Cod Community College
- Mt. Wachusett Community College
- UMass Amherst
- UMass Dartmouth
- UMass Boston
- Higher education unions:
- UMass Lowell Massachusetts Society of Professors
- UMass Amherst Massachusetts Society of Professors
- UMass Amherst/Boston Professional Staff Union
- Massachusetts Teachers Association
- Massachusetts Community College Council
- Association of Professional Administrators
- UMass Amherst Graduate Employee Organization
- Massachusetts State College Association
- UMass Boston Faculty Staff Union
Work that has been started - Web-based library of relevant articles
- Access conference for Fall 2009
- PHENOM Advisory Committee
- Student organizing guide
- Grant writing
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