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Contact: Liz Carroll
Phone: 413/775-1420
E-mail: carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Media contact: Liz Carroll
Marketing & Publications
413/775-1420 | carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Release date: April 25, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Legislator profile: State Sentator Stephen M. Brewer

Champion of the "Challenged"

"This world is a pretty easy place if you are young, beautiful, healthy and wealthy,” says State Senator Stephen Brewer (D-Barre). "But for those who have challenges in life, whether they're physical or financial or societal, the community college is a tremendous resource and opportunity.”

Sen. Brewer recently attended a community college commencement that opened his eyes to the diversity of its graduates. "I saw handicapped people receiving diplomas, I saw a ventilator-dependent person in a wheelchair getting a diploma, I watched a mom hand her baby to her mother while she walked up and got her diploma. It was thoroughly inspirational to me.”

The first in his family to graduate from college, Sen. Brewer understands first-hand that the mission of public higher education is "to provide affordable educational opportunities for all of our citizens.” It's a passion that he now champions for his constituents in Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties, in company with fellow legislators Sen. Stan Rosenberg, Sen. Nucifero, Rep. Stephen Kulik and Rep. Chris Donelan. "We work very closely as a delegation in Boston to make the voice and the mission of Greenfield Community College heard,” says Sen. Brewer. "It's a rare occasion when I don't partner with [my colleagues] on higher education.”

With state cutbacks to public higher education compounded by federal cutbacks in crucial scholarship programs, they have their work cut out for them. "The federal government cut Pell Grants this year by 300 million dollars,” Brewer points out, "making the dream of affordable higher education more and more remote for people of marginal economic means. We're now spending more money on corrections in our Commonwealth than we are on higher education, which is a sobering testament to our priorities.”

Brewer favors a multifaceted approach to safeguarding public higher education: offering competitive salaries for faculty and staff, maintaining the infrastructure, and ensuring affordability for students.

Public higher education is "a wise and sound business investment,” says Brewer, who earned his B.A. from UMass Amherst, and his M.A. from Assumption College. "If I had to do it all over again, I'd want to start at GCC. It's got a gorgeous campus, it's in a beautiful area and the karma is very, very welcoming up there.”

Brewer encourages his constituents to contemplate the variety of educational opportunities in our area. "It's never too late to expand your intellectual horizons, and it can all happen right at GCC.”