SE doesn’t deserve high school stigma

SE Campus often gets a bum wrap. Many students and community members call it a high school.

SE Campus is a small campus in building space compared to the other TCC campuses. It has parking problems and a small library. SE has to hold half-court 3-on-3 basketball intramurals instead of full-court play. Before the science building opened, SE was easily a noisy campus with all students crammed into one building.

OK, so there’s a lot of things SE gets flack for, but the campus shouldn’t get picked on because it looks and feels like a high school.

Campus enrollment is up 12 percent since last spring semester (1,680 more students). With its new science building, SE has some of the best labs and equipment in the district.

Sure, the campus is small, but that should also be one of its advantages. It’s the easiest campus to get around.

Need to register, apply for financial aid, go to the gym or the cafeteria? They’re under the same roof.

There’s a separate building for everything on NE Campus. It’s a nice campus to walk through, but it’s easy to get lost too.

SE Campus is great. Chances are high school teachers aren’t going to have official office hours for their students to come and ask them for help on assignments. SE students don’t have to walk through metal detectors or get sniffed by drug dogs.

SE Campus President Judith Carrier is always willing to talk to students. Like the other campuses, Carrier holds forums where students and faculty can openly express their thoughts and ideas.

Name a high school principal who would talk to the student body about issues not related to dress code.

Nobody walks around the campus with an ID around his or her shirt. In high school, students are corralled all day with assistant principals and security guards telling them what to wear and what not to wear, where to go and where not to go and what they’re supposed to do and what they’re not supposed to do.

SE may look like a high school. But for what it lacks in size, it makes up for with credibility.