The rise of community colleges in Illinois

Back in the 1960s, one community college opened every week in America. Illinois was part of that movement.

This year, proclaimed by Governor Rauner as the “Year of the Community College,” marks the 50th anniversary of Illinois’ law setting up the community college system. His proclamation bears a certain irony given his failure to fund the colleges or student assistance grants.

The colleges were to offer freshmanand sophomore-level study leading to the Associate of Arts degree as well as technical and occupational courses leading to certificates. And tuition was to be low. Parttime attendance was encouraged.

The first “junior” college in the country had been founded in 1901 at Joliet, inspired by the University of Chicago’s first president, William Rainey Harper, who espoused open enrollment and schools which would allow students to get the first two years of college in their hometowns.

Previously, higher education was mostly for the elite. In the first half of the 20 th century additional “junior” colleges opened in Illinois. Most were tied to local high school districts.

It wasn’t until the new Illinois Board of Higher Education developed a master plan that called for a community college system that the concept became widespread in the state.

Governor Otto Kerner signed the Community College Act in 1965. It provided a governance system and taxing ability for newly formed public districts.

With the authorization of the colleges in Illinois, a group of community leaders from small towns around Springfield joined together to get voter approval of College District #526, Lincoln Land Community College.

For strategic reasons, Springfield was not part of the original district since it was felt the city would vote “no” on the venture. It was the “hole in the donut” which got filled in later.

The men elected to the first board of trustees were solid citizens in their areas.

There was Ken Malmburg, a family doctor from Auburn, Charlie Long, a banker from Wagoner, Richard Stone, the owner of the seed company west of Springfield, Kennedy Kincaid, owner of Hopcaid quarry in Menard County, Eldon Greenwood, a farm manager with a major bank, Justin Taft, a farmer from southeastern Sangamon County and Walt Adkins, a farmer from near Ashland.

It was a group of no-nonsense, likeminded, conservative, country people who wanted to improve their communities and who believed that public education was the way to do that.

As the first college president they hired a career “school man.” Dr. Robert Poorman was an outsider from Ohio by way of California who came to start the college and serve as its leader for 21 years.

Unlike many higher education professionals who came for awhile then moved on, the Poormans made Springfield their permanent home, still living here in retirement all these years later.

It may have been that obvious commitment to the area which made Poorman’s presidency and the college he started so successful.

From the beginning, Poorman cultivated the district school superintendents. There was no flashy salesmanship, simply attention to the needs of the local students and towns.

And an almost parsimonious attention to control over spending and a fanatic effort to keep tuition and taxes as low as possible. Those principles continue to guide the institution today.

Lincoln Land was accessible to all and responsive to the agricultural, business, and health care industries in its vocational offerings. The faculty, both in technical and academic areas, were selected because they were good classroom teachers.

The first campus was a series of one-story, temporary plywood buildings. In the weeks before the first enrollment, Poorman and his small number of colleagues worried, “What if we open a college and no one comes?” But students did come. By the hundreds at first and later by the thousands. Today there are few families here who haven’t been touched in some way by Lincoln Land.

We all know someone who started at LLCC before going on to university. Our farms and agribusinesses, our hospital nursing and technical staffs, our restaurants, our trucking companies, our fire departments and police departments are all examples of organizations staffed by people who went to Lincoln Land.

What started as “Plywood U” Has grown to an elegant campus in Springfield with a series of satellite sites throughout the district.

Today the Lincoln Land district includes all or part of nine counties and exceeds some states in size. It offers quality instruction to all at low cost. Just as those founders envisioned.

And just as Governor Kerner hoped, all of Illinois is now included in one of the state’s 39 community college districts. This is an example of government quietly doing what it is supposed to do....making the lives of its citizens better.

Phil Bradley of Chatham served for 20 years on the board of Lincoln Land Community College. For five years he was the associate director of the Illinois Community College Trustees Association.