PGCC President Dukes Speaks Out on Student Issues

For nearly two years, Dr. Charlene Dukes has served as the first female president of Prince George’s Community College. During her busy tenure, Dr. Dukes has overseen a 20-percent expansion in student enrollment, a rehabilitation of the campus library in Accokeek Hall and the construction of a new Center for Advanced Technology building. Currently, she is managing the construction of a new $40 million Center for Health Services building, which will break ground this spring.

As PGCC’s eighth president, Dr. Dukes brings a wide range of experiences to her position. In addition to serving as the college’s vice president for student services for 12 years, Dr. Dukes has also worked as a member of the Prince George’s County Public Schools Board of Education and dean of students at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburg. She was appointed by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley to serve on the Maryland Board of Education.

In a wide-ranging interview with editors of The Owl newspaper last month, Dr. Dukes gave insightful answers to questions involving campus enrollment, developmental courses, campus crime, civility, public displays of affection, and the college’s reputation in the community.

Q. College enrollment is up more than 20 percent in the last two semesters. How is the college handling the stresses that come with that?

A. We believe the economy plays some role in that, but we also believe it is the message that’s out in the community relative to the quality of education and the opportunities that exists for students.

In the fall we were 13 percent up in enrollment, and this spring were about 19 percent up in enrollment. That means we have maybe somewhere around 1,000 more students on campus over the course of this entire year than we had a year ago.

We’ve hired more faculty on an adjunct basis. We have more part-time faculty working here in order to ensure that we can provide the classes that students are looking for. We also have classes spread more throughout the day.

Q. Last semester, the school began a civility program asking students to police themselves and take responsibility. Is the program working?

A. We understand that we are a college where people are coming at a point where they are transitioning into adulthood, or they are already adults. The civility campaign is not there to force or to mandate. It is really to ask people to look at themselves and understand where they are currently in the world and where they are headed and that civility plays a big part in that.

We didn’t’ expect things to change overnight. We understand that college is not all work, and I would say, no social engagement. But how do you balance both of those and how do you do it in ways that respect the environment that you’re in?

Some of the profanity that may occur is very commonplace today, on radio, on television. What we’re suggesting is even in this environment, a collegiate environment — where we want to respect academic freedom, freedom of speech, how we interact with one another — you are also preparing yourself for the world.

Q. One of the things that we hear among students sometimes and among the community is that this is 13th grade. How are you changing that perception?

A. Well I would suggest to you that there are probably a wide variety of perceptions in the community. I’ve worked at the Community College of Allegany in Pittsburg. We had the same issues where people don’t view you as a real institution. Well, one of the ways that I think that we can combat that is to look at how we market the institution. I think that we’ve done a great job with that with our logo and our branding.

I do believe that people think that there is a difference between what they see here and what they might see at a four-year institution. But I also know that students realize the quality of the education they’ve received when they transfer and they are able to compete one on one with students who are native to that four-year institutions. And I think we have to keep pushing, both internally and externally, the message of high quality, high standards, and high reputation.

Q. How well has the Prince George’s County School system prepared its graduates for education here? I’ve noticed there are a lot of developmental classes. Or are they more geared to people who’ve been in the workforce?

A. It’s a combination. I will tell you that the one developmental class that most people take when they’re coming in as incoming freshman is math. And there’s a reason for that. The placement test is geared toward Algebra. Most of us, even if we had Algebra in high school, have been away from it some time. I don’t know about you, but I don’t sit around doing algebraic equations, that’s not what turns me on.

If you look at the fact that our median age here is 29, we’re getting a lot of first-semester students who are not 18 or 19, just getting out of high school. So they’ve got to come back and do some refresher in math. Simultaneously, if you took algebra 1 in the ninth or 10th grade, and you’ve been away from it for two years, it is likely that you might need some refresher work. Everyone’s not starting at the lowest level of mathematics.

The percent of students needing developmental course work has decreased over the past three years. At one point we were hovering around 67 or 70 percent. This past fall it was 54 percent, so clearly there are some great things happening in our public schools.

Q. One thing that’s of major concern is public displays of affection. How is the school trying to make it known that this is what you can do and this is what you can’t do?

A. We certainly talk about that in every fall and spring at new student orientation. It is in the code of conduct that people cannot engage in behaviors that are inappropriate to being in a collegiate environment. And quite frankly, we have to not only police others we have to police ourselves.

Are there inappropriate behaviors here? Yes, and we’re tackling those each and every day. We do use the code of conduct. We will either give students a warning or censure, they are suspended. And in some cases, we’ve had the unfortunate opportunity, if we can call it an opportunity, to expel students , which means that they can no longer come back to the institution.

Q. But, where do we draw the line? Some people kiss and some people go that extra mile?

A. I would suggest that that’s a discussion that we need to have. I know that in many instances that people when they leave each other will peck or kiss. We do that in public. I think that as a community, we should engage in a dialogue, and it should include students. Where do student believe that the line should be drawn and how do students help us to draw that line.