Pick on mascot, not students

Our mascot looks ridiculous. Most mascots do. Everyone is getting their shots in about the goofy purple riverbat, and that's fine.

However, John Kelso, town curmudgeon, and columnist at the Austin American-Statesman, took a swing in his Nov. 25 column that went too far.

While it may be hard not to laugh at a big purple bat, it's a different thing altogether to then proceed to insinuate that ACC students are underachievers who will all end up working for the smart kids who got to go to UT.

Kelso isn't alone in his misinformed and mean-spirited attack on community college students. It's becoming somewhat of a trend.

Just this week a Daily Texan columnist wrote about how she liked taking classes at ACC, but then went on to say that community colleges were in dire need of reform because the graduation rates are abysmal, and that even when we graduate our degrees won't be worth much compared to hers.

Graduation rates at community colleges are low because students often transfer to four-year institutions before completing a degree. It's also worth mentioning that ACC produces the most transfers to four-year institutions in the state, and that our transfer students outperform students who started at a four-year institutions.

This college is much more than just a place for poorly performing students go to make an easy "A". People who attend ACC run the gamut from high school students getting an early start, 20-somethings working their way through their basics, workers looking for a trade certificate and older people coming back to learn new skills or change direction.

Austin Community College is providing a service to this community and working to create a better educated state. It's where our police officers and firefighters are certified, and our nurses and pharmacists are trained.

Poking fun at the hard-working students who are often employed full-time to put themselves through school to "learn how to install solar panels" is tacky, and it makes Kelso sound like a snob.

Make fun of the new mascot. We're tough. We can take it. But don't group all the students here together and label them slackers.

Sure, the Riverbat is silly. It's not as "regal" as a steer chewing its cud on the sidelines of a football game or as "fierce" as a feral cat - I mean bobcat. The Riverbat is not meant to bounce around aimlessly on the sideline of a sporting event, but to promote ACC at community outreach events, interact with little kids and get people to notice ACC.

It wasn't really made to appeal to 20-something college students, cranky newspaper columnists, or adults coming back to school.

Students need affordable classes, convenient locations and knowledgeable professors who are accessible. Students need a place to get an education that does not come with a lifetime of debt.

ACC comes through where it counts for this community, and our students, whether they transfer to a four-year university or enter the workforce, are valuable to the economy and to the future of this state.