Telegrams to the State Board
Title
Telegrams to the State Board
Subject
Motlow State Community College
Description
Newspaper account of a coordinated advocacy effort from area hospitals and nursing homes to send telegrams to the TN State Board of Education to encourage passing Motlow's Nursing Program.
Date
August 18, 1971
Format
.jpeg
Language
English
Type
Newspaper Clipping
Coverage
Motlow State Community College
Transcription
State board knew course was wanted
Western Union got quite a workout last Thursday, thanks to supporters of nurse training at Motlow State Community College.
While members of the State Board of Education were in Memphis going over plans for the following day’s meeting of the board, their deliberations kept being interrupted by delivery of telegrams.
Each of the wires urged the board to approve a proposal for starting an associate degree in nursing technology at the community college.
The came from administrators of seven area hospitals and a convalescent center, all of whom have backed the proposal and whose governing boards are on record as willing to underwrite the program’s cost.
The strategy of inundating the 13 board members with messages was laid at a meeting of the South Middle Tennessee Hospital Council held Wednesday of last week in Fayetteville.
Richard L. Morris administrator of Harton Hospital, Tullahoma, who heads the group, suggested the measures be taken because of the statewide touch-and-go situation regarding nurse training programs in state colleges.
“We discussed the critical issue at stake, particularly since three other similar proposals had either been turned down or deferred,” Mr. Morris said. “I learned later that many of them said it was the best evidence of community support they’d ever seen.”
Each of the eight administrators sent wires to each of the 13 state board members, asking that their messages all be hand-delivered.
In addition to the one sent by Mr. Morris, wires also went from The Meadows Convalescent Center, Tullahoma; Warren County Hospital, McMinnville; Coffee County Hospital, Manchester; Lincoln County Hospital, Fayetteville: Bedford County Hospital. Shelbyville; and Emerald Hodgeson Hospital, Sewanee.
The state board approved the program by unanimous vote on Friday.
Western Union got quite a workout last Thursday, thanks to supporters of nurse training at Motlow State Community College.
While members of the State Board of Education were in Memphis going over plans for the following day’s meeting of the board, their deliberations kept being interrupted by delivery of telegrams.
Each of the wires urged the board to approve a proposal for starting an associate degree in nursing technology at the community college.
The came from administrators of seven area hospitals and a convalescent center, all of whom have backed the proposal and whose governing boards are on record as willing to underwrite the program’s cost.
The strategy of inundating the 13 board members with messages was laid at a meeting of the South Middle Tennessee Hospital Council held Wednesday of last week in Fayetteville.
Richard L. Morris administrator of Harton Hospital, Tullahoma, who heads the group, suggested the measures be taken because of the statewide touch-and-go situation regarding nurse training programs in state colleges.
“We discussed the critical issue at stake, particularly since three other similar proposals had either been turned down or deferred,” Mr. Morris said. “I learned later that many of them said it was the best evidence of community support they’d ever seen.”
Each of the eight administrators sent wires to each of the 13 state board members, asking that their messages all be hand-delivered.
In addition to the one sent by Mr. Morris, wires also went from The Meadows Convalescent Center, Tullahoma; Warren County Hospital, McMinnville; Coffee County Hospital, Manchester; Lincoln County Hospital, Fayetteville: Bedford County Hospital. Shelbyville; and Emerald Hodgeson Hospital, Sewanee.
The state board approved the program by unanimous vote on Friday.
Citation
“Telegrams to the State Board,” Motlow State Community College Archives, accessed April 28, 2024, https://msccarchives.omeka.net/items/show/41.
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