PLATTSBURGH — Clinton Community College welcomed new students to an orientation on campus Thursday and for the first time in nearly 60 years, it was not at the Bluff.
Instead, students were invited to the college’s new campus location at 46 Beekman St. in the city of Plattsburgh, the former site of SUNY Plattsburgh’s Redcay Hall now known as the George Moore Building.
‘MIRACLE’
“What we’re looking at is a miracle,” Acting President of CCC Ken Knelly said Thursday, as student after student flocked into the renovated lobby around him.
“A month ago we started the move, so to see all of this now and know what was here” it’s a miracle, he said.
In January 2024, Clinton Community College announced it would be moving the institution from its location on “the Bluff” on Lake Champlain to SUNY Plattsburgh’s campus located in the city of Plattsburgh by the fall of 2025.
At the time, some doubted the college would be able to move that quickly.
“There’s not really a template for this. It’s not like this happens every day — moving your college to a different location quickly,” Knelly said.
“So skepticism was justified.”
RELOCATION
The relocation plan was financially motivated.
As Clinton’s student enrollment continued to decline over the past decade, so did the amount of tuition the college was receiving. It had also become too expensive for the college to maintain its county-owned campus buildings on the Bluff.
“That’s a beautiful location … It’s also a very expensive location. That building is a very old building that was built in 1911 as a hotel, and so it’s expensive to maintain,” Knelly said.
“Coming over here, we’re able to cut those costs.”
Before the move, Clinton was also in severe danger of losing its accreditation from Middle States Commission on Higher Education — its accrediting agency — which would have all but guaranteed it would have to close if it did.
However, in November 2024, Middle States reaffirmed Clinton’s accreditation through 2029-2030 after the college showed improvement in student enrollment and its finances and had a continued plan to keep improving moving forward.
“That laid the groundwork for the future of things,” Knelly said.
Asked where enrollment was at now, Knelly said they’re looking at about 500 full-time and part-time students who will be “taking classes at this campus or adjacent to the nursing or EMT campus.” That’s a 10-12% increase from last year if it holds, he said.
If that trend continues, there could be opportunities to expand the college.
“I think what we’d have to do is look at some other locations, maybe on the SUNY Plattsburgh campus,” Knelly said.
“I hope that’s a problem … we have.”
RENOVATIONS
In anticipation of Clinton’s arrival, the State University Construction Fund began renovations on the Moore building in January.
It had been renovated with new flooring, new paint, new moldings and accents of Clinton’s iconic orange and blue colors throughout it.
Moving everything over to the new location somewhat began in June but really ramped up a month ago, Knelly said.
“Thankfulness and gratitude are really the themes” of the move,” he said.
“And it’s not a made up theme, because every division of this college, every employee, has been a part of that, working hard, doing extra, trying to make it all work.”
‘GREAT BENEFIT’
Gina Lindsey, a humanities professor at Clinton since 2000, got emotional Thursday when talking to the media about the move.
“It’s very hard to leave a place where you’ve spent most of your life and career and it’s such a beautiful place,” Lindsey said.
“I’m not gonna say it’s not sad and wistful, but we are very excited about our new location and what we can accomplish here. and I do think there’s great benefit, not only to us being closer together as the community college, but also being right in the middle of Plattsburgh State as well to help our students make the transition to a four-year. We’ve always had a great partnership, and I think that will just only enhance it.”
FALL SEMESTER
The start of the fall semester is Monday.
The majority of classes for students will be in the Moore Building, but being on the same campus as SUNY Plattsburgh naturally means there will be some sharing between the two institutions for some amenities and programs.
For example, Clinton’s nursing classes will be in the medical arts building adjacent to CVPH at 206 Cornelia St. and the art programs will operate out of the basement in SUNY Plattsburgh’s Hawkins Hall where Knelly said there is studio space. Additionally, Clinton students will use the science labs in SUNY Plattsburgh’s Beaumont Hall and have access to Feinberg Library.
Knelly said Clinton donated about 14,000 books to SUNY Plattsburgh’s Feinberg Library. The books have not been moved there yet, he said, but 9,000 of them are new and the rest were better condition editions of books they already had.
The cottage where SUNY Plattsburgh’s Canadian Studies program operated out of is also now home to Clinton’s faculty offices.
GOOD AREA TO BE
Second-year criminal justice student Danika Clowney is looking forward to being so close to downtown Plattsburgh this semester.
“Sadly, we lost the view (with the move). That was really nice,” Clowney said.
“But I like being at Plattsburgh around here, because now we have a lot more people to socialize with, and more areas to wander, which is nice, and downtown is, like, right around the corner with a lot of nice coffee places, bookstores. I feel like it’s a good area just to be at and wander.”
First-year math-science student James Cone, whose parents worked at the previous campus for many years and he visited quite a bit of, said he likes the new campus, located right across the street from Hawkins Hall, more.
“I think you can socialize way more, which I believe is a huge importance in college,” Cone said.