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Ocean County College

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Ocean County College is an accredited, co-educational, two-year, public, community college located in Ocean County, New Jersey. Its primary campus is in Toms River. Other facilities include the Southern Education Center in Manahawkin and the Center for Business Education & Training in Brick Township. Classes are also offered at a dozen off-campus sites throughout Ocean County.

The school enrolls 8,538 students (as of Fall 2005) in Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, and Associate in Applied Science degree programs, and certificate programs.

Ocean County College is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the New Jersey Department of Education.

Online Associate Degree Nursing Program

Ocean County College received a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to develop an online education model to address shortages of RNs in the hospital setting, and to create New Jersey’s first online Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) Program. Although there are many online RN to BSN and MSN programs, there are very few online programs at the ADN level.

OCC’s unique program allows those currently employed in the health care field to complete an RN program by attending class only one day per week (primarily on-site in host health care institutions) supplemented by online instruction. By providing educational experiences online, and by taking advantage of space already available at local hospitals, dependence on classroom space at the college is decreased. The program pioneers innovative online delivery modes in teaching and learning, and is designed to attract individuals who could not otherwise pursue nursing studies while working full-time. The goal is to graduate 60 more RNs per year. This should be an extremely effective means of reducing the critical shortage of nurses in New Jersey. In November of 2006 the OCC One Day per Week Nursing Program received a President's Award from the New Jersey Public Health Association honoring this online nursing program for helping to reduce the nursing shortage in New Jersey.

Student newspaper

Over the past year, the college has received some publicity about its newspaper, the award winning Viking News, which has been published at the school for almost forty years. Problems began over claims of alleged mistakes in an article about a time change in the student activity period, charges which subsequently led to an altercation between two editors and the college. In 2006, the school announced it would not renew the annual contract for advisor, Karen Bosley. Bosley claimed this was a reprisal for news articles unfavorable to the college.

But in a temporary restraining order filed in a New Jersey federal court on July 26, 2006, Judge Stanley Chesler reinstated Bosley saying, "Nonetheless,if it is shown that Bosley was removed in retaliation for the content of the Paper’s articles, such a removal would undoubtedly have an impermissibly chilling effect on the Paper’s student editors and their willingness to produce articles critical of the OCC administration in the future. The Plaintiffs, therefore, must demonstrate that the failure to renew Bosley’s contract was motivated by their exercise of protected speech. The Plaintiffs have demonstrated that the Defendants actively disapproved of many of the Paper’s articles and editorials. The OCC administration has sent letters to the Viking News expressing their displeasure with the viewpoints expressed by the Paper and held numerous conversations where the Defendants specifically expressed their displeasure with the Paper and its criticism of the OCC administration. The specific interest the Defendants showed in Bosley’s potential influence over the student editors in expressing their critical views further underpins the Plaintiffs’ argument that the Defendants’ failure to renew her contract, after thirty five years as the Student Newspaper Advisor, was in retaliation for the Paper’s constitutionally protected publication of items critical of the OCC administration."

On the other hand, the College administration expressed concerns about the out-of-date format, the overall poor quality of the paper, the frequent errors, and the failure to produce an online edition even though they were online at www.occvikingnews.com.

The student paper will continue to be published, according to the College.

A lawsuit is pending from the students against the school and President Jon Larson, claiming that the school violated student's rights to Freedom of the press under the First Amendment when it failed to renew Bosley's annual contract.

Noted alumni

See also


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