Sussex County Community College (SCCC) is a public community college in the town of Newton in Sussex County, New Jersey. It is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and several of its programs are further accredited or approved by state government agencies and national occupational standards associations.

Established in 1981, Sussex County Community College acquired its current campus in 1989. Before then, the location was the site of Don Bosco College, a former Roman Catholic seminary. SCCC's hillside campus is located along Mill Street (CR 519) between Swartswood Road and Plotts Road in Newton. The college has expanded by adding new classroom and instruction space and offering twenty-three associate degree programs, as well as several career and certificate programs. The student body, while it has declined in recent years comprises over 3,000 full-time and part-time students. The college's athletic teams participate in the Garden State Athletic Conference.

History

College Hill before SCCC

The land on which the Sussex County Community College campus is located was first settled before 1751 by Newton's first settler, Henry Hairlocker.Kevin W. Wright, "The Horton Mansion: Former Don Bosco Campus, now Sussex County Community College", Newton NJ: Pearl of the Kittatinny (newtonnj.net). Retrieved August 7, 2015. Hairlocker, a German Palatine emigrant, operated a tavern on the site. Jonathan Hampton, a surveyor and land investor from Elizabethtown, New Jersey, built his Military Road through the area in 1755 during the French and Indian War. In 1762, before the construction of the county's first courthouse was completed in 1765, the county government and courts held sessions at Hairlocker's tavern. This structure was razed in January 1944. Newark-based saddle and harness manufacturer, John A. Horton (1807–1858) purchased the property and began construction of a mansion blending features of Rural Gothic and Italianate architecture with plans to establish a working farm on his estate. The mansion was completed in 1858 although several of Horton's plans would not be finished as a consequence of his death. The estate remained in the Horton family until 1921.

On September 12, 1928, the property was sold to the Missionary Society of the Salesian Congregation who organized a Roman Catholic seminary at the Horton Mansion which they renamed to St. Joseph's House of Studies. The seminary would complete construction of a large red-brick building "to provide dormitories, library, class rooms and laboratories for training Salesian teachers and priests" in 1931. It later became known as Don Bosco College, after nineteenth-century Italian priest John Bosco who dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth.Michael L. Coulter, Richard S. Myers, Joseph A. Varacalli, "Bosco, St. John (1815–1888)", Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy (Plymouth, UK / Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2012), 36–38; John Morrison, The Educational Philosophy of Don Bosco (Guwahati, India: Don Bosco Publications, 1999).The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, "Saint John Bosco: Modern Apostle of Youth", catholicism.org, April 2, 2008. Retrieved August 7, 2015. According to local historian Kevin W. Wright, the seminary "received boys who desired to become priests and educators according to the Rule of the Salesian Congregation. The school provided high school courses and a one-year Novitiate, and three-year trial vows for those considering a religious profession. After two-years of this advanced training, the young Salesian left Newton to teach at one of the Salesian boarding schools in Ramsey, Goshen, or New Rochelle".

Don Bosco erected a building for classrooms, faculty offices, and living quarters on campus in 1963.Cornerstone on Building B and C says "A.D. + 1963"

Establishing the college

New Jersey had been developing two-year associates-degree-level county colleges since the 1960s after the state legislature passed the New Jersey County College Act of 1962 to provide residents more affordable higher education opportunities. Sussex, along with Warren, were the last two counties in New Jersey to establish community colleges. Nineteen have been established statewide (in the case two colleges, two neighboring counties jointly sponsor both Raritan Valley Community College and Atlantic Cape Community College).Lawrence A. Nespoli, Community Colleges: A New Jersey Success Story (Trenton, NJ: New Jersey Council of County Colleges, n.d.). Retrieved August 27, 2015. Discussions concerning the founding of a junior college or community college in Sussex County began in the late 1970s after Upsala College, a private Lutheran-affiliated four-year liberal arts college in East Orange, New Jersey, acquired a farm in Wantage Township near Sussex with plans to establish a new campus.Wirths Campus in Sussex County records - Upsala College (East Orange, New Jersey) , in Upsala College Records, Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, Augustana College (Rock Island, Illinois). Retrieved August 27, 2015. Citing East Orange's worsening crime problem and social conditions, Upsala considered a complete relocation to rural Sussex County, where classes were held briefly with small enrollment from 1981 to 1992. Upsala closed in 1995 after encountering declining enrollment and severe financial problems.Strunksy, Steve. "IN BRIEF; Dream of a College Tinged With Sadness", The New York Times, August 2, 1998. Retrieved August 28, 2015.Rothstein, Mervyn. "IN BRIEF: Against Odds, Revival For Troubled College", The New York Times, September 21, 1992. Retrieved August 28, 2015. Local officials saw the need to establish a two-year public college to serve county residents.

On August 17, 1981, the New Jersey State Board of Higher Education authorized the creation of a college commission in Sussex County to begin organizing and establishing a public two-year institution.Sussex County Community College, About Us: Fast Facts. Retrieved August 27, 2015.Sussex County Community College, About Us: Our History. Retrieved August 7, 2015. With its plan in place by January of the following year, SCCC began offering classes in the Spring 1982 semester. An opportunity for the college to find a permanent campus became available as the Salesian Order prepared to close Don Bosco College as a result of decreasing vocations. The Salesian Order sold its campus to the Sussex County government on June 22, 1989, for $4.2 million.Sussex County Clerk's Office (Newton, New Jersey), Register of Deeds. Deed between the Salesian Society, Inc., a corporation of the State of New York being the parent company of Don Bosco College and the Salesian Society of New Jersey, Inc., and The County of Sussex, a political division of the State of New Jersey (10 May 1989, filed 22 June 1989) in Deed Book 1662, page 022 et seq. (Instrument No. 89-39284). The college would consist of a few buildings to which was added a $7 million Library and Science building in 2004 and an $11.7 million Health Sciences and Performing Arts Center in 2008.

For the last few years, the college has been experiencing declining enrollment and financial problems. The college's fourth president, Constance Mierendorf, was fired in 2010 by the board of trustees in the wake of allegations of shoddy bookkeeping and financial irregularities.Joe Moszczynski, "Sussex County Community College's new president faces declining enrollment, budget problems", The Star-Ledger, February 20, 2011. Retrieved August 7, 2015.Louis C. Hochman, "President of Sussex County Community College steps down", New Jersey Advance Media, February 18, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2015Joe Moszczynski, "Sussex County Community College chooses new president", The Star-Ledger, December 20, 2010. Retrieved August 7, 2015. Mierendorf sued the college claiming that she was illegally terminated in a meeting that resembled a "1950s-style McCarthy witch hunt than a proper public session".Joe Moszczynski, "Ex-Sussex County college president files lawsuit on being dismissed in 'witch hunt' college board meeting", The Star-Ledger, October 21, 2010. Retrieved August 11, 2015. She received a $350,000 settlement.Rob Jennings, "Jennings column: SCCC Board of Trustees chair argues against term limits", The New Jersey Herald, September 20, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2015. In 2015, with the similar rationale of budget deficits and declining enrollment, the college laid off personnel and raised tuition by ten percent. Other community colleges in northwestern New Jersey like Raritan Valley Community College and County College of Morris, have experienced similar difficulties.Louis C. Hochman "First a tuition hike, now layoffs at Sussex County Community College", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, May 29, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.Ben Horowitz, Tuition and fees jumping nearly 10% at Sussex County Community College", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, February 26, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015. Some of the declines are thought to be connected to the decline in the county's population and economic factors in the wake of the Great Recession.

Campus

Sussex County Community College is located on a hillside campus in Newton, New Jersey that features three ponds (including Horton Pond), and a stream that feeds into the Paulins Kill.R.H. Perry & Associates, Executive Search Profile: Sussex County Community College, President (2015). Retrieved August 27, 2015.United States Geological Survey, Newton West, NJ Quadrangle USGS 1:24K Topographic Map O41074A7 (1997). Located along Mill Street (also known as County Route 519) between Swartswood Road and Plotts Road, 88.63 acres of the campus are located within Newton, the remainder within neighboring Hampton Township.Town of Newton (NJ), Harold E. Pellow & Associates, Tax Map, Town of Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey (October 2009). Retrieved August 27, 2015. Note: Sussex County Community College's Newton tract is Block 3.01 Lot 19.Township of Hampton, Harold E. Pellow & Associates, Tax Map, Township of Hampton, Sussex County, New Jersey (August 2009). Retrieved August 27, 2015. Note: Sussex County Community College's Hampton tracts are Block 3301 Lots 2, 2.01, and 2.02. Classes are held in five main academic buildings that feature approximately 60 classrooms, ten computer labs, ten science labs, an art studio, two art galleries, a small student theater and a larger 339-seat space that can be used as a theatre, lecture hall, and performing arts center. The college has a library with over 37,000 bound volumes, 225 print periodicals, and database access to over 28,000 journals and periodicals. SCCC has a television studio facility offering video streaming services for its SCCC/EDTV/20 cable access channel.Sussex County Community College, Community and Business: EDTV (Channel 20). Retrieved August 10, 2015. Further, it will soon launch radio broadcasts on WAMJ on 97.5 FM and 1620 AM.Nathan Mayberg, "Turn on the radio Radio station coming to SCCC Published", The Sparta Independent, February 23, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2015. The college also operates a Public Safety Training Academy on Sussex County government property located approximately north of the main campus in Frankford Township. The academy provides educational programs and training to local fire departments, the law enforcement community, emergency medical personnel, government employees, and the general public in all aspects of public safety.

The college's Connor Green is home to Sussex County's memorial to the September 11th terrorist attacks. The memorial features a section of damaged steel I-beam from the destroyed World Trade Center in New York City.Rob Jennings, "County's annual 9/11 ceremony to be held Friday", The New Jersey Herald, September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2015.