TRAVEL, FAR, WIDE AND EDUCATIONALLY, BUT DO IT LOCALLY

There was an interesting, if obscure, story of about a representative of local travel agencies addressing a Community College Board Meeting, complaining that John Wood Community College did not use the services of any of these local providers.

My first impression of all this was something to the effect that "a junior college needs a travel agency like a pigeon needs rollerskates." 

Other people, however, present a school of thought that the Junior College arranges "bus tours". If this is something more than simply sending people to seminars or perhaps to present professional papers, then this becomes a topic worthy of discussion. 

The first, obvious, question that arises is "What is a junior/community college doing sponsoring bus tours, anyhow?" It should be noted that JWCC has an independent charitable foundation overseen by its own board and it is possible this independent foundation might be sponsoring bus tours as a fundraiser.

The second question is whether the College sought Requests for Proposals and whether any local travel outlets provided responses [for all the knucks out there, and is different from "bids"]. 

In any event, Your Friendly Basin is open to being educated on this topic and I hope some of the local travel agents/Commenter will come in here and state their position, with factual support, with more clarity. The coverage in the local media outlets was a little vague on what, exactly, the college is doing and what it is, exactly, that the agents wish the college to do. 

In any event, knowledgeable, informed contributors are invited. Opinionated/uninformed commenters are invited to put a sock in it.