Southwestern College Students Protest Class Cuts (And What the Administration Did Afterward) via The Writer's Washroom by Nickolas on 10/24/09
On Thursday, October 22, students at Southwestern College in Chula Vista chose to protest against the unilateral actions of the school president and its Board. The protest was civil and held in the fifty yard-by-fifty yard zone that the school calls its "Free Speech Area."
It should also be noted that the Free Speech Area is hidden away between several buildings and is invisible to any road, parking lot, or driveway that surrounds the campus. To a member of the voting public - such as myself - who showed up to watch the students, it was difficult to find. I, like others, had to park and wander the campus until we found it.
For the last Board meeting, President Chopra refused to move the venue from the tiny room it usually used to the auditorium it regularly uses when it expects a big crowd. He knew that students, professors, members of the public, and the press were coming to express their displeasure at his budget-slashing plans, so more than one hundred people – like me – stood outside and listened to the meeting on little speakers, while police guarded the doors.
So it comes as no surprise that he is using locational tactics to try to suppress his opposition again.
The students had one hour to express their disgust and displeasure, and to try to rally support among their peers. They used it. And, at the end, they decided to march across campus to the president's office to be heard. Campus police intervened, and after a reminder that they had no rights at all on the campus, the students decided to do this again, and they dispersed.
A Very Brief History
The Administration's Story -- Faced with California's looming fiscal crisis, President Chopra formed a committee of faculty and administration to decide on budget-saving measures. Eventually it became clear that the only way to maintain operations was to cut classes. That would keep any instructor from being laid off, and wouldn't effect the students much at all.
The Truth -- The President formed a committee. Ostensibly scheduled by the admin, it never met until the very day of the most recent board meeting (one week ago). Absolutely nothing was decided, except for the admin representatives to let the faculty reps know what was going down. Many cost-saving measures were floated: cutting the maximum number of students in classes, instructors taking pay cuts, instructors taking unpaid furlough days, laying off unnecessary administrators, cutting athletics, and utilizing the school's "reserve funds."
Southwestern College has several million dollars in its reserve fund - also known as its "rainy-day fund." Over the past few years, the reserve fund has increased to 7% of its holdings. In other words, the school has made a profit the past few years. The State of California says that all colleges should have a reserve, but the amount they recommend is "not more than 5%."
That two percent overage in the rainy-day surplus equals about two million dollars. The budget shortage? An estimated $1.3 to $1.7 million. The overage in the surplus could sate the budget issues for the time, but the Board doesn't want to give up on that banked profit.
Furthermore, during the last Board meeting, the one member who puts students, faculty, and the South Bay area first - Nick Aguilar - put a motion on the table. It was not to stop the slashing of classes, but simply to consider some of these other options. The Board refused to even consider anything but slashing classes (which means laying off instructors).uffer. But, hey! We'll have that profit banked, and that's apparently all that matters.
For more information on this, go to the Save Our Southwestern College blog at http://www.saveourswc.blogspot.com/. If you're in Chula Vista/South Bay/San Diego, please follow @saveourswc for more updates.
It also appears that this is finally getting some attention from the local paper, the San Diego Union-Tribune (which is solidly in Raj's pocket):
(Photo credits - me with the cell phone)
Edited to add the last two paragraphs, and to tweak the bit on the location of the last Board meeting.
UPDATE: It appears that the Union-Tribune has decided to take a slightly more even-handed look at this situation. This story, updated early this morning, finally begins to dig into the issues:
Following the protest, four faculty members were placed on suspension, one of which has since been "reprieved."
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, President Chopra and lead administrator Jacki Osborne (who gave the faculty members their suspensions) have both gone on vacation.
Indeed, some coincidence. As I understand, the reprieved fac member was not at the rally, which would debunk claims that rally and suspensions were unrelated. All, I gather, are known for speaking out. The president of the faculty union was also among the suspended. There is or was a move afoot to decertify the union. No connection has been made ~ far too many coincidences.
ReplyDeleteCall me suspicious minded, but if this is happening in one place, I can't help thinking it is happening in other places ~ just not getting the same press and social media traction.
Would it be possible for me to use some of these images for a video about this newssotry? Could you let me know?
ReplyDeleteme@katherinesweetman.com
thanks,
You'll have to get permission from Nikolas Furr, owner of the Writer's Washroon, the blog where the Southwestern College protest story was originally published on. I'm glad to hear there's interest in the story.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to read the rest of Nicolas' stories about it on The Writer's Washroom
You can reach him at nickolasfurr (at) yahoo (dot) com