Is It Time for An Outside Audit of SMCC?
Have you heard those ads for the
summer session at Santa Monica Community College yet? They
praise Santa Monica Community College for "holding
the line" on student fees, highlight an intensive ESL
program, and encourage listeners to register.
Those ads, played on several radio stations across Los Angeles,
always surprise me. The administration has nothing to do
with setting student fees. For worse or for better, the
state government sets the fees. The intensive ESL program,
designed for foreign students with F-1 visas, has been expanded.
Alas, the non-credit ESL program for immigrants and refugees
has been cut back by 90% this summer. The administration
will completely suspend the non-credit ESL program in the
fall - while spending $7.5 million to build a new arts center
in the same Madison site. Finally, SMC is offering fewer
summer classes than last year and there isn't enough room
to accommodate current students. What is the point of Santa
Monica Community College's massive ad campaign?
Perhaps the administration hopes it can distract and deceive
the general public about the condition of Santa Monica Community
College and maintain a reputation built on past excellence.
Yet the last six months have provided many hard lessons
for the students and staff that actually attend and work
at the celebrated community college. The administration's
top priority, as many observers have reluctantly concluded,
is not keeping as many classes open as possible. Some things
- like keeping overpaid administrators and maintaining a
vigorous building schedule - are more important than providing
an education to community college students.
President Robertson wants to cut 20-30% of classes, abolish
several vocational programs, suspend the non-credit ESL
program, and kick out thousands of students.... on the pretense
of a 5-10% state cut in funds. Of course, there are many
ways of cutting even that 10% that would save jobs, maintain
classes, and keep the word community in Santa Monica Community
College. All suggestions and more humane alternatives were
rejected without much, if any, real consideration. Why?
The Governor's May revise of the state budget put the actual
cuts at no more than 4%. President Robertson continued to
push for huge cuts in the core business of SMCC - educating
students. Meanwhile, the funds continue to roll in for parking
lots and buildings at SMCC.
What did other community college administrations do? The
vast majority of community colleges, which never considered
abolishing entire programs, made clear that they would make
cuts to reflect no more than 4%. A few community colleges
in Ventura County announced a cut in salaries across the
board to meet any budget shortfall so students could continue
taking the same number of classes.
Weeks later, the news from Sacramento looks even better.
Due to student activists, faculty pressure, and media outrage,
the state legislature will be sending a state budget containing
far smaller cuts to community colleges closer to 2%.
Alas, President Robertson - pursuing some agenda other than
protecting students' access to classes - continues to push
for huge cuts in classes offered and in vast disproportion
to the actual cuts in state funding. Why? Wouldn't reason
and decency dictate that cuts, if needed, be kept as far
from the classroom as possible? Wouldn't you cut the number
of surplus administrators since SMCC has twice as many administrators
to fulltime faculty as LACC? How is it that other community
college districts have avoided making these draconian cuts?
There is something fishy about the zeal of administrators
to make these extremely destructive cuts. There are lots
of theories floating across the community college campus
- personal power, indifference, incompetence, elitism, empire
building, fantasies of becoming a four-year university.
Yet the bottomline remains that there is no objective reason
to abolish entire programs, disregard negotiated contracts,
ignore community college procedures, and kick out thousands
of minority and disadvantaged students. (Again, why is SMCC
running all those ads recruiting new students if they will
be turning away so many thousands of old students in the
fall?) These proposed budget cuts reflect distorted choices
and reveal rather perverse priorities for an educational
institution.
It's also worth noting that Santa Monica voters generously
taxed themselves $160 million under Proposition U so the
college could, in the words of the ballot measure, "increase
educational opportunities and raise student achievement"
at Santa Monica Community College. President Robertson proudly
lobbied for the state legislation that authorized capital
improvements. The administration wrote and campaigned, with
other campus organizations, very hard for the passage of
Proposition U to "increase education opportunities
and raise student achievement" - which targeted all
the funds toward capital improvements. If you are going
to write a law, people are going to hold you responsible
for the law's provisions - and omissions. Prop U could have,
for instance, included some provision to allow a small percentage
to be used, in an emergency, to cover on-going non-capital
costs.
President Robertson, however, defines "educational
opportunities" and "student achievement"
solely in terms of buildings, and not preserving classes.
Meanwhile, the Santa Monica College Foundation continues
to raise even more money for buildings, but has failed to
host a single fundraiser or send out a single appeal for
funds to keep the doors open for community college students.
Nor has Santa Monica Community College attempted to tap
its graduates - or even created an alumni list. So, following
Robertson's management, SMCC will have far fewer students,
but more beautiful buildings next fall. Some consider this
enlightened management; others consider it gross mismanagement.
If the administration finds itself needing to cut $9.5 million
to make up for a much smaller cut in state funds, than it's
time for an outside audit of the college's finances.
The strong vote of no confidence, by all campus organizations,
shows the great desire for better, more humane, and more
enlightened educational leadership at Santa Monica Community
College. Perhaps the Board of Trustees can find the courage
to review their decisions, reverse course, and revitalize
the campus.
Eric H. Roth
former ESL instructor laid off to make room for a $7.5 million
new arts center at Madison
Eric Roth now teaches ESL at Cal State University Long Beach.
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