SWC in the News, Again

In the San Diego Reader, "Southwestern Suitors" points out some thought-provoking relationships between campaign contributors to Governing Board incumbents Terri Valladolid and Yolanda Salcido.


As the November 2010 election looms, contractors, architects, landscapers, and other folk who have absolutely nothing to do with education (beyond vying for taxpayers' dollars) have been lining up to line the campaign coffers of Valladolid and Salcido.

With Proposition R monies on the table (to the tune of $389 million), it's no wonder the construction industry has come a-courtin'.

And, to be honest, it's not surprising that Valladolid and Salcido would sit up and listen. Those are some big bucks talking.

It's dismaying, however, to realize that this is what community college governance has come to: a group of insiders, mutually profiteering off each others' endeavors.

We don't think that's what education should be about.

What do you think?

Please read the article and post your (thoughtful!) comments.

Are You Listening, SWC Board and Admin?

While the SWC public relations machine churns out its own good-news press releases, here are some news items it's bound to overlook.

Cited in this post:

• From the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Great Colleges to Work For: At Wake Tech Community College, Employees Know Their Voices Will Be Heard" and "Honor Roll"
• From the San Diego Union-Tribune, "College District Adding Classes: One-time Sources Tapped For Funding"
  

Pat Flynn, writing for the San Diego Union Tribune reports that "the San Diego Community College District is reversing a two-year trend of class reductions and adding 1,150 classes" for the upcoming Fall term. The district includes City College, Mesa College, and Miramar College.

The classes are being funded by reserve savings. District Chancellor Constance Carroll points out the funds could have been left in the reserve, but "our board, all of us, think this is the best thing to do with double-digit unemployment . . . and all the students who can't get into SDSU because of their budget cuts."

We applaud this decision by the San Diego Community College District Board and Chancellor Carroll. SWC, are you listening?

Similar class savings could have been realized at SWC if only the board and Superintendent/President Raj K. Chopra had listened to faculty, staff, students, and community members over two years ago, when concerns about institutional organization, budget decisions, and governance issues were first raised. (This blog, in fact, was started as a way to catalog and communicate these concerns to the larger community.)

Instead Superintendent/President Raj K. Chopra and Governing Board members, in particular current president Yolanda Salicido and former president Terri Valladolid, have continued down a path of top-down management that has led to dismaying results, including record-breaking class cuts, national notoriety for civil rights violations, and threatened loss of accreditation.

Compare the governance of SWC to that of Wake Tech Community College, which was recently singled out in a Chronicle of Higher Education report, "Great Colleges to Work For." According to The Chronicle, North Carolina's Wake Tech stands out as "a college where faculty and staff members say they can openly discuss job issues and concerns with administrators." Much of the credit goes to Wake Tech president Stephen C. Scott, who made openness and a culture of collaboration priorities from the beginning. The result is a climate of trust and rapport between administration, faculty, and staff, where everyone works together to resolve problems.

It should come as no surprise, then, that 30 of 39 Great Colleges cited "Collaborative Governance" as the top reason making their college "great." (Also frequently mentioned by these model colleges were "Respect and Appreciation" and "Confidence in Senior Leadership.")

In contrast, according to the WASC action letter notifying SWC of its probationary status, the college falls seriously short in this area: "The team recommends that the college set as a priority fostering an environment of trust and respect for all employees and students that allows the college community to promote administrative stability and to work together for the good of the college. The team further recommends that the college establish a written process and structure providing faculty, staff, administrators, and students a substantial voice in decision-making processes."

SWC, are you listening?

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Further reading from this blog:

Southwestern College on Probation
A Note to Students and the Community

SWC in the News

Yesterday's issue of the San Diego Reader features an article titled "Southwestern College's Proper Snack Bar."


In the article, author Susan Luzzaro highlights several questionable spending decisions made by the SWC Governing Board and Superintendent/President Raj K. Chopra.

The article focuses on the continued outsourcing of tasks for which the college already has salaried personnel: communication services, a pension consultant, a snack-bar consultant, and a technology consultant. The cost of these contracts exceeds $235,000.

For more details on this dubious spending, please see the entire article, and be sure to check out comments from the community as well.

You Are Cordially Invited

Special fundraising reception honoring
Norma Hernandez
Candidate for Southwestern College Board,
Seat #4

Friday, July 30, 2010
5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Hosted by
Roger and Norma Cazares
45 El Rancho Vista
Chula Vista, CA 91910
(Off Hilltop Drive, one block north of H Street)

Please RSVP your attendance to Norma Cazares at (619) 422-0432 or
via email at: nacazares@aol.com

See this flyer for more details, and see you there!

Upcoming Events!

This week, two events you won't want to miss!







Tonight:
Meet and Greet for 3rd Seat on SWC Governing Board!
Date: Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Time: 5:30 pm- 7 pm
Presentations/Q&A: 7 pm- 8 pm
Location: POSH Bar, 683 Broadway, Chula Vista, CA
Meet and Greet Flyer

Suggestion Minimum Donation: $25 Advance/$30 at the door
RSVP to Janet Mazzarella at jmazzarella1@cox.net or Andrew Rempt at
acrempt@gmail.com



Friday:
Tim Nader for Southwestern College Board Fundraiser
Date: Friday, July 9, 2010
Time: 5 p.m.-8 p.m.
Location: Villa Capri, 2330 Proctor Valley Road, Chula Vista, CA
Fundraiser Flyer

See you there!

Muzzle, Muzzle, Who's Got the Muzzle?

Turns out it's Chris Bender, in charge of SWC Community and Media Relations.

The following is adapted from the “When Will They Ever Learn?” file, SCEA (SWC faculty union) Newsletter:


As we previously reported, Southwestern College’s administration has won a national award from a prestigious institution, The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. Due to the Chopra administration’s reaction to a peaceful student protest which resulted in the suspension of four faculty members, it was awarded the Jefferson Muzzle. The Jefferson Center created this annual award to call “attention to those who in the past year forgot or disregarded Mr. Jefferson’s admonition that freedom of speech ‘cannot be limited without being lost.’” (http://www.tjcenter.org/muzzles/).

This award is the latest result of the Chopra administration’s egregious behavior in regards to students and faculty speaking out against wrong-headed decisions and mismanagement, and just as the faculty suspensions before it, this award made national news (see our earlier post for a list of the outlets and articles). Naturally, it was also covered by our own Southwestern Sun, a paper whose work has won awards of the honorable sort, in their April 13-26, 2010 edition. (See "College Administration Named One of Nation's Worst First Amendment Violators")

Chris Bender, PR man for Chopra and the Board, took issue with the article in the Sun, and felt it was appropriate to respond by emailing the student who wrote the article to complain that the administration’s point of view wasn’t presented to their liking. Here are his issues as quoted from the email he sent to the student:

1. When we talked, you indicated this would be a small item. Conversely, it’s the lead item in the paper. If you were changing the story in any way, I believe I should have been informed so I could have decided if the college’s response was appropriate.
2. The college’s response (my quote) is literally the last item in the story, whereas the story is front-loaded with quotes from other people. To me, that is not balanced. We deserve the opportunity to respond and respond early, especially if the story is about a member of the administration. They way this story is set up, no one would even know our view if they didn’t make the jump (and the jump isn’t even on the correct page).
3. You cite VP Alioto when VP Alioto is not even mentioned in the public documents released by the Jefferson foundation: http://www.tjcenter.org/muzzles/muzzle-archive-2010/#item08. Such a citation is misleading. The last line of the public release clearly states: “Southwestern College’s administration clearly merits a 2010 Jefferson Muzzle.”
   

I’d like a quick response on all of these points.
(Chris Bender, Friday, April 30, 2010 10:31 AM)

Now we could go point by point, and in fact, Sun advisor Max Branscomb, also a winner of honorable awards and the man who should have received the email, did just that, but the email speaks for itself. Even after receiving their Muzzle and being named “one of the nation’s worst First Amendment violators” as the headline from the Sun declares, the Chopra administration continues to attack the First Amendment by attempting to intimidate a student journalist.

It should also be pointed out that in the article in question, Bender refers to the suspension of the four faculty members and the Muzzle award as an “issue” of “public safety.” He goes on to say that “the Jefferson Center has confused protecting free speech with protecting people.” This is a curious assertion for anyone who was actually there at the time of the event, as Bender wasn’t, and even more curious in light of the fact that the Chopra administration has failed to devise an emergency notification system for the campus as required by the Clery Act, federal legislation designed to ensure colleges take steps to protect their people.

Section 68.46(g) of Clery states that SWC must establish, “Procedures to immediately notify the campus community upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat occurring on campus.” To date, the college hasn’t developed such procedures and shows no signs of doing so.

The Chopra administration is willing to harass students and faculty in the name of public safety, but comply with the law? Not so much.

But wait, isn’t there a Freedom of Expression committee working to right all of these wrongs? Sure, and the ACLU has responded to the committee’s proposed policy and procedures with a six-page letter dated May 7, 2010 outlining the Constitutional issues with the new policy that’s being brought to the Board for a first reading at their June meeting. The ACLU’s objections include the fact that the new procedure “unconstitutionally authorizes censorship based on the content of speech,” and that the “Permit provision presents Constitutional problems.”

Furthermore, FIRE has been excluded from the revision process entirely, as noted in a May 12, 2010 letter from the organization: “While FIRE was initially invited to offer input into the drafting process, we were subsequently denied the opportunity to do so.” The letter concludes with the following:

A fundamental condition of teaching and learning in any accredited public institution of higher learning in the United States is that the institution respects basic First Amendment freedoms. For many months now, SWC has proven it does not do so. Not only does SWC maintain an unconstitutional policy, but it has failed to produce a replacement policy that passes constitutional muster.

The SCEA finds it appalling that the Chopra administration, with the blessing of the Board, continues to operate in this manner. Its initial actions resulted in national condemnation, but instead of being humbled and attempting to ameliorate the situation, they continue down the same path. Chris Bender spams our email day in and day out with missives that laud this administration and Board at the same time they try to smother the First Amendment rights of any who would disagree with their wrongheaded decisions through intimidation and arrogant disregard. They hide behind claims of “public safety” while flaunting federal law. They continue to bring shame and dishonor to our college, and they show no signs of stopping.

It's Earlier than You Think! (So mark your calendar!)

The November election--including the vote determining several SWC Governing Board seats--may seem a season or two away, but absentee ballots will be available early October, so it's time to get hopping!

A week from Friday, candidate Norma Hernandez will be holding a kick-off event, June 25, 5:00-8:00 p.m. at the home of Fernando and Adela García, 1060 Abarca Ct., Chula Vista, CA 91910.

All are welcome!

If you'd like to rsvp, contact hernandez4swc@cox.net. If you have questions, call (619) 479-0917. For more information, see this flyer.

Hope to see you there!