The Argonaut, THURSDAY June 3, 2003

SM College Senates vote on whether to oust SMC president Robertson

http://www.argonautnewspaper.com/


SANTA MONICA -Referendum on ‘no confidence' measure follows Trustees' decision to cut  programs, tenured faculty in wake of state budget crisis

BY CINDY FRAZIER
Angered by recent budget cuts, the Academic Senate and the Classified Senate at Santa Monica College (SMC) - which advise the college board of trustees - are conducting a college-wide referendum of employees, seeking a "no confidence" vote regarding college president Piedad Robertson. The referendum effort follows a bitter trustees meeting Thursday, May 15th, at which the board approved the elimination of six vocational programs and 36 teaching positions, including eight tenured faculty positions. In a recent newsletter, a member of the college Faculty Association called the meeting "The Madison Massacre." There are about 450 employees at SMC.

UNPRECEDENTED - The "no confidence" referendum is the first of its kind for the non-teaching employees at the college, according to Lee Peterson, president of the Classified Senate, a group of 29 elected employees that represents non-teaching, non-management SMC staff. The Academic Senate consists of some 25 faculty members elected by their peers to advise the board of trustees on education-related matters. The two groups are mandated by state law to advise the board of trustees on respective areas of expertise under the precept of "shared governance" at state community colleges, according to the SMC Web site. The two senates have each issued mail-in ballots to their constituents. Ballots will be counted Friday, June 6th.

ADHERE OR RESIGN - The Academic Senate ballot went out Friday, May 30th, asking members to decide whether to request Robertson to adhere to the precept of "shared governance" or resign, said Gordon Dossett, an English professor who is president of the group. The Classified Senate voted Wednesday, May 28th, to conduct the referendum. Both senates are calling for the trustees to refuse to extend the term of office for Robertson. "We're not just grumbling about the budget," Dossett said. "It's an action I take very sadly. "We are supposed to be part of the discussion on budgets and layoffs, and we were not."

ROBERTSON STATEMENT - In response to the referendums, Robertson issued the following statement: "The recent actions on campus are a reaction to a budget situation we're not used to at Santa Monica College. "Until we were hit with the worst budget crisis in the history of this college, we have generally received adequate funding from the state. "The budget - which is the fiscal responsibility of the SMC Board of Trustees and the administration - is a shock to all. Yet, we must manage, as best we can, to provide access and quality education for our students." Robertson's contract for the $178,846-per-year position expires December 31st, 2006. She has been at SMC since July 1st, 1995.

WORST-CASE SCENARIO - Employees are particularly upset that the board approved a "worst-case" package of cuts which were originally proposed before Gov. Gray Davis's revised state budget proposal that restored millions of dollars in proposed cuts to community colleges, according to Peterson. The California Community Colleges chancellor's office had announced the day before the vote that Davis had lowered the proposed apportionment reduction from $219 million to $125 million, which would mean that only 25,000 full-time positions would be eliminated, instead of an estimated 62,500. In addition, the SMC board of trustees had rejected a compromise plan proposed by an employee union that would have cut back hours instead of eliminating jobs. "The Academic Senate realizes the budget challenges, but these have proven to be less severe than originally thought," Dossett said. "Ninety percent of community colleges in the state are not laying off any faculty, but we are laying off eight tenured faculty members," he added. "The Academic Senate should have been involved in the decision-making, but we were not included in the discussion."

EMPLOYEES ‘IGNORED' - Peterson said relations between college non-teaching staff and Robertson have not been warm. "There is a lot of dissatisfaction with the current president," Peterson said. "Her management style is to issue decisions after-the-fact as a fait accompli. She frequently ignores the Senate in making decisions." Peterson said he does not expect the board of trustees to act against Robertson if the "no confidence" vote is approved, but "it will make public how the employees feel about the current administration."

AUTO REPAIR - The Academic Senate is questioning in particular the decision to eliminate the transportation technology program that teaches automotive and bus repair. The program is led by a tenured faculty member who has been at the college since 1974, Dossett said. The program was to be relocated to a property the college purchased last year near Santa Monica Airport - the former location of BAE Systems on Centinela Avenue near Airport Avenue. Since the state budget crunch, college officials have decided to seek a lessee for the BAE site instead of using it for college purposes, according to SMC spokesman Bruce Smith. Dossett says the transportation program is valuable and should not be eliminated. "They are telling these students to go to Cerritos or El Camino [community colleges] but these are vulnerable students," he said.

LOBBYING EFFORT - In March, members of the SMC community rode buses to Sacramento to join protests against the governor's original plan to cut about ten percent of the community college apportionment. On March 10th, the board approved the deepest cuts in SMC history when it tentatively voted to eliminate ten academic programs and 13 academic administrative positions, effective July 1st. The adopted college budget cuts approved May 15th were not as large as originally proposed. Under Davis's latest state proposal, fees at community colleges would be raised to $18 per unit, compared to the current $11 per unit. The original Davis proposal called for a more-than-twofold increase - to $24 per unit. The college board of trustees is required to approve a final budget before the beginning of the next fiscal year, which starts Tuesday, July 1st.  On Monday, June 2nd, the trustees approved a tentative budget. A final budget will be adopted September 2nd.