LANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
BOARD OF EDUCATION MINUTES
October 7, 2015
1. Attendance
Board members present: Philip Carrasco, Susie Johnston, Matt Keating, Gary LeClair, and Tony McCown, Rosie Pryor, and Sharon Stiles. Also present were: President Mary Spilde; Vice President Brian Kelly, Interim Vice President Dawn DeWolf; Lane Community College Education Association President Jim Salt, Lane Community College Employees Federation President Bob Baldwin, and Associated Students of Lane Community College President Ashley Jackson.
A. Chair Tony McCown called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
Chair McCown stated that the board will join their colleagues around the state with a moment of silence at 7 pm for a joint vigil in honor of Umpqua Community College (UCC).
B. President’s Report
Over the weekend I had multiple conversations with colleagues from UCC, and on Sunday the board chair called to ask if Lane would take a team of people down to help.
Brian Kelly, Dawn DeWolf, Kerry Levett, Helen Faith, and Sharon Daniel went down on Monday. Chris Hainley came on Tuesday to help with Financial Aid. Debby Ganser and Susan Shipp, both faculty counselors, one experienced in crisis counseling and another in grief counseling, met yesterday with about 60 of the faculty members to help them think through how to deal with their own emotions, how to deal with students’ emotions, how to deal with emotions in front of students in the classroom, and how to think about their syllabus now that they’ve lost several weeks, and they’re going to be dealing with lots of students in trauma. Starting tonight, some of our Public Safety officers will be providing additional support.
We think we don’t have much, but when you go to a rural community college and you overlay that with a tragedy, you see why they need help from other colleges. The Oregon Community College Association has contacted community college employees and retirees to continue to help for the next four to six weeks. The UO incident management team arrived on Friday. They were amazing at helping Umpqua get through the initial stages. They left and passed the baton on to us. The community resources have been amazing, such as the US Public Health Service members who work in the federal government all over the country and are deployed for events such as this. We have affectionately been calling them the Blue People. They have been providing counseling for everyone that needs it; they did so for the tragedies at the Boston Marathon and Sandy Hook. Vice President Kelly has been doing the business side, Vice President DeWolf has been handling academics, and Executive Dean Kerry Levett has been handling the student affairs and federal resources. The staff from Lane will be helping for a while. All of Oregon’s community colleges have stepped up.
The UCC faculty and staff are back on campus. An all-staff meeting was held today. It was an amazing event. It has been helpful to get information from what has happened; UCC has become a learning lab for everyone else. The days we have spent there will serve us well.
We had our own vigil here at Lane on Friday. Unfortunately, I was at the League for Innovation board meeting in Toronto and couldn’t get back. I prepared a statement which was read at the vigil. We thought it was important to provide an opportunity to be together.
Please note that the American Association of Community Colleges has called for a National Moment of Silence on Thursday, October 8, at 11 a.m. Pacific Time. We will join in that moment.
If you’re on social media, please use the hashtag #IamUCC to further show your support as our neighbors at Umpqua try to heal.
We can expect challenging conversations ahead about campus security, locally, statewide, and across the nation. I hope these discussions will lead toward campuses that are safer and welcoming and focused on learning.
In-service seems a long time ago now, but I do want to thank Tony for his welcoming remarks, and Phil, Susie and Rosie for attending, as well as City Councilor Chris Pryor and Greg Evans for his portion. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Gustavo Balderas, superintendent of Eugene 4J School District, who talked about “cultural agility." The day provided many good workshops and opportunities to get ready for fall. I’m grateful to everyone who pitched in and want to give a special shout out to Donna Zmolek for helping coordinate my part of the presentations.
Our CLASS remodel has been a hit with students. Please mark your calendars for our grand opening, or grand re-opening, on January 27.
We ended the first day of classes with reports of a fire at Titan Court, however, it turned out to be smoke from a dryer motor in the 4th floor laundry room. Public Safety, Facilities and the Fire Department responded immediately and the students evacuated in good humor. I especially want to thank Public Safety officers Chris Hanison and Jake Ryker for their immediate and effective response.
The Week 2 enrollment reports show that our gap has narrowed to an enrollment decrease of 10.2 percent. I am optimistic that we will reach our budgeted target of 7 percent by the end of the academic year.
Our efforts to lower the student loan default rates continue to pay off. Our rate is now 27 percent. Last year, it was under 30 percent; every year the clock restarts when we are below 30 percent.
Thanks to the high safety performance by several college departments, Lane will receive a dividend check from SAIF for over $100,000 this month. Combined with the college's low workers compensation claims experience for last year, we will save more than $180,000 in workers compensation payments this year.
Our marketing efforts are helping close the enrollment decline. Please enjoy our new view book that you will find at your places. Also at your places is the September issue of Blue Chip published by The Register-Guard. It includes a story about our ongoing review of career and technical education.
We are preparing for an Oregon Small Business Development Center Network accreditation visit on November 2. I’d like to thank Mark Gregory and Sandy Cutler for their work on this. This review is conducted every five years by state and deputy state directors from the national Small Business Development Center. A summary of the accreditation report should be available for board review during the first quarter of next year.
Next week I will join some of you at the annual Association of Community College Trustees Congress in San Diego. I expect there will be discussion about the Umpqua tragedy.
Congress approved a short-term Continuing Resolution to keep the federal government open and funded through December 11. Now they are focused on electing a new Speaker. You are aware that John Boehner made a surprise announcement to resign at the end of this month. House Majority Leader, and former community college trustee, Kevin McCarthy, is currently favored to be the next Speaker.
Also earlier last week, ACCT released a new report, “A Closer Look at the Trillion: Borrowing, Repayment and Default at Iowa’s Community Colleges.” The report uses data from all 16 community colleges in Iowa to examine characteristics of borrowers and defaulters to help colleges and policymakers better understand and prevent behavior. It’s available on the ACCT website.
Tomorrow is the Foundation’s Celebrating LCC in Florence event, which sadly I will not be able to attend, and our annual premier fundraiser, the Harvest Dinner, will be October 28 on main campus.
1) Personnel
The college’s current personnel appointments were presented.
E. Board Agenda Review/Changes
No changes were made to the agenda.
F. Statements from Audience
Justin Blakely, former student, expressed dissatisfaction with services received from the Center for Accessible Resources.
Jace Smith, Public Safety Director, asked that Public Safety be given a seat in the conversations about campus safety.
Dennis Gilbert, Physics instructor, stated that Lane has received a grant from NASA for science programs. He invited the students benefiting from the grant up to the podium. Some of the funding will go to curriculum development and some will go for student scholarships. Forty scholarships were awarded at community colleges around the state.
Jacob Ryker, Public Safety officer, stated that he has had much experience in protection and being a first responder. He is law enforcement certified in the State of Oregon and can handle the responsibility of carrying a weapon on campus.
Kim Widmer, student, asked that Public Safety officers be armed to protect students on campus.
Tasha Briquet, student and ASLCC senator, stated that she is against arming the Public Safety officers on campus. She doesn’t see how the officers having guns will keep others from shooting guns.
At 7 p.m., the board took a one minute break for a minute of silence in support of UCC.
Mariana Perdones, Oregon Student Association Coalition co-chair and Higher Education Coordinating Commission student appointee, spoke to discourage the board from arming Public Safety officers. As a person of color, she does not feel safe. Recently a student of color was escorted from campus for using a knife to eat lunch.
Dan Kinkler, student, asked for guidance. He was registering voters on behalf of Bernie Sanders at the front of campus and was told that he could not do so.
2A. Consent Agenda
Pryor moved, and seconded by LeClair, to approve the Consent Agenda consisting of:
- Approval of the September 21, 2015, Minutes
- Audio Visual for CLASS Project
- Appointment of District School Clerk and Deputy Clerks
- Policy Review
1. Budgeting of Non-Recurring Resources, BP 225
2. Capital Reserve Funds, BP 230
Motion passed unanimously.
3. Discussion/Action Items
A. Spotlight on Student Success: Rites of Passage
Greg Evans, African American Student Coordinator, and Jim Garcia, Latino Student Coordinator, presented information on Lane’s Rites of Passage (ROP) programs. The four programs include an African American program, Puertas Abiertas for Latino youth, a Pan Asian program, and Bridge of the Gods for Native American youth. Applications to the programs and the documentary, Inside the Bubble, developed by students in the African American ROP program, were distributed to board members.
This year marks the 19th year that Lane has successfully executed the African American ROP. This summer’s class had 30 graduates. The program has been featured in the Urban League State of Black Oregon Report. ROP is one of the ways Lane is working to close the achievement gap. Evans’ two sons have completed the ROP program; one is now getting his Bachelor’s degree, and the other is graduating from helicopter school, so the program provides results.
Evans introduced Miles Pendleton, a student who has been in the ROP program for three summers, and his parents. Miles is a junior at South Eugene High School and grew up in Lane County. Most kids in our area live a good life; there are few flaws with way that we are raised, but one is that African American children don’t get the opportunity to see many African Americans in this area. This can lead to feelings of isolation. ROP combats that by putting us in situations to be with others who share our culture and experiences in Lane County with elements such as Black history, Black literature, and empowerment. By the end of the three-week program, students have nicknames for each other and are clapping and cheering to see their peers succeed. The program empowers them to go back out into the community and be more successful.
Miles’ father stated that Eugene is kind of a lonely place for people of color. It is difficult to find examples of role models. ROP is a vehicle where children can go and bond with other children of color and then take that experience out into real world. Students develop themselves and others to feel confident, which is important for a child to have a sense of self-worth and understand where they fit in. He is proud of his son and thankful for the program.
Miles’ mother said that the program was something Lane can be proud of. Miles comes from a multicultural family. We live in a global world that keeps getting smaller, and this is part of the process of growth. It starts with community. If every city had programs like this, we would see change and positive outcomes.
Jim Garcia provided information about Puertas Abiertas. He noted that you would hear the same things from the parents he works with – but it might be in Spanish. He appreciates that Lane offers these opportunities for the multicultural coordinators. It is what is needed in our communities. Latinos in this community have their stories. In Puertas Abiertas, we listen to those stories. In our school districts, students have to engage with educators on a daily basis regarding microaggressions regarding color, immigrant status, ESL classes, and AP classes. Many of our students learn two languages. Puertas Abiertas responds to their issues, which students appreciate. They can express themselves in either language. They go back to their high schools as different individuals and no longer respond in a negative way. Puertas had 25 students from different high schools over the summer with no rivalry. They shared common experience – the dominant story of Latinos in this country. Garcia asked that Lane takes more ownership; institutional resistance to what we are doing takes time away from Garcia’s work.
A.1. Amendment to Minutes
Keating asked to amend the September minutes to include the following changes to his report. Carrasco seconded.
Keating also expressed interest in building a coalition to work working on the state funding measure. He heard English instructor Dr. Jeff Harrison spinning records on KLCC during a recent fundraiser and reminded colleagues and community about the importance of supporting KLCC’s “Stealth Drive.” Keating looks looked forward to the visit from the NPR president. Keating would like to see the board’s contact information listed on the website. He recently spoke with a state representative who mentioned inadequate post service training for veterans to reenter the workforce and society and told him about Lane’s Veterans Center and the tuition waiver for dependents of veterans. Keating remembered one of Lane’s former students, Ramsey Tainton, who was tragically murdered recently passed away. He will be missed.
Motion passed unanimously.
B. Enrollment Update
DeWolf reported that enrollment is down 10.4%. There has been a concerted effort to impact enrollment by Kerry Levett and the Monday Morning Huddle Group. They have worked strategically with continuing students to meet their needs through phone calls or e-mails to determine what was preventing them from registering. We are not all the way where we want to be, but the intent is to continue efforts for winter and spring and hope to meet the budgeted target of a 7% decline.
C. CLASS Project Naming Opportunities
Spilde informed the board that there are several fundraising opportunities happening in the Foundation, and one of them is the naming opportunities for donors in the CLASS Building. She recommended the naming opportunity donation levels listed in the board packet.
Pryor moved to approve the naming opportunity donor levels as presented. Keating seconded.
Motion passed unanimously.
D. Athletics – Soccer and Volleyball
Chris Hawken, Health and Physical Education Dean, and Greg Sheley, Athletics Director, provided information on the proposal to add men’s soccer and women’s volleyball programs to Lane’s sports beginning Fall term 2016. They are excited to be a part of the strategic enrollment management plan by adding the programs and move forward in increasing diversity. Men’s soccer is the fastest growing sport right now, and women’s volleyball is number two.
Pryor moved to approve the addition of men’s soccer and women’s volleyball programs beginning Fall term 2016. Stiles seconded.
Keating noted that he was a soccer referee at a young age and played competitively. However, he will protest adding programs since Lane just cut two programs in the spring.
Motion passed 6 to 1. Keating dissented.
E. Campus Conversations
McCown shared a rough outline for the upcoming months as a way to address reaching all of the constituency groups and campus in different formats through open forums. The initial plan is to hold an open house from 2 – 4 pm on October 27 in the CLASS Building. To avoid quorum issues, he asked that two other board members be a part of it to talk with people who drop in. In later months, board members can meet with student groups and employee groups in various locations over an eight-month timeline.
Stiles and Keating volunteered to attend the first forum.
4. Accountability/Reports
A. Facilities Update
An update on the status of bond and facility projects was presented.
6. Reports
ASLCC President Ashley Jackson recalled that during the last report they noted the house bill that calls for low cost books and open educational resources. Since it recently passed, it was probably too late to include in the course catalog, but the students would like to hear more about that. Ashley stated that the student officers are working to reach out to other students to be supportive to one another. Ashley felt that the conversation around community safety should include student voices. Ashley grew up here but would have been at UCC if raised by their father. The Rites of Passage programs have been successful. Thanks to all that make that happen and to the young man who spoke tonight.
LCCEF President Bob Baldwin commented on the issue of arming our Public Safety officers. The Federation has had a long standing position in favor of it and also looking at the option of having the police department at Lane as has occurred at the UO. The past negative treatment of Public Safety has largely been reversed by the hiring of Director Jace Smith. Baldwin noted that last time the union raised the issue of arming Public Safety, they were threatened with legal action by the HR Director and filed an unfair labor practice claim. LCCEF has a tentative agreement with the college and will have a return of the ballots on November 5. Baldwin heard about the arbitration decision from Jim Salt and agreed on the broad disregard for fair process created by management. LCCEF will begin engaging members in the bond process to determine what position the union will take for the ballot measure. The concept of the open house with board members sounds like an interesting opportunity for politicking and direct dealing.
LCCEA President Jim Salt stated that he was informed within an hour of the UCC shooting by the Governor’s office and OEA. He drove down to UCC and spent the evening there with people waiting for their kids to be brought home to them. It was a horrific experience. At this point, the Association does not have a position on arming Public Safety officers. Their recommendation is to focus on the process and have it dealt with in the governance system. Public Safety should have a role but so should representatives of all other groups. As a sociologist, he reminded everyone that a tragedy such as the shooting doesn’t happen due to just one factor. Salt stated that he was confused as to why the board chair’s proposed schedule of open forums would have faculty invited in March. That is not an appropriate response to the results of the highly critical evaluation done last spring. If a response will not take place in that process, when and how can faculty expect a response to the criticism?
Interim Vice President Dawn DeWolf attended several welcome events for students during the first week of the term, such as the Welcome Booth and a Culinary and Hospitality Management event. She was reminded of the excitement at the beginning of fall term. She attended the Oregon graduation success summit at the UO around the declining high school graduation rates and had an interesting and frank discussion on what can be done. The Rites of Passage programs are a good example. DeWolf congratulated Kate Sullivan on winning her award. It was an honor and privilege to spend the last few days at UCC being immersed in their pain and agony and courage and strength, talking to students and faculty. They are finding courage in the midst of a horrific situation.
Vice President Brian Kelly recognized the amazing work that staff have done to get the CLASS project ready for the start of the term. He also congratulated Kate Sullivan for her well-deserved award. He attended retirement events for Ellen Jones, Veteran Advisor, and Sylvia Sandoz, Research Associate. He attended the Culinary and Hospitality Management luncheon. Because he was at UCC, he was unable to attend the lunch with the President of NPR with KLCC. He thanked Greg Holmes and Mary Jeanne Kuhar for attending. KLCC completed their fundraising drive in just 4 ½ hours, which was extraordinary. It was an amazing privilege to be asked to help staff at UCC that are trying to do their best in a difficult set of circumstances. The evening of the board meeting, many people were at a Community Emergency Response training. He stressed that this is the work done at Lane every day, not just in emergencies or as a reactionary measure. There is a safety website and a threat assessment team. One-third of capital outlay expenses were allocated months ago toward safety.
Board Reports
Johnston welcomed the students back to campus and was glad they are back on a safe campus. The Rites of Passage program is something she considers to be very special. She has attended many of their graduations over the past summers. The ROP presentation at inservice was inspiring. Johnston’s sons were born in Roseburg, and she has many family and friends that were affected by the shooting. She has friends who lost a nephew and friends who have lost friends. She appreciates everything Lane has done for them. She respects the job Public Safety does on this campus and the connections they have. When violence creates violence, we ignore the opportunity to welcome peaceful conversation. Talking about guns on campus to either do violence or to protect will be a hard conversation. Johnston is open to learning, but it is very difficult to find a peaceful solution when it comes to finding a gun in the wrong hands, and she is not sure whose hands are the right ones.
Carrasco noted that Jim Garcia mentioned institutional resistance to implementing things like cultural competency. It’s time to buy into it and invest the time and money to educate our campus. Lane has always been supportive of ROP. He hopes the campus conversations will shed light on issues at the college. He understands the reaction of wanting to arm the Public Safety officers. However, when you have a police force in any city or organization, they have power to submit and traumatize folks. Those can often be people and students of color. He does not see the logic of adding more guns to the discussions. Carrasco comes from generations of low income families. His daughter’s first post high school institution will most likely be Lane. It is scary enough to go to the theater, mall, or park and worry about getting shot. When he hears of armed military attending classes, and then a student of color is eating with knives and gets stopped, something is way off. The violence needs to stop, and more conversations need to be had.
LeClair told a story of when he was a child and found a brown spot on his right hip. His father told him it was there to remind him that we are all one people. He believed it. He was into medical school before he realized it was a skin pigmentation, but he applied that same belief to anyone who is different from him. He doesn’t understand why we hate other people we don’t feel an assimile to. We can’t repair society unless we train children and students to respect all people. More guns won’t help; fewer guns won’t help. You may be different, but you are important. We need to work on accepting other people for who they are.
Pryor attended inservice and appreciated the ROP excerpt of the video developed by students. Her compliments to the ROP programs and the important role they are playing. Pryor was in Springfield when the Thurston shooting took place and helped in the aftermath. She understands that painful sense of helplessness. She thanked Spilde and the Lane team in making her feel not quite so helpless. Good luck to all that are struggling.
Keating thanked the officers and first responders who responded to the shootings at UCC. He thanked Spilde and the Lane team for going to help our neighbors. He had a friend murdered last month. Gun safety and gun violence have been on his mind. Last Friday night, a friend of his who had helped him register voters and Keating went to see the play at the Cottage Theatre which included some of Lane’s past students. Coming out of town, they looked at Lane and recognized how vulnerable we are, as are all of our seventeen community colleges. A lot of work is done on safety, but Lane’s policy banning firearms doesn’t trump state and federal law. Things we can do to make campuses more secure are invest in mental health, and improve campus security and gun safety. We can help with victim relief funds. That may mean arming more law enforcement officers, but we don’t arm drivers or ban all drivers when there is a freeway shooting in Los Angeles. He suggested Lane partners with enforcement agencies to have the presence of K9 units to keep campuses more secure. These canines could sniff out guns and bombs. Keating is meeting with a state senator on Thursday to discuss taxing guns and ammunition to help pay for the K9s. Last month, Keating talked about a state funding measure to get corporations to pay their fair share; Keating will bring a resolution to the meeting next month.
Stiles thanked Evans, Garcia and the Pendleton family for sharing information about the ROP programs. She thanked Lane staff for helping at UCC. The Florence Center experienced a lock down last month when a man with a gun was spotted on Oak Street. It turned out to be an air gun, but the experience sent fear through everyone in the area. It can happen anywhere. It’s in our core that we have to make it better. It’s not guns or having more guns; it’s figuring out what makes us who we are and caring about one another, we have to start there.
McCown stated that the UCC shootings have affected his work, his ability to serve as chair, and his relationships with friends and family. He went through this 17 years ago at Thurston High School. It’s unfortunate to realize that his life has been defined by gun violence. It is part of who he is as he engages in the community, raises his kids, and coaches sports. Since he was close to the perpetrator at Thurston, he didn’t experience the fear the same way that his classmates did. Communities coalesce around issues like this. The power of community is greater than that of those that commit these acts. This struck a chord with McCown because he has not made this a part of his public identity, but now he has been pulled in as a public figure. There are a lot of areas to address focusing on mass shootings at the community college setting. Campus shootings—whether a community college, university, or a K-12 school—represent a pretty small fraction of gun deaths we experience in America. Campus safety is dramatically limiting. America experiences approximately 32,000 gun deaths per year. Other western countries pale in comparison. This is a complex issue, but anybody who says we can only talk about this or that aspect has limited themselves to solutions. We need to address it head on and offer a space to address this issue. An open house with town hall to follow will take place at 6 p.m. on October 29 at the First Christian Church in downtown Eugene to discuss gun safety in our county. There is no one event that can solve this issue. This will require a lot of dedication and willingness to communicate outside the halls of Congress where conversations are dominated by extremists on both sides and into communities to coalesce into the feeling that we are better than what is happening in our country. We have to look at racial, drug, and mental health components. If we stop on any one point, we fail. The catalyst is tragic, but it is limiting if we look at just that point. Let’s look at all of this and at our greater power. McCown thanked everyone who helped at UCC. And those filling in here in their absence. He thanked everyone for their work, outpouring of support and love. It does help. At some point we will walk away and move on from this tragedy, but hopefully not from this conversation.
7. Date, Place, and Proposed Agenda Items for the Next Regular Meeting
Tuesday, November 3, 2015, Boardroom, Building 3, Lane Community College
The board expressed interest in touring the new CLASS Building facilities at a future meeting.
8. The board meeting unanimously adjourned at 8:32 p.m.
______________________________ _____________________________
Mary Spilde, President/District Clerk Tony McCown, Board Chair
Prepared by:
Donna Zmolek, Executive Assistant to the President/Board