Thank You For Articulating Our Frustration

On August 18, 2011 at FLEX when all of the faculty were in one place the new President of RHCFA Colin Young gave an excellent speech articulating what everyone in the room was feeling. His speech was well received with the exception of F.O.T.(Friend's of Ted).  I even saw more than a few Administrators sitting in the middle rows applauding this speech before realizing that I have a video camera. In order to protect these Administrators I edited out their enthusiastic applause.
After the speech I interviewed over 30 faculty members and with the exception of four faculty member all were grateful to him for speaking out. Out of the these four, two agreed with the content of the speech but disagreed with it being given on this occasion.  A few brave faculty agreed to step in front of my camera to express their approval. We the Rio Hondo Family (Students, Classified and Faculty) owe Colin for articulating our frustration with this College President.


Here is the text to the speech for the hearing impaired faculty and staff:

Good morning, everyone.  I hope you all had a restful summer and are ready to go for the new school year.  I am not the orator or the darling of administration that Adam Wetsman is, so I will try to keep my speech brief.

As many of you know, I teach Political Science here at Rio Hondo.  Sadly, one of the things we focus on in Political Science is studying corruption, mismanagement, and incompetence, as all three can be found at the local, state, national, and global levels by both elected and non-elected officials.  These traits, combined with a long-term economic recession, have produced the worst economic situation seen in the United States since the Great Depression. 

As economic and political problems have mounted domestically, much of the blame has been incorrectly foisted on targets like labor unions, teachers, and government workers.  All the while, much of the burden of our continuing economic crisis is foisted on those often least able to bear the weight, such as our students.  Tuition at the UCs and Cal States have reached all time highs, and our students will be paying an all-time high of $36 a unit this semester, with likely a $10 increase starting in the Spring.

Due to all this political and economic frustration, people have taken to demonstrate not only against their political leaders but also some of the strawmen built up by cynical politicians, such as public employees in states such as Wisconsin.  I know students, classified, and faculty who have actively participated in demonstrations and rallies against budget cuts and punitive measures against public employees.  What does this all have to do with Rio Hondo?

Despite what you will see in the climate survey, morale is at an all-time low at Rio Hondo.  Before I started at Rio Hondo in 2006 I taught at Mt. San Antonio College.  While Mt. SAC is a good school with lots of accomplishments, my colleagues didn't particularly get along and the school didn't have a particular feeling of warmth and closeness. 

Upon arriving at Rio Hondo, I noticed a complete change in atmosphere.  It felt like a close-knit, family type atmosphere and   many employees had dedicated decades of their lives to this institution and legitimately carried out the idea of Students First.  I hear that phrase thrown about a lot at Board meetings by our top administrators, but then the actions taken by the college represent anything but Students First.  I have witnessed an ASB President bullied for speaking his mind, constituent groups consistently ignored on a variety of issues, and the discarding of employees who have devoted their lives to this school. 

Two years ago, we were told that the school was facing serious economic challenges.  At that time, class sections were slashed and have not been reinstated.  Nonetheless, the administration has seen a few members with pay increases. Plus, we have had two new administrative positions added, costing hundreds of thousands a year.  The administration has been handing out reassigned time like it is free, which it is not.  This costs $100,000 or more to replace these positions. Unfortunately, the focus of the administration has been detoured from getting classes back to going after classified and faculty.  Just in the last two years, several people have been fired, often for minor offenses.  This contrasts sharply with administrative dismissals which include several costly buy-outs. 

This family atmosphere that I enjoyed in my first year at Rio Hondo has disintegrated in the last few years.  Outside of the financial situation, which has been expertly managed by Teresa Dreyfuss, there is a huge gulf between groups on campus.  And I don't mean that faculty, classified, and students are divided.  Far from it.  I wouldn't be wearing a shirt that said United to Educate if we were divided.

Instead, the divide is between administration and the Board on one side (not all administrators by the way, as we have some excellent ones on campus) and students, classified, and faculty on the other.  As those in the Academic Senate can tell you, we are supposed to have shared governance at this school, but it is something simply written in an Accreditation report, not carried out.

Why I am telling you something that many of you already know?   If you are unhappy, you need to voice your displeasure.  Where should you do this?  This is a democracy, so you need to complain to the elected leadership of this college.  In the end, they approve whatever actions you may disapprove of.  I have been to Board meetings for the last two years, and only on occasion do I see people complaining to the Board.  It isn't good enough for elected leaders like myself, Sandy Rivera, Adam, or others to voice our displeasure.  This can be incorrectly interpreted as the complaints of a small minority.  I know way too many people on campus at every level and it is not a small minority who are very unhappy.  The Board is kept in the dark on many issues and will only get the full story if you speak out.

If you don't have enough stability in your employment to speak out, then do go through your leaders.  We will fight for you.  Just as an Academic Senate President urged you a few semesters ago to get out of the bleachers and get involved, I'm asking you to get out of the bleachers and voice your concerns.  Silence equals acceptance and even if you are ignored you have at least made a noble effort.

For faculty, the first step in getting involved is to attend our Information Session about negotiations and the upcoming Trustee elections today at 3PM in A212.  We hope to see you there.  Thank you.