MHCC NARROWLY APPROVES PROGRAM CUTS
Tears were shed following the MHCC District Board meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 15.
Following more testimony from faculty, staff and community members, the board held a close vote to seal the fate of seven academic programs targeted for elimination at Mt. Hood.
With three ‘no’ votes (cast by board members LaVerne Lewis, Kenney Polson, and James Zordich) and four ‘yes’ votes (cast by Diane McKeel, Andrew Speer, Diane Noriega, and Annette Mattson), the motion carried and the seven programs will not be offered to incoming students beginning in Fall Term of 2020.
Some speakers addressing the board brought ideas for financial growth that could help cover the estimated $3 million operating budget hole for 2020-21.
Many of the ideas have been discussed at length in past meetings on the ‘revitalization’ process. However, there was a new one that piqued the interest of many community members in attendance.
Some of the full-time faculty had united to offer exceptions to their negotiated work contracts – a main one being giving up their 3 percent cost-of-living pay increase for next year – that would have saved the college $1 million, by their calculations. This would have matched the estimated cost savings of cutting the seven programs.
This idea would have needed to be put to a vote by all full-time faculty members. Cheryl Johnson, MHCC reading instructor and president of the full-time faculty association, believes members would have approved the offer, she told the Advocate.
Johnson and other faculty members did present this idea to MHCC President Skari and other administrators but “they weren’t interested,” she said. Skari told the contingent that cutting the programs would be a long-term solution, while these faculty sacrifices would only be a short-term solution.
A recurring complaint at recent meetings when program cuts have been discussed has been lack of marketing for the school in general, and especially for those programs being phased out. This topic was rehashed on Wednesday by speakers addressing the board. The board finally responded to the suggestions by asking the audience where the school was supposed to come up with money for increased marketing.
Another speaker asked why the school hasn’t worked harder to form additional, stronger relationships with businesses in the Gresham community. The board acknowledged this question in their discussions and conceded that the school could have better relationships with local businesses than it does.
The broader Gresham community is evidently not on board with these cuts, given the binder of letters in opposition to the move presented by Zordich before he cast his ‘no’ vote.
In the end, however, MHCC will soon find itself seven unique programs short.
I wish someone would have contacted me during the decision making process. 1995 graduate of the EHS program. Taught part time for the EHS program for 20 years. 34 years professional EHS experience. I knew what the issues were and how to fix them. I did not hear about this until it was way too late in the game. But I sent emails anyway and they went unanswered. Sad day for the EHS program and its alumni.