Welcome to a new school year, and look out for changes at MHCC

Like a never-ending cliché, the school year has descended upon us students and campus employees. Although many students have been learning and instructors teaching at Mt. Hood during the summer, most of us students are starting this week.

With a flood of new students coming in, it’s nice to see new faces and to hear new stories about people’s different backgrounds. To those students starting at Mt. Hood for the first time this fall, everything about this campus is brand new.

As for returning students, there have been many changes since early June.

A large amount of staff who seemed to be staples on campus no longer work at MHCC – as we explain in our news story on Page 4. For instance, both Meadow McWhorter, highly successful softball coach and Associated Student Government adviser, and David Sussman, who helped guide student activities, including the ASG, no longer work at Mt. Hood.

The campus suffered some serious vandalism this summer; there were vehicles stolen from campus parking lots. The school completely changed Parking Lot E to better serve disabled students and visitors, a dramatic transformation.

Looking just ahead, Oct. 1 will mark one year since the mass shooting tragedy at Umpqua Community College.

Throughout the school year, there will be a few active shooter drills on the Mt. Hood campus, and the Advocate will share details on how to participate in those in the next few issues.

The summer also saw some drama coming from a powerful group at Mt. Hood – the MHCC District board of education.

This group of publicly elected officials make decisions that impact the entire college population. Most students don’t have the privilege to ever encounter this group, but their education is often the result of board voting on certain issues, such as tuition increases.

Last school year, the board was collaborating with the college and supporters to pursue a $125 million bond measure, which would help with earthquake-resistant improvements and fund construction of a  state-of-the-art industrial technology center on campus. This bond measure failed on the May ballot, however.

During follow-up discussion in the July board meeting, a member of the board named Sonny Yellott, made some statements that were seen as offensive to different races. He then caught flack for posting offensive political images on his Facebook page.

The local media was present during this particular board meeting to cover the aftermath of the bond’s failure. It was a convenient bonus to have Yellott display a radical attitude different from the majority of the members, handing the media a controversial story.

Yellott is just one of three board members running for a major political office outside of Mt. Hood this fall. He is running as a Republican candidate for the Oregon House of Representatives. Michael Calcagno is running as an independent candidate for a different House seat, and Tamie Arnold is running as a Republican for the state Senate.

Even though many students might not live and work in East County, it is important to know what is going on at the place one receives their higher education because that education is usually what sets one up for their career.

With all of the drama happening in national politics this fall, it also is important to also be aware of the issues that take place in our own backyard.

Yes, there’s all of the chaos that attaches itself to the beginning of a school year. But even when everything settles, there is much more going on at any given moment that influences how one pursues their education than simply attending classes.