Community College – Angelica Wallingford

City College stands with Umpqua

About 200 of San Diego City College’s faculty, staff and students gathered for a moment of silence for the victims of the Umpqua Community College shooting in Oregon on Oct. 8 in Gorton Quad.

The moment of silence at City was a part of a larger observation coordinated by the American Association of Community Colleges, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

“I think it’s for all of us to be aware that safety is all of our business. Safety is something that we all ought to be aware of. We can’t just rely on a certain group of people but we all have to be aware of safety at the college and we have to be the eyes and ears for the police department,” City College President Anthony Beebe said. “It’s a big campus; it’s 60 square acres here and the only way that we can have the entire place covered is if all of us take a little bit of responsibility in making sure that we report anything’s weird or suspicious like I was saying and making sure that somebody’s aware of it. Don’t just turn your back and walk away. We can’t do that; we have to be responsible for that. That’s the critical piece of it.”

In his President’s Waypoint newsletter, Beebe addressed the tragedy at Umpqua and recalled the time he spent in Roseburg, Oregon, as a firefighter just one mile from the community college.

“… No one could have imagined that some 40 years later, the small community college just a mile down the road from that station would become the site of the most deadly mass shooting in Oregon history,” Beebe wrote.

San Diego Community College District Chancellor Constance M. Carroll also released a statement to the district’s faculty and staff on the shooting on Oct. 1.

“Our thoughts, best wishes, and support have been extended to our colleagues at Umpqua for what they have suffered today and for the valuable and promising lives that have been lost,” the statement said.

Carroll also referred to a YouTube video entitled “RUN. HIDE. FIGHT. Surviving an Active Shooter Event.” The almost six-minute video shows what options people could have in a potential active shooter situation.

“… Coping with an active shooter situation is a matter of personal decision,” Carroll wrote in her statement. “Therefore, I am resending the video that was previously distributed and discussed at our campus and departmental meetings.”

On Oct. 6, President Beebe sent a follow-up email to City College faculty and staff thanking them for the outpouring of responses he received from his President’s Waypoint.

In the email, Beebe tells faculty and staff that he met with Chancellor Carroll before the weekly Chancellor’s Cabinet meeting to address everyone’s concerns.

Beebe also mentioned that he also brought up those concerns during the Chancellor’s Cabinet meeting.

“In the end, the Chancellor’s Cabinet was unanimous that the district move forward with the following 12 point safety response plan for City College,” Beebe said via the statement.

The 12-point safety response plan includes the hiring of two full-time City College officers, police forums and town hall meetings, safety and evacuation plan, safety surveys and “Knight Patrol,” paid student ambassadors who will act as the eyes and ears of administration and College Police, according to the email.

Originally published in City Times, October 2015.

Editorial: Prioritizing campus safety

On Oct. 1, Christopher Harper-Mercer fatally shot nine people and injured nine others in a rage-filled attack on Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon.

With this event still very fresh in everyone’s mind, it begs the questions: What if this happens at San Diego City College? Are students, staff and faculty prepared? Is there a plan?

Memories of evacuation and disaster drills are far gone in most of the minds of current City College students and most students currently have no experience with drills dealing with active shooter situations.

In light of this recent tragedy, it’s evident now more than ever that City College needs a plan. Not a plan that’s talked about through email to administrators and never really put into action but a plan that’s known by students, staff, faculty, administrators and everyone who  attends City on a regular basis.

A YouTube video entitled “RUN. HIDE. FIGHT. Surviving an Active Shooter Event,” linked to San Diego Community College District’s staff and faculty in an email by Chancellor Constance M. Carroll, shows three different ways people can deal with a potential active shooter situation.

In the Oct. 1 email, Carroll said that this particular video was discussed and distributed in departmental and campus meetings, which would mean that this issue would have been discussed long before the recent shooting in Oregon.

Why wasn’t any of this information or this video shared with students?

According to the 2014 edition of the City College Fact Book, the campus had 16,737 students in the spring 2014 semester. With thousands of students spread out over an open campus spanning 60 acres, you would think that some type of disaster preparation drill would have been shared with students at this point.

Students are usually told to just to report suspicious activity to the Campus Police or the San Diego Police Department wherever and whenever they see it on campus. The population at City College needs something more than “alert the police.” Alerting the proper authorities is a great idea, but we need to be aware of what else we can do when a major catastrophe happens. We need a plan of action. We need to have some ideas on what we can do during potentially dangerous situations.

The “RUN. HIDE. FIGHT.” video should have been shared with students. Not just shown and discussed at campus and departmental meetings. Showing and discussing with administration doesn’t really help if something were to happen on campus.

At the end of the day, it’s better to have a plan and not use it than to be left unprepared if something happens at City College.

Originally published in City Times, October 2015.

A campus divided

Bridging the gap between City College’s ASG and its students

Off in the corner of a somewhat vacant part of campus, only steps away from the social hub that is City College’s cafeteria sits the Associated Students Government (ASG) offices. Tucked away in the corner of D-105 is a small office with two desks stacked with papers and files. It’s typical to see people running in and out, sometimes with papers in hand, getting signatures from and updating information to ASG President Adam Garcia.

“I believe that it is important to have that ASG/student connection because it is the ASG leadership that represents all City College students,” Former ASG President Carolina Moreno said via email.

ASG runs like a well oiled machine, with its cogs turning and producing events on campus, such as Spirit Day in September and the Halloween carnival in October, advocating for student concerns and making the decisions on how to spend student funds. However, even with some events producing up to 250 participants, the gap between ASG and students seems to have drifted over the years.

“I only know (about ASG) because I was looking for a club to join and happened to pass by their office,” student Muna Diriye said of her knowledge of ASG.

Even with the obvious gap between student government, Garcia said that participation has been up since previous semesters. Voter turnout for elections has gone up from one percent to about three percent.

“I believe our voter turn out on campus increased by two percent, I believe, so as opposed to semesters before,” Garcia said. “Our percentage before was one percent, so out percentage increased by two so it went up to three percent so I believe it was three or two percent.”

Aside from the events on campus ASG hosts a weekly event, Talk Thursday, which involves an informal approach to talking to ASG senators about issues that students might have with classes, financial aid and whatever else is on the student’s mind.

“The board gets involved with playing board games and what not with the students,” Garcia explained about the atmosphere of Talk Thursday. “We don’t want to approach students in you know an intimidating way, you know we’re the Associated Students Government, just more of a friendly ‘we’re here, talk to us’ type of venue.”

However, student turnout to Talk Thursday depends on the location of the informal meeting.

“It depends on where we do it,” ASG Senator Breona Harris said.

“Because we don’t have a set location… Right now the buildings being constructed, the BT (Business Technology building) just got done and the AH (Arts and Humanities) as well,” Garcia added. “We usually do it between the cafeteria and then we usually move it over to the MS (Math and Science building), so it depends on where’s the most traffic.”

Although ASG reaches out to students with Talk Thursday and campus events, some students feel that ASG only makes the effort to reach out to City College’s population when election time rolls around.

“… I feel like during the rest of the year, you only hear them speak up when they are trying to get people to vote for them during election season,” Diriye explained.

Whatever way students feel about ASG, Moreno urged more and more students to get involved and that doesn’t essentially involve becoming an ASG member.

“Get involved. Voice your concerns. Share ideas. Even if it’s just showing up to ANY event happening on campus or a campus club,” Moreno said. “You don’t necessarily need to join ASG (to get involved).”

ASG and student involvement does show some optimism with some students having a genuine curiosity about learning and getting involved with ASG and ASG events.

“No, not really,” student Lexy Allen eagerly replied when asked about being aware of ASG. “But I do want to know about this student government we have on campus. What do they do, what are they all about?”

Originally published in City Times, December 2014.

A new vision for City College

New City College President Anthony Beebe held his first convocation for faculty, staff and administrators Aug. 14 at the Saville Theatre.

The convocation day started with breakfast on the patio of the theater for the attendees, who then quickly convened inside the theater to await the start of the program.

Before Beebe took the stage, there were welcome remarks and commentary from Vice President of Instruction Randy Barnes, Board of Trustees President Rich Grosch, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Guild, Local 1931, President Jim Mahler and San Diego Community College District Chancellor Constance M. Carroll.

Carroll talked about numerous changes at City over the past year, such as receiving millions of dollars to invest in the college, the opening of the Arts and Humanities and Business Technology buildings, the school’s budget and the hiring of 92 new faculty members.

“Our district has hired 92 new faculty positions, 24 positions at City … We’ve also been hiring new classified staff members mostly in student services and facilities management,” Carroll said.

After a quick introduction from Carroll about Beebe’s long career in education and community service, the man of the hour took the stage.

Beebe’s speech consisted of what he called “elements for a new vision,” which included a list of four points — advancing social change and civility, increasing access and completion, transitioning the adult learner and building community connections — with a majority of the speech focusing on the first point, and not only about improving City College itself, but the students who attend here, as well.

“Community colleges were founded on social justice issues. City College has local relevance to the community here; we’re not just a generic milquetoast community college here in San Diego,” Beebe said. “… Our community has social issues. City College needs to be involved in framing the community solutions to those social problems.”

His speech then shifted to the privilege of having an education and the importance of helping those who are less privileged in the community.

“We are privileged because we are educated … If you look at the world’s population of 7.2 billion people, 6.7 percent of that population has a degree or has been educated. By our very nature, we are presaged because of that component. Now do we potentially each have oppressions, as well? Absolutely, but we have a privilege, and because we have privilege, we have a duty and a responsibility to help the less privileged among us,” Beebe said as the audience’s applause filled the theater.

He went on to cite the 1970s book “Education of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire as a foundation for his ideas for City and encouraged the audience to read or re-read the book for its significance.

Accompanying his speech, Beebe had a slideshow presentation that included a slide that said he will have an “open door policy,” meaning that no appointments are necessary for staff, faculty and students to visit and speak with him; a mailbox where people can send suggestions anonymously; and a Twitter account to keep people up to date with the goings-on at City.

Beebe’s speech concluded with a clip from the film “Dead Poets Society,” in which the late Robin Williams asks his students, “What will your verse be?” The answer that Beebe gave was that he believes City’s verse will be strongly related to social justice issues.

Concluding the program were remarks from Berta Harris and Yvonne Schmeltz, presidents of the Academic Senate and Classified Senate, respectively, a video tribute for new faculty and retirees, and presentations from Dotti Cordell, director of Student Health Services, and Denise Whisenhunt, vice president of Student Services.

Faculty and staff later gathered in Gorton Quad for Beebe’s official welcome party.

Originally published in City Times, August 2014.