[Editor’s Note: The writer, a veteran of the Pasadena City College faculty, is a member of the Academic Senate Ad Hoc Committee for Town Halls, an organizer of last evening’s gathering of students, faculty and community members at the Altadena Public Library to assess, expose and protest ongoing conflicts with PCC President Dr. Mark Rocha.]
(See PDF here.)
I would say the Town Halls are not about Dr. Mark Rocha, Pasadena City College’s president.
These are supposed to be conversations between the faculty, students, community and their elected board officials at PCC.
We don't think the students/faculty message is getting out to the community. Dr. Rocha has installed himself (and the Board has willfully accepted) as the go-between for all communication that's to happen between faculty and the Board.
That was very clear in the letter that we got from the Board of Trustees (see attached).
The Board was invited to participate in the planning (see pdf), at which point they could have discussed Dr. Rocha's participation. But they refused. They were invited to come. Not even Berlinda Brown, the trustee of that area, came.
It was also meant to be an informal way for the community (and faculty/ students) to dialogue and exchange with the Board. That couldn't happen because they did not come.
Here is the aforementioned letter that we sent:
October 11, 2013
Dear Elected PCC Board Members:
As part of the collegial consultation process and in a proactive effort to improve communication, we cordially invite you to participate with the faculty in a series of community town hall meetings between now and the end of Spring 2014. This will be a wonderful opportunity for PCC to present itself to our local communities in an informal but moderated setting and to foster civic engagement in education.
As you know, the Community College League of California recommends open forums as an approach to engage in mutually productive dialogue to serve as an “open environment for board members, key community groups and college leaders to engage in discussion about external trends and board policy direction.”
The principal goal is to provide a forum for the board, faculty and community to share how we envision PCC. We also hope that by bringing the town halls into the community, they can serve as vehicles for more community involvement. The ideal format for these sessions will include a diverse panel composed of PCC faculty, students, administrators and trustees, moderated by a neutral host.
The Academic Senate’s Ad Hoc Town Hall Committee would like to meet with any interested trustees that would like to participate in the town halls in order to get feedback as well as answer any related questions. We would like to propose a one-hour meeting next week on Tuesday or Thursday (Oct. 15 or Oct. 17) before 10am ideally. We are excited to start formalizing the details of these community meetings, therefore the sooner that we meet, the sooner we can incorporate all ideas into the planning process.
For the first town hall, we are considering one of these three dates in an off-campus community center.
• Tues, November 9, 2013: 7-8:30pm
• Tues, November 12, 2013: 7-8:30pm
• Sat, November 16, 2013; afternoon
We hope these community meetings will demonstrate to the community, as well as to the accreditation board, our dedication to the college. We look forward to hearing from the Board soon as to its availability for the meeting next week so that together we can move towards an exciting new chapter at PCC.
Sincerely,
Academic Senate Ad Hoc Committee for Town Hall Meeting
Melissa Michelson
Dave Cuatt
Kris Pilon
Martha House
Yolanda McKay
Ms. Michelson may be contacted at melmiamich@yahoo.com
