[CabrilloGA] Good Times, Bad Times

[mart]

Hi Folks ~ this is an article that was published in the faculty
newsletter. We've also,sent it to Cabrillo Voice and are trying to get
it out to as many relevant outlets as possible.

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Good Times, Bad Times

This year EOPS/CARE celebrated its 40th anniversary. In 1969, Cabrillo
College became one of the first community college campuses to
establish this program. Dr. Swenson had the vision and leadership to
ensure that educational opportunity be afforded to the neediest
students; Cabrillo has the distinct honor of being one of the first
California Community Colleges with an EOPS program.

EOPS/CARE has been innovative and in the forefront of many other
programs and services that now exist on most community college
campuses throughout the state. Programs and services developed and
initiated by EOPS/CARE are: orientation, outreach, tutorial support,
summer bridge program, and other supportive functions... This can be
seen as the best of times looking back as we celebrate the thousands
of students that have benefited from the support of EOPS/CARE.

Now forty years later, EOPS/CARE is faced with the possibility of
extinction. The program has been cut 40% with the possibility of an
additional $100,000 reduction in the EOPS/CARE budget. You may be
wondering what impact this will have on serving the disenfranchised
students at Cabrillo College. The downward spiral will begin by
closing the door to hundreds of eligible students due to reduction of
resources.

Meanwhile, other campuses have made different commitments to the
program. For example, in Region IV, which consists of thirteen
campuses (including Cabrillo College), seven EOPS/CARE programs are
not experiencing any staff reductions. Each Community College campus
is expected to maintain a 5% reserve in its budget; in 2008-09,
Cabrillo College had the largest reserve of 20.8% for the Region IV
campuses. And yet, Cabrillo College has decided that it is necessary
to reduce the staff by 2.05 FTE. Other campuses within Region IV that
have a reserve as small as 5.3 % have opted for no reduction at all.
Financial figures in bad times like these show us what an institution
values — and what it doesn't.

David Trevino
EOPS/CARE Director


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