Next Steps on Vote of No Confidence from San Diego Mesa College

[Kim Perigo]

Hello All:

I am sorry that I have not been on these threads until now but I just got added to this group. I am the Academic Senate President of San Diego Mesa College and wanted to briefly explain why we had a vote of no confidence and what our next steps are going to be. At the Area D meeting, John explained the failures of Oakley's leadership and lack of consultation which included but were not limited to:

1. Problems with the Implementation of AB 705
2. Fully online community college--No consultation
3. Performance-based funding formula--No consultation, ASCCC wasn't even allowed in the room to hear the conversations
4. Interference in the equivalency process
5. Minimum qualifications--No consultation

This list is not comprehensive but certainly gave us an understanding and context for what is going on. Additionally, we learned that Chancellor Oakley has only met with ASCCC leadership one time in the past year.  The chancellor's interactions with us are not isolated. He is not seeking or taking the advice of the campus presidents, district chancellors or financial officers and, something the really bothered us, he is also dictating how student leaders can engage in participatory governance--basically shutting out the student's voices as well.

As I have been reporting out on campus and at the district, I have been sharing a story of a trip that I took to Rome with my speech and debate students. Once day, while were were out walking, we got to a crosswalk and everyone just stopped. I was in the back of the group and as I made my way to the front to see why we had stopped moving forward, I learned that they were not crossing because they were afraid because the cars just kept zooming by without notice of them in the crosswalk. I told them they needed to step off the curb, then the cars would stop. I share this story because I believe it  exemplifies what Mesa feels needs to happen. Someone needed to step off the curb and stop this crazy traffic. Now our hope is others will follow us across the street.

I want to report that as we have made this move, we have received no push back from our Board of Trustees, our administration or our union. They, like us, seem to know it is time to start doing something before this gets any more out-of-hand even if some cannot say so publicly. I do think that faculty has a great responsibility in times like this because we are the group that will suffer the least harm for speaking out. I believe this is one of the exact reasons why tenure is so important for faculty--it gives us the power to speak out and push back--sometimes on behalf of our entire institutions. It if the faculty that will turn this situation around and I do not believe that we can wait for more dismantling to happen before we act.

Next Steps:

I know that the rest of our district will consider (and likely pass) the same resolution. That includes San Diego City and Miramar colleges as well as our Continuing Education. We are reaching out regionally in the hope that we can accomplish the same thing at the colleges in our region (San Diego County). We are posting here in the hope that many of you will consider passing this resolution or something similar. If you do, please send it to Julie and/or John as soon as possible. We also hope that you will keep us informed so we know how many colleges are considering similar action.

We know that the Board of Governors is key to this conversation so we will be taking a group to the Board of Governor's meeting when it is in Southern California. We hope that those of you in Northern CA that can travel to Sacramento will consider addressing the board as well. We plan to take faculty and students to let them know how we feel about the changes and lack of consultation. I know that Tom Epstein (VP of the Board of Governors) was at one day of plenary and definitely heard an earful of discontent (I was sitting next to him at the Funding Formula breakout). Putting pressure on the Board is going to be key to affect change. At the meeting in March, Oakley said, "What we're doing is not in any way, shape or form working for any Californian, period" when talking about how we fund Community Colleges. See https://edsource.org/2018/lawmakers-question-gov-browns-plan-to-overhaul-funding-for-californias-community-colleges/596497 

We are also going to take every advantage of reaching out to the candidates running for Governor. They need to know that we have issues that we expect the candidates to address. We are a huge voting block if we move and stand together.

When we attend the Area D meeting in the fall, should we hear that we are still in the same position we are now, we will be bringing a Vote of No Confidence to Plenary. I also think it will be key to have the largest college districts join us. We hope that LA and others will consider the dramatic impact these policies can and will have on our students and on our institutions.

If you would like more information or if you want to ask any questions, please feel free to contact me at kims...@cox.net or kpe...@sdccd.edu. Please let us know if you have any other suggestions or if you plan to join us--to help us stop the traffic! :)

Thanks for taking the time to read this and share it with your colleagues.

Sincerely,

Kim Perigo, Ed.D.
President, Academic Senate
San Diego Mesa College

[Tamara Smith]

Thanks for sharing all of this information with us.  

Sincerely,

Tami Smith

Mt. San Jacinto College

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From: cccse...@googlegroups.com [cccse...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Kim Perigo [lance...@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2018 9:19 AM
To: CCCSenates
Subject: [Google Group CCCSenates] Next Steps on Vote of No Confidence from San Diego Mesa College

Hello All:

I am sorry that I have not been on these threads until now but I just got added to this group. I am the President of San Diego Mesa College and wanted to briefly explain why we had a vote of no confidence and what our next steps are going to be. At the Area D meeting, John explained the failures of Oakley's leadership and lack of consultation which included but were not limited to:

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[Thompson, Eric]

Kim,

Thanks so much for this. It is enormously helpful.

We’re heading into the traffic with you up here in Santa Rosa.

Eric Thompson

Academic Senate President

Santa Rosa Junior College

Sent from my iPhone

[Wheeler North]

As some who know me can attest I’m generally not a fan of no confidence votes. They’re like an ultimatum with no teeth… and they’re an expression of extremism when in most cases the problem is extremist leadership doing stupid stuff… more extremism isn’t the answer. Votes of no confidence typically do not stay focused in the solution, they tend to point bony fingers and further divide or polarize things.

However, 120 votes of no confidence from all college and district senates does make for a resounding statement of discontent. 

The only reason I’m saying anything is I would urge caution and a lot of thoughtful consideration before moving such a vote to the various state-level bodies, like ASCCC and FACCC. It doesn’t make the message any stronger and it can have unintended consequences that further exacerbate existing tensions. A big gaggle of local votes against the current problems will suffice to get the message across, then seek on helping to direct our state bodies (faculty, staff and administrative) towards working out real, principled solutions.

Just my two cents… 

Wheeler

[Piper Rooney]

Thank you very much for this, Kim.

Glendale brings its Vote of No Confidence to the Senate floor on Thursday, inspired by SD Mesa.

Piper Rooney

On Apr 27, 2018, at 9:19 AM, Kim Perigo wrote:

Hello All:

I am sorry that I have not been on these threads until now but I just got added to this group. I am the President of San Diego Mesa College and wanted to briefly explain why we had a vote of no confidence and what our next steps are going to be. At the Area D meeting, John explained the failures of Oakley's leadership and lack of consultation which included but were not limited to:

--
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<Resolution 18.4.3 Vote of No Confidence Final Draft 041318.pdf>

[Kim Perigo]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Wheeler. I know many of us enjoy having you as a voice of experience. I couldn't agree with you more here. In this case--dealing with this Chacellor, I don't see this as idle words, I think that we ultimately will have to back it up with actions as well--If we are not doing the work of his "vision" then it exposes him as the weak leader he is. I was talking with someone the other day and noted that it seems faculty, classified, students and administration are all on the same pages here--with at least serious concerns about how this chancellor is "leading". How often does that happened--that all these groups are on the same page? I can't think of a time in my 15-years. I am aware that I am overgeneralizing a bit but know--because I am in a district with very strong and straight-talking leaders*--that the CEOs, CFO, and CIO are all tired of being ignored; at least that is easy to glean by the tone of the reports and eye rolling that happens if not outright reporting of the failures in leadership of this State Chancellor. The funding formulas and the FOCC has demonstrated to them all that Brown and Oakley has no interest in what anyone has to say unless it reinforces what they want to do. Anyway, I do believe a full vote of the ASCCC would make a statement. Attending Board of Governor's meetings to express discontent will also apply pressure. Going to the Board of Governor's in number with students, could apply pressure. Making sure our incoming Governor knows that we no longer willing to have someone dismantling our institutions will strengthen our position and finally, if necessary, we need to be fully aware that it may mean that we stop working on the 55+ grants and initiatives that have been directed by the state--very few of which have been suggested or directed by faculty. Bottom line, the board and the faculty and the two power centers on campus (I exclude the students only because they are typically less organized and informed, they are the most power group of all) . The same goes for the state. If the Board of Governors want something done, it will be the faculty and classified doing that work--primarily. Classified are not protected with tenure so they can be pressured (something I think Oakley will be doing to divide our groups). Faculty can always put their necks in the guillotine because generally there is no blade for us. Again, not true for other groups like administrators. To wrap this up, my point is that someone has to stop this madness and I don't know who can or will if we don't. And we can't just say it, we have to be willing to mean it. I could not agree with you more here--my hope is if we are going to ask our leadership to do this on our behalf, fight this fight, we have to be willing to live through uncomfortable times ourselves as we get pressured by our respective administrations (who will potentially have to pressure us) and possibly stopping some work that very well may benefits students. I am generally not a militant person. I am generally someone who looks for every option before going for the nuclear one; however, when I see what is happening, we don't have a choice. We are not dealing with people who care about our systems, our institutions, or our students. After listening to the VC from Eloy's office at the Plenary, I am even more worried about their disconnect. So, if they do not want to listen they force us into a position to demonstrate what can happen. We have watched Julie and John try to work with this Chancellor and he has shut them completely out of most conversations--what's left? I hope this post comes across the way in which I intended--to support Wheeler's argument by saying we must have serious conversations about how far we'd be willing to do should this go to the state level.

Wheeler

Mt. San Jacinto College

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[Kim Perigo]

You're welcome!

Mt. San Jacinto College

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[Kim Perigo]

Excellent. Thank you Eric. Keep us posted.

Mt. San Jacinto College

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[Kim Perigo]

That is awesome! Thank you Piper. Please help other in your region know what is going on and encourage them to join! Keep us posted!

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