Fee-For-All
Snow-Flamer has no memory of such an encounter.
Last month, Sodhi contacted the Chancellor’s Office, where she found a rapt audience. “They told me that the college must immediately stop this practice or else one of two things could happen: The students could file a lawsuit … or the college could be held liable for reimbursing the fees.” Sodhi quickly notified her supervisor, as well as Rio, Snow-Flamer and CR President Jeff Marsee.
“When the word came to me a couple weeks ago … I immediately told the academic support center to cease and desist from this practice,” Snow-Flamer said. The trickier part will be reimbursing the students, which he said the school “absolutely” plans to do — by sending postcards to affected students with instructions for seeking a refund as well as posting the information on the school’s Web site. However, identifying and locating all those students won’t be easy. Some who paid for retests didn’t actually attend CR so were never issued a student ID number. Others have moved numerous times.
“Going back to 2003 will be a major undertaking,” Snow-Flamer said. Just since 2006, the school charged students $5,250 for retests. Nevertheless, Snow-Flamer said he’s not concerned about the potential liability or the impact this infraction might have on the college’s ongoing accreditation issues. (See “Stress Fracture,” July 30.) “The key point to me is to make restitution and make those corrections — put processes and policies in place to make sure this never happens again,” he said.
Curiously, something similar did happen again in May, when students voted in a mandatory $15 student activities fee. This, too, was later found to be forbidden under both Title Five and the student fee handbook; such fees must be voluntary.
Snow-Flamer’s plan to ensure such mistakes don’t recur includes getting more people involved in oversight. “It’s not just the administrators like myself,” he said. “In my view, everybody has the responsibility to make sure we’re doing the right thing.”
Sodhi’s take on accountability is not quite so egalitarian. “The law isn’t going to come to you and ask you to follow it — you need to know,” she said. “And the higher up you are, the more responsibility you should take.”
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44th Annual Kinetic Grand Championship Race
STAFF PICK / events, art, outdoors, sports, for kids, free / 9 a.m.-6 p.m. A 3-day, 42-mile kinetic sculpture race over land, sand, mud and water! LeMans start at the Noon Whistle on the Arcata Plaza. Follow the race through Manila, Eureka and into Ferndale on Memorial Day for the Glorious Finish. kineticgrandchampionship.com. 889-3024.
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STAFF PICK / events / 8 p.m. Arcata Theatre Lounge, 1036 G St. Student designed and produced clothing. Fundraiser for Arcata Arts Institute. $35/$25 students. artsinstitute.net. 822-1220.
Woodside Preschool's Rummage/Bake Sale
events / 8 a.m.-noon. Woodside Preschool, 900 Hodgson St, Eureka. www.woodsidepreschool.com. 445-9132.
Lanphere Dunes Restoration
STAFF PICK / outdoors / 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at Pacific Union School. Help remove non-native invasives at the Lanphere Dunes Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Tools and gloves provided, wear work clothes and bring water. Carpool to the protected site. 444-1397.
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