CR Board of Trustees President Bruce Emad calls the strife on campus a "water fight" and expects it will soon blow over. Photo by Ryan Burns.

CR Board of Trustees President Bruce Emad calls the strife on campus a “water fight” and expects it will soon blow over. Photo by Ryan Burns.

Faculty and staff aren’t the only ones feeling disgruntled about the direction College of the Redwoods has taken under President Jeff Marsee; students are pissed, too.

At Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting, which will be held up Del Norte way, former leaders of student government will address why the entire cabinet resigned in protest earlier this year.

Actually, they’ll be asking Board President Bruce Emad, right, to read their angry letter aloud, according to former student trustee Karen Rio. In a nutshell, the students allege that their governing body, the Associated Students of College of the Redwoods (ASCR), was infiltrated by a woman hired by Marsee for the ill-defined and previously nonexistent job of Campus Life Director. This woman [redacted] proceeded to hijack ASCR’s finances, misappropriate funds and verbally berate the student officers, the letter claims. 

The five elected members of student government quit in protest, and now they’re demanding a full review of [the woman’s] actions. “All five of us want her fired, but we don’t know if that will happen,” former ASCR Vice President Polly Johns told the Journal this morning.

Click “more” to read the students’ letter in full.

Dear Board of Trustees:

We are writing about concerns we have about ASCR [Associated Students of College of the Redwoods] finances and the treatment of ASCR elected representatives.

First, about ASCR finances: After Campus Life Director [redacted] was hired in fall 2009, it wasn’t long before there were problems. Nikiya wouldn’t give reports to us about what was in the accounts. She would never explain the differences between Student Life accounts and ASCR funds, and she wouldn’t explain where the money for events was coming from. When we voted to approve a $2,500 gift to Central Asia Institute (in support of Greg Mortenson’s Book of the Year event), she claimed that we didn’t have enough money for this, even though we had been told by Sean Hofer, our advisor from the previous year, that we had over $100,000 in the ASCR account.

Then, when Jennifer Swaggert, the ASCR Treasurer, in early fall 2009, decided she didn’t want to do that job anymore, Nikiya took over all ASCR finances, and a number of events were paid for, but without ASCR voting on these activities. In fact, Jennifer told us that “Nikiya made all the financial decisions anyway.” Finally, when we wanted to find out what monies were in the ASCR accounts (since Nikiya wouldn’t do this for us), Polly Johns, Vice President of ASCR, went to the Business Office to get a Datatel printout. In response, Nikiya threatened Polly with a disciplinary write-up for supposedly missing meetings (from two months previous). During a meeting with Nikiya following this threat, Nikiya told Polly “not to worry about the monies.” From our perspective, there’s a pretty clear conflict of interest in having half of Nikiya’s salary come from student funds while at the same time she is pushing her Campus Life agenda on ASCR.

Next, there has been a lot of mistreatment of ASCR elected representatives. From the start, Nikiya didn’t want to answer any of our questions during ASCR meetings. For instance, at one of the first meetings, in fall 2009, when we asked her exactly what the Campus Life Director did, she told us that we could “look at her job description.” She talked down to us, brushed off our suggestions, and resorted to yelling and bullying us in order to get her way. When we approved the $2,500 gift to Central Asia Institute, Nikiya yelled at us about the gift and then told us that because of the gift we couldn’t attend a General Assembly Leadership Conference in the Bay Area. Also, she yelled at us for deciding to attend the Mortenson event and would not attend the event itself. She singled out Vice President of ASCR Polly Johns by referring to her as a “brat” and “an idiot.”

We tried to fix the situation, but it didn’t seem like anyone would listen to us. Ashley Chapman and Cody Anderson spoke with Vice President of Student Services Keith Snow-Flamer about these problems. Nothing happened. A faculty member on our behalf spoke with both Joe Hash and Keith Snow-Flamer about Nikiya’s behavior. Nothing happened. Polly Johns spoke with Joe Hash. Nothing happened. Karen Rio even wrote a letter to President [Jeff] Marsee. And still nothing happened. Nothing came of any of these meetings or the letter. What was obvious to us from what Nikiya told us is that she would do whatever President Marsee asked her, but completely ignored us, even though we were paying half her salary. The end result of such treatment is that all five elected ASCR representatives (excluding student-trustee) resigned this year because they could no longer put up with such outrageous treatment.

In order to fix this situation, we would like you to:

1) Do a complete and public review of the ASCR finances. If Nikiya authorized any money without ASCR approval, we want this money refunded to the ASCR accounts.
2) We want ASCR to have its own advisor for 20 hours a week. That is what our monies should be paying for–not Campus Life events.
3) We want the immediate removal of Nikiya McWilliams as Campus Life Director for her completely unacceptable behavior toward us.
4) Before there is another Campus Life Director hired, the ASCR representatives must be involved in what Campus Life will be and how it will be paid for.

Sincerely,

Karen Rio, former Student Trustee
Polly Johns, former ASCR Vice President

 

Ryan Burns worked for the Journal from 2008 to 2013, covering a diverse mix of North Coast subjects,...

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43 Comments

  1. The previous ASCR advisor made it fun to be involved with actitivites, but once again College of the Redwoods didnt listen to their students when the members of the ASCR suggested the old advisor, Sean Hofer, be hired for this full time position. If that would have happened, I believe we would be avoiding a lot of these situations now.
    We also need to realize thats what is done is done. Writing stories to the Northcoast Journal wont change anything. College of the Redwoods as well as the majority of the students dont care about or even know what the ASCR is or does and even with all the drama surrounding CR, enrollment rates are still up. People just want to go to CR, take their classes and leave, they obviously dont want to get involved; look at the turnout at all campus actitivies.
    Nikiya may not be the best person for the Director of Campus Life position, but for a job that really has no meaning or purpose I guess she does just fine.

  2. From a student perspective, one needs to understand that spending money on a campus life director, spending money to pay the salary of a VP who is on administrative leave, spending money on a variety of consultants to pontificate on obvious issues such as “the mission” all take money away from instruction. Students will see a very lean schedule this fall. Consider how funds are being spent and if you would rather have more courses offered by part-time faculty at the times that fit your schedule, or if you’d rather have campus life, consultants, and administrators on paid leave. It all comes down to management, or lack thereof.

  3. Let’s be frank here. If any faculty or staff member yelled at a student or called them names, the person would be written up or fired. That the administration knew about McWilliams’ behavior and did not is appalling.

  4. Every campus has some problems; no organization runs smoothly 100% of the time. But it has reached the point at where the turmoil at CR seriously interferes with the functions of the college.

    If Marsee cared at all about this institution, he would resign immediately after demanding the resignations of all the superfluous sycophants he hired since he came here.

  5. Honestly, my time at CR is nearly over, and I’m beyond excited. But not for the most obvious reasons. Mainly, I am excited that I will no longer have to look at the tired and weathered faces of my instructors as they watch everything they believe in be systemetically destroyed. I am excited that I won’t have to walk around campus and hear story after story about the abuses of this administration.

    As another poster stated “People just want to go to CR, take their classes and leave, they obviously dont want to get involved; look at the turnout at all campus actitivies.” All I can say is, you’re correct, I would prefer not to spend my time on campus and I’m sure that the staff and faculty are starting the feel the same way. After all, who wants to hang around with a bunch of morally bankrupt administrative fat cats who make 6-figures a year to destroy higher education? These individuals are scum, plain and simple.

  6. This letter would have a lot more credibility if it were from students who didn’t resign. I think it is just hateful the way the local press is being manipulated by this so-called “jounalism.” This “article” is so skewed it is a joke. Anyone who knows McWilliams knows that she is passionate about her job and the students – this characterization of her is malicious and meant only to hurt the president of the college. Who else should you throw on your journalistic fire? You are not interested in journalistic integrity, truth, balance, or even responsible editing – why not just nail everyone in lower-middle management? Dedicate a special issue to slamming CR and get it out all at once so we don’t have to put up with this constant stream of insidious drivel.

  7. Anyone who knows McWilliams? These students know her very well. Too well, in fact. It sounds like they handled themselves in the appropriate way in dealing with a bully. The complained to her superiors. The problem is that the superiors did nothing.

  8. I have to agree with Another Bob here. I’ve never known students to make up lies like this and then confront superiors repeatedly with false complaints. That would be a stupid waste of their time, and they know it.

    McWilliams may well be a kind and passionate person, but she is beholden to Marsee, who hasn’t a kind bone in his body and whose passion never extends beyond self-aggrandizement.and the money it gets him.

    Once he is gone and replaced with someone fit for the job, then the NCJ won’t have much negativity to write about CR anymore.

  9. This is a letter from a few upset students who have no genuine basis for their complaints. I know these women personally and I can attest to the fact that though they have genuine concerns, they are exaggerating the issues and using false information as support. The women writing this letter are not only totally misinformed, but also making claims they have no proof for. The five members that quit in protest is a lie. I know from speaking with Jennifer Swagert that she did not quit for that reason, nor does she wish for the Campus Life Director to be fired. Quoting someone as such when it’s untrue is illegal. These girls need to organize their concerns and present them in a truthful, clear way before sending out letters to busy college boards and local newspapers. This is just a distraction from actual CR problems.

  10. “McWilliams may well be a kind and passionate person, but she is beholden to Marsee, who hasn’t a kind bone in his body…”

    So you should slander someone because you don’t like her boss?? Is all the pot they are growing around getting into the drinking water? Lets think critically people…I hope someone sues the pants off of this “paper.”

  11. This Nikiya Mcwilliams doesn’t sound kind and passionate to me? I agree with Q and AnotherBob that these students wouldn’t be waisting any one’s time. If you really read their letter, doesn’t sound like just concerns but real incidents? Having experience discrimination myself ,I would tread lightly before suggesting these student are over exaggerating. The previous post, you might think you know those women but most likely you don’t know everything,its generally the case. I am just speaking from my own experience with discrimination, and what it takes to speak up and how you can easily be judge by coworkers/peers who draw their own conclusion, not necessarily from a maliciously space but just from not really knowing everything they they do.

  12. Oh my God. I had a great idea. College of the Redwoods could offer another linked class. Journalism and Logic, Critical Thinking, and/or Ethics. There is an obvious need in our community. I would expect young passionate misguided students to exhibit, on occasion, poor judgment but the use of the news media as a weapon of choice against those working in the trenches to further a campaign of anger against another is just mean. Oh, by the way, this workspace that all this so called abuse has taken place is just outside the door of one Dean and the Co-Chair of the Academic Senate, not to mention have a dozen other employees. If such abuse had taken place it surely would not go unnoticed or unchecked. Ms. McWilliams is an asset to CR and I applaud her efforts.

  13. “So you should slander someone because you don’t like her boss?? Is all the pot they are growing around getting into the drinking water? Lets think critically people…”

    OK, let’s do think critically. She might be kind and compassionate but also in need of an income. That’s not too much of a stretch for you, is it?

    Now, let’s go to step two: if her boss tells her to ride roughshod over the ASCR, she might well do so rather than resign and go on cash aid. Make sense so far?

    Now, we know that Marsee considers it his prerogative to ride roughshod over anyone who stands in his way. If you doubt this, have a look at
    http://www.wacubo.org/newsletters/autumn04.pdf
    Look especially at the part where he asks his management devotees, “Have you disarmed the culture keepers and minimized organizational
    resistance to change?”

    Disarming the culture keepers means circumventing or destroying anyone whose vision does not match his own.

    So, thinking critically, we may well conclude that Marsee’s direct employees who want to stick around quickly learn to do as he says and get busy obstructing any and all dissent, especially where there’s a whiff of cash money involved.

    And by the way, when you lie about someone in print, it’s called libel, not slander.

  14. To all of you who are convinced that this is an “isolated event” on the CR campus, I invite you to examine the results of the Noel-Levitz Employee Satisfaction Survey that was administered in Februrary of this year.

    http://redwoods.edu/Accreditation/CESS.asp

    Hearing complaints about the administration from multiple sources (students, faculty, and staff) is probably a good indication that something is seriously wrong on campus.

  15. As I understand it, public institutions must make their financial records public. A simple examination of the financial transactions which have taken place and where funds were directed, or not, would be informative and substantive information.

    If not financial wrong has been done, why hesitate to make the records public? This is students’ and taxpayers’ money–show us the money trail. While name-calling and assertions of verbal abuse are difficult to prove or disprove, shifting of funds between accounts should be easier to track down. And, if ill has been done, will carry more impact with state and federal entities that provide funding to CR.

  16. Of course: why not just sunshine all the records for the ASCR accounts? What is Ms. McWilliams (and perhaps by extension) president Marsee trying to hide by a refusal to disclose these public funds?

  17. Indeed, a public review of the ASCR accounting is the first element of the students’ request, and that would be a stupid thing to insist on if they were making things up, I think.

  18. If she’s ‘for real’ then she won’t mind a public accounting of the money. It’ll all be where it’s supposed to be and no harm no foul. That NOONE has responded to the requests for full disclosure speaks volumes (IMO). The request for an accounting is completely within the rights of the ASCR as it belongs to them. I am not a member of the student government, but I am a memeber of the ASCR and I know I would like to see an accounting of it. Especially if there was $100,000 (per faculty) last year, and this year there isn’t enough for a $2500 donation to such a worthy cause as the Central Asia Institute.
    I’ll be interested to see how this plays out.

  19. It does not surprise me that nothing was done by CR admin to attend to the claims of ASCR. To do so would have opened up the possibility that they were wrong about the manager they hired. They overlook abuse, lying, total incompetence, to preserve their pride. Meanwhile, moral is low and talented people are either leaving or under-performing because CR admin have low standards for management. Its a confederacy of dunces.

  20. I am saddened by these remarks and accusations about Nikiya. She has done her best to do the impossible, to bring everyone together in various activities. Her job was to bring life to our campus to make a place where the students, staff and faculty gather to enjoy our time here at CR and to make connections. But unfortunately many of us have not learned to get along for the greater good. I feel that we all need to step back and look at the larger picture and try and see where we can help improve the atmosphere here. Name calling, accusations, and all of this has to STOP. Are we ill behaved children who have not learned tolerance? Please let’s get back to the task of offering Higher Education and acting like educated professionals that we are.

  21. Great job students. Get your monies back and demand some respect. CR wouldn’t be there if it isn’t for you. Don’t let them forget that.

  22. Id like to point out that by submitting letters like this to local papers CAN change things! its when people don’t speal up that things don’t change. From personal experence there are many students who aren’t interested in ASCR, but there are many who ARE as well! Nikyias biggest mistake was ignoring the previous plans made, the ones from BEFORE she came. Imagine having your entire wedding planned and some woman coming along and changing almost every last detail without even consulting you? That’s what happened to the elected members of ASCR. She could indeed be much more cost effective with the student money. All that money wasn’t saved in one year, it took years for that much money to gather, so blowing it all this year is no good. Also, who thinks thinks that the students money should go towards the same small group of people going on like 6 different conferences in a school year (let alone a semester as I’ve been told they did in Fall 09). Note many of these conferences cover the same topics.

  23. Just to clarify a few things…the student senate did not go on 6 conferences in one semester, nor have they gone on 6 conferences this year. These conferences are used to train our student leaders to become better leaders at the local, region and state levels. I know for a fact that Ashly was advocating for students to attend these conferences before she dropped out of ASCR for personal reasons. As to the validity of these statements, I can attest that they are inaccurate. All of this information is public and any official inquiry into these funds will show that Ms. McWilliams is an honest, dependable, hardworking woman who is being unjustly accused. I believe that the public should hear both sides of the story first, before jumping to conclusions about a woman they may or may not even know. Much of this discussion and aggression should be aimed at the people it is really intended for-the administration, specifically President Marsee.

  24. There are two sides to every story and the first step to resolving them is to respect and listen to both. CR has a student complaint procedure, but even without such a procedure, the administration has an obligation to follow up on the complaints, investigate, and provide an answer to the complainants, and not just ignore it, hoping it will go away. It’s rude and demeaning to ignore the complaints of people who feel they have been abused. This was initially a minor problem that could have been resolved by a competent administrator. The reason why they didn’t, is they were afraid to mess with Marsee’s sacred cow, “student life.” Everyone knows it’s one of his top priorities. The Student Life Director is a new position he created. Marsee’s very first actions as new president were to order that there be cheerleaders, to help start up the disc golf, and to get “student life” going. There are some things that students have been asking for, for years, that were passed over in favor of “student life,” such as better computers, bus passes (started but cancelled in this new budget), more tutors, and more study halls.

  25. Marsee’s unrealistic “vision” was imposed on CR’s students just like his unrealistic “vision” was imposed on CR’s staff and faculty. He lives in his own “special” world that has little or no relationship to the realities of our world. He makes repeated unilateral decisions without the data and without consulting those affected. How many times (and from how many different constituencies on campus) does the Board have to hear this before they finally emerge from the “special world” that Marsee has constructed for them as well?

  26. Okay, what about the 10 grand she spent on bringing people from sacramento to run those big jumps and slides when there are places in humboldt she could have gone for less? I personally know people who own a company based out of mckinleyville and I told her this before resigning. If nikyia wouldn’t have made ascr so difficult, dramatic, and stressful I wouldn’t have had to choose between ascr and caring for my mother who fell ill durring the time…I was litterally sick to my stomach on a daily basis because of all the stress she added to my life….she bombarded us with a new system and tons of extra work and never offered a kind word for all the hard work we did…only insults, and talking behind our backs to other people…I was putting in a minimum of 12 hours a week towards ascr in additon to my classes and two other jobs and she had the nerve to look me in the eye and say I didn’t do any work, just complained…I complained because we were being wronged…now she has this little group of followers, but then again even hitler had followers…ascr was my passion and I still care about it…ill join again onces the admin finds someone better suited for cr….nikiya could do a lot better in a city college, seeing as how she’s from the city…she’s just not humboldt material…she’s not very approachable, and expects everyone to come to her, in her office..which isn’t even close to the ascr office…I very rairly saw her walking around campus..and for health reasons shed probably be better off actually getting off her ass and walking around meeting students…not to be mean in saying that, just pointing out obvious health problems…id like to point out that out of the 3 candidates up for her position, she was the only one not recomended by ascr…the only one…shows how much marsee takes the students opinions into consideration….people say no one cares about ascr, when they should…they are the students voice…why do you think comm college fees keep rising and rising (cause the number of people who can attend to go down)…because no one wants to speak up…and excuse me they went on 4 conferences in the fall semester…when really the only one truely needed to attened is the generally assembly held by the ssccc, the largest comm college group in the state…they hold two ga’s a year…one in spring and one in fall…if there are other topics they feel need to be focused on they can always bring in guest speakers, or take advantage of the ssccc network and ask another school, that’s free!

  27. After reading many of these comments, it’s obvious what kind of treatment these individuals were under as they sought answers to their concerns. There are clear bullying tactics obviously being used against these honest students. One is that this Nikiya McWilliams is manipulating young, passionate, “misguided”, enthusiastic students by attacking their emotions and using personal problems as an alibi to cover up their concerns. This gives off the impression that these students are emotionally unstable and therefore not fit for being student leaders. I give props to these women for their bravery, determination, and use of leadership skills to stand up in the best interest for their fellow and future students!

    Furthermore, I seem to have found Nikiya’s job description: “Her job was to bring life to our campus to make a place where the students, staff and faculty gather to enjoy our time here at CR and to make connections.” CR was very much alive and active before the installment of Campus Life. I can attest that from personal experiences.

  28. The shadow stated, “Name calling, accusations, and all of this has to STOP. Are we ill behaved children who have not learned tolerance?” I agree that name calling, and accusations need to stop, but it is apparent and stated by the shadow that the name calling and accusations hasn’t stopped since us students are referred to as “ill behaved children who have not learned tolerance.” I am a student and I am extremely angered by how this accusation made by an “educated professional”. in which the shadow commented, “Please let’s get back to the task of offering Higher Education and acting like educated professionals that we are.” I am happy that this professional has pride in them-self, but there would be no higher education to offer if there were no students. Maybe students want a higher education so they can be more educated? I know thats why I decided to attend college.

  29. Emad and Truett are more interested in defensively protecting their own bruised egos than they are in protecting CR. Why else would they go along with letting Marsee cut students’ bus passes or the health benefits for our workers’ kids? Why don’t they try selling the wasteful Garberville site and cutting off the cash-flow to all those expensive outside consultants that Marsee won’t listen to anyway? The last consultant that came to campus, by the way, firmly recommended that we shut down the McKinleyville instructional site to consolidate services at the Arcata site and save money. Is Marsee going to listen to her? The college spent $44,000 on her for NOTHING. This is only one of the countless examples of how this destructive and irresponsible president wastes money. It is outrageous, and you students have the right to be questioning him, because he is also planning to drastically cut basic instructional and technology budgets–cuts that WILL negatively affect the quality of your education next year.

  30. The CR, Board of Directors & Dr. Jeff Marsee just another Humboldt Creamery! let’s have a formal investigation! Lots of chat here, let’s get to the point

  31. An investigation into the awarding of the illegal no-bid contract to JAG architects for the Garberville site would be a start.

  32. That contract was not illegal. Although it was wasteful to say the least, as is the whole Garberville scheme. Some areas of community college business are allowed no bid contracts, such as professional services, which would include an architectural firm.

  33. PUBLIC CONTRACT CODE
    SECTION 20650-20662

    1. The provisions of this article shall apply to contracts by community college districts as provided for in Part 49 (commencing with Section 81000) of the Education Code.

    2. (a) The governing board of any community college district shall let any contracts involving an expenditure of more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for any of the following:
      (1) The purchase of equipment, materials, or supplies to be
      furnished, sold, or leased to the district.
      (2) Services, except construction services.
      (3) Repairs, including maintenance as defined in Section 20656, that are not a public project as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 22002.

    The contract shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder who shall give security as the board requires, or else reject all bids.

    (b) The governing board shall let any contract for a public project, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 22002, involving an expenditure of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) or more to the
    lowest responsible bidder who shall give security as the board requires, or else reject all bids. All bids for construction work shall be presented under sealed cover and shall be accompanied by one of the following forms of bidder’s security:
    (1) Cash.
    (2) A cashier’s check made payable to the community college district.
    (3) A certified check made payable to the community college district.
    (4) A bidder’s bond executed by an admitted surety insurer, made payable to the community college district.

    http://law.justia.com/california/codes/pcc/20650-20662.html

  34. So what happened? How about these fine journalists doing some follow up on the complaint and investigation? What did the Board to when presented with the letter? If the newspaper won’t report, how about some feedback from the students who are posting here?

  35. you will be getting updated soon. hope there are followers reading this forum. if you want to know whats going on leave a comment saying want to know more.
    good day

  36. And what did the Board of Trustees do in response to this letter? Nothing. They didn’t even both to investigate whether these claims had any validity or not.

  37. Where else can you find info on the mess that CR leaders are creating? The Board isn’t interested in investigating any of the claims. Please post updated info here so the county residents can see how their local college is looting our students’ future.

  38. From: Marsee, Jeff
    Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 4:20 PM
    To: All
    Subject: Special Board Meeting on Friday, May 21 at 9:00 a.m.
    This is a reminder that there will be a Special Board Meeting this Friday, May 21 at 9:00 a.m. in the Board Room.Dial-In information and Web streaming information can be found at the end of this email.
    Dear Colleagues,
    During the presentation of the draft (first reading) tentative budget to the Board of Trustees last Friday, May 7th, it was requested that alternative “worst” case budget scenarios be identified so that CR can be prepared should the projected (2010-11) revenue not be correct. As you may know, CR will not know what the final state appropriation will be until late August or September. Given the emerging bad financial news from the state, this planning strategy makes very good sense. Therefore, while hoping that our current draft budget will be accurate, two additional budget scenarios were requested by the Trustees, including:
    • a zero state appropriation increase ($599,000 revenue reduction); and
    • the elimination of the retiree benefit Fund 79 budget deficit ($515,305 increase in expense/transfer).
    With the addition of several expenses, it is anticipated that we may have as much as $1.2 million in budget cuts should the state defund our district’s allocation next year. Again, this is an anticipated worst case scenario, not a reality as of this date.
    Therefore, before reviewing the three budget scenarios at the June 1, 2010 board meeting, a Special Board of Trustee meeting has been scheduled for Friday, May 21, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. at the Eureka campus Board room. The purpose of the meeting will be to provide for the employees AND PUBLIC AN opportunity to share with the Trustees possible alternatives for allocating revenue/expenditures in the proposed tentative budget and for providing suggestions for reducing the budget up to $1.2 million, if necessary. To facilitate discussion, staff will prepare a number of options with quantifiable expenses for each action item. I understand that the Trustees are willing to look at all options including, but not limited to: benefits (employee and dependents), step/salary increases, reduction in classes, reduced operating hours and days, and any other ideas that you may have that would help keep the budget balanced should the state’s funding result in dramatic reductions.

  39. Again, while not wanting to panic anyone, it is believed that thoughtful and early planning can help avoid bad decisions later. The May 21st meeting is intended to bring the college community together to discuss the current financial situation and to provide input and suggestions as to how the district should respond to a worst case budget situation before a potential crisis occurs. This is your opportunity to participate and thus take part in the development of possible responses to a potentially bad state financial situation.
    I hope you will take the time and make the arrangements to participate. I have asked all managers to provide release time for their staff to participate. There will be additional information and materials sent to all employees next week as staff complete the necessary financial schedules.
    I am looking forward to hearing your ideas on May 21st.
    PARTICIPANT CALL-IN DETAILS

    Dial your telephone conference line: (888) 886-3951
    Enter your pass code: 282983
    WEB STREM ADDRESS:
    http://www.redwoods.edu/district/president/hour/
    Jeff Marsee
    Dr. Jeff Marsee
    jeff-marsee@redwoods.edu
    President/Superintendent
    Redwoods Community College District
    7351 Tompkins Hill Road
    Eureka, CA 95501
    Phone 707-476-4170
    Fax 707-476-4402

  40. It’s interesting that even after ~2 years after I held seat on the Executive Board for the ASCR, that the same troubles we faced are still haunting the future Boards. Those that hold paid positions at the Administration level at CR — i.e. Jeff Marsee, George Truette, Dr. Keith Snow-Flamer, and even Robert Eckholdt — are all the men behind the curtain at this show: they have always had an agenda, and that agenda never if ever includes the students, or faculty for that matter.

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