Board Report - February 2010

First of all, let’s watch the Bookstore presentation that we missed last month due to technical difficulties. Our own student, Russell Vessely, put together the presentation.

The passage of Measures 66 and 67 prevented the need for massive budget cuts. While challenges remain, we should at least take a moment to acknowledge the fact that they did pass and to thank all of our staff and students who worked on the campaign – Rodger Gamblin, Bob Baldwin, Doug Smyth, Ken Murdoff, Jim Salt, who convened meetings and the students who registered so many students and conducted a non partisan education program.

It is expected that when the revenue forecast is released later this month, the projection will be down slightly from December. We don’t anticipate any budget cuts, but this does bring us back to the reality of what we will be facing one year from now entering the 2011-13 budget process.

The Budget Development Subcommittee is still working on developing budget documents, and we will bring these to you in March, along with projections.

The special session is underway in Salem. Democratic leaders announced their priorities for the one-month session Monday afternoon, which included an economic recovery agenda focused on job creation and extending unemployment benefits.

The Oregon Opportunity Grant continues to experience record demand. The Oregon Student Assistance Commission met January 22 and approved recommendations to address major funding shortfalls, including lowering award sizes for next school year and allocating predetermined amounts of funding for each sector. Community colleges will receive 48 percent. We’ve also learned that language from a 2005 bill which added part-time students to the program was inadvertently left in statute when the program changed to the Shared Responsibility Model in 2007. This language may disqualify 5,000-7,000 students from receiving awards this spring and next school year. We are tracking this issue closely and working to see if a fix may be possible during the special session.

You may recall that among institutions receiving more than 10,000 financial aid applications annually, Lane had the 14th highest increase this past fall. Winter term continues much the same. Our financial aid department reports 18,159 FAFSA applications for 2009-2010 so far, an increase of 42 percent over last year.

I’d like to note that this year’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Award was presented to NextStep Recycling. NextStep founder Lorraine Kerwood is a Distinguished Alumni of Lane Community College. I want to thank Lane students for founding our community celebration for keeping it going every year.

As you know, the Eugene City Council voted unanimously last week for city staff to negotiate a transfer of property for the 10th and Charnelton site for our new downtown campus. The project manager and design team are working at an intensive pace to have the phase one feasibility study ready for your March board meeting.

Oregon gubernatorial candidates John Kitzhaber visited Lane in January, and Bill Bradbury was here today.

I was quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education in an article about the value of a liberal education; and I interviewed with University Business magazine today. However, my most important interview was with Rose, a local middle school student doing a report on community colleges. Rose is an amazing young woman. She posed questions such as: What does Lane mean to you? What is it like to be President? If you were coming to my school, what would you tell the students? I said that I would tell her and her classmates that you have a right to higher education. Rose’s parents are both students of Lane who are struggling to achieve their education and provide a better life for their children.

Community colleges continue to receive a large amount of attention at the federal level. During his State of the Union address, President Obama urged the Senate to pass the American Graduation Initiative (AGI), which continues to be set aside by the healthcare reform debate. We will be in Washington next week for the AACC-ACCT Legislative Summit and will be meeting with lawmakers to advocate for the AGI, the Community College Emergency Stabilization Act, student loan reform, and other priorities.

The Public Employees Retirement System board met Friday and adopted a policy that could somewhat ease an increase in employer pension contributions for the 2011-13 biennium. The new policy places the imminent rate increase, which will occur because of the 2008 stock market downturn, on a sliding scale tied to the funding level of the pension plans for each state agency, local government and school district. Overall, public employer contributions to PERS are expected to increase more than $1 billion, from $880 million in the current biennium to $2 billion in the coming biennium.

ASLCC and the Oregon Students of Color Coalition held a discussion panel in the cafeteria on January 21 to encourage communities of color to participate in local elections. The event, moderated by KMTR’s Marc Mullins, included Mayor Kitty Piercy, Guadalupe Quinn, Raquel Ells, Pat Riggs-Henson and Peter Chavannes. Approximately 60 students attended and even more listened while they ate lunch. Thank you to the students and the participants for making this a successful event.

Our Peace Symposium will be March 5 starting at 6 p.m. in the Center for Meeting and Learning. The conference will explore the theme of democracy and empire. Keynote speakers include longtime activist Tom Hayden.

Last month I attended the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. I co-presented a session called, “Greater Expectations and New Investments: Community Colleges and America’s Promise.” I also signed the President’s Trust, which is a commitment made by presidents to advocate for the value of a liberal education in our economy and society.

I also met with Jill Biden, a community college instructor, and of course, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, and others from the community college system to strategize about the passing of AGI.

I am serving on the presidential search committee for the American Association of Community Colleges. George Boggs, president of the association for the past 10 years, is retiring at the end of this year.

I gave the keynote address at the annual conference of Oregon Women in Higher Education.

I presented, from the comfort of my own office, at a national webinar on infusing sustainability into the curriculum. The webinar was sponsored by Portland State University, AACC, and AASCU.

Brett Rowlett and I met with UO President Richard Lariviere and others to explore the idea of forming a partnership to make the K-16 education continuum more transparent, and to see how we can share resources. This follows up a meeting that Brett and I attended last fall with the members of a similar partnership in the Corvallis area. While there we talked with students from the Lesbian Gay Transgender, Bi-Sexual Queer Alliance about the vandalism and hate crime in their office. I attended the vigil last night along with a number of our students. When something like this happens it affects the whole community, and I think it’s important that we stand up and let people know we do not tolerate this behavior.

Among the media interviews I gave last month was one with KVAL about going back to college for retraining. It will be part of a series on the economy and personal financial decisions. It should air sometime this month; we’ll let you know.

I am sorry to note the passing of Ed Ragozzino, founder of Lane’s Performing Arts program, and a longtime and well known leader of the community’s performing arts culture. A public memorial will be held Friday at 7 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church on Fox Meadow Road, and a funeral mass will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. Paul’s Catholic Church.

Lane Preview Night, our annual open house, will be held next Wednesday, February 10, at 6 p.m. in the gym.

Finally, I am very excited to announce that US Poet Laureate Kay Ryan will visit Lane May 13 and 14 as part of our Reading Together program. Last fall, Ryan launched a project to promote poetry in community colleges. Thanks go to English instructor Eileen Thompson, and to volunteer and donor Jane King, for making this special visit possible.