GATHERING, from page 1 Students to rally themselves
By Daily Press staff
Before she can provide her insight to Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, Santa Monica College President Piedad F. Robertson will have to answer to her faculty, students and staff.
Protesters plan to confront Robertson and the board of trustees at the opening of SMC’s new library today at 11 a.m. They will convene at the west entrance to SMC’s liberal arts building, across from the library and off of Pearl Street.
The disgruntled group has consistently challenged Robertson and the SMC Board of Trustees to find an alternative to cutting programs and slashing classes at SMC. The board recently formalized SMC’s $208 million budget after cutting $10 million.
Preceding the dedication of the new library, students, faculty and staff will launch a new campaign called, “86 the Trustees — Put the Community Back in Our College.”
427,“Students are very upset,” said Nick Corbin, sophomore and political science major, in a press release. “The programs the board eliminated disproportionately affect Latino students. Although Latinos comprise only 24 percent of SMC’s total student body, they make up 40 percent of the students majoring in the eliminated programs.”
Phil Hendricks, payroll specialist and president of the Classified School Employees Association, the union for campus workers, said half of the financial aid department staff are gone, leaving students with 12-week waits for their applications to be processed.
Lantz Simpson, professor of English and president of the SMC faculty association, a teacher union, pointed to two recent votes of no confidence in Robertson — one by teachers, the other by campus workers.
“SMC’s president received an 86 percent vote of no confidence,” he said in the press release. “She’s less popular than Gray Davis. We’re holding the elected board of trustees accountable for unnecessarily dismembering these programs. We’re going to 86 the trustees.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 14, 2003. Read the original PDF.