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# SMC board unanimously supports college president
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/smc-board-unanimously-supports-college-president/
- Published: 2003-07-12T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:31:00.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

Noting that Santa Monica College is facing a revenue crisis of a magnitude beyond any in the history of the institution, the college’s Board of Trustees on Monday night unanimously declared its confidence in the leadership of President Piedad F. Robertson.

The resolution also called upon the college administration, the academic senate, the classified senate, the faculty association, and the classified state employees association to continue to collaborate in good faith and mutual respect.

Statewide, community colleges have had to absorb the largest single-year budget reduction in their history as a result of a statewide budge deficit, and are now facing budget cuts for the coming year of unknown and potentially far worse magnitudes.

For Summer of 2003, the chancellor of the California community colleges, Tom Nussbaum, reports that the statewide reduction of college courses has been 29 percent.

He also reports that for summer and fall 2003, there have been 4,800 part-time instructors released from their assignment and for the full year there have been reductions in 385 full-time faculty positions.

Cuts at Santa Monica College have included the elimination of administrative positions, reductions in student services, cuts in the number of offerings and the closure of several academic programs. Resolutions of no confidence in Robertson have been approved in elections sponsored by organizations representing faculty and classified employees.

At Monday’s board meeting, representatives from the various campus groups spoke positively of recent efforts at developing recommendations and improving collaboration in advancing the college's mission, including the formation of a summit group to address the budget crisis.

“This vote \[of no confidence by the faculty\] should not be seen as a final word, but as a first call toward building collegial governance at SMC,” said incoming academic senate president Lesley Kawaguchi in a prepared statement.

Said board of trustees chair Herbert Roney, “We will need to make a number of choices to protect the institutional stability of Santa Monica College. By tonight’s action, we are also saying that we value the opinions, recommendations, and collaborations of the college’s representative organizations.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 12, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/071203.pdf?ref=smdp.com)