careless. We did it as a strategy because it was a necessary thing to do at that time,” Girard said. “Because it’s what you do to maneuver through state finance.“ “So for two semesters we weren‘t able to serve as many students as we would have liked... and we took all of our pain in one year so that this year will be a good year for the student and a very careful year for the institution,” he said.
Still, Robertson disputes that SMC suffered a drop in enrollment at all, claiming that last year was so bad that the school didn’t even have money for a substantial marketing budget and this year’s numbers shouldn’t be compared to 2003. She also said it’s unknown what enrollment looks like until three weeks after classes begin because of drop-outs, no-shows and add-ins.
During the cutbacks, 13 full-time professors were fired and hundreds of part-time instructors were lost. However, SMC has already started to re-hire several part-time professors, and, according to Girard, will work its way towards having the same number of full-time teachers as it did before the cutbacks within a couple of years.
Despite the administration’s positive outlook and plans for the future, some SMC faculty aren’t so optimistic.
“There’s talk of bringing back the programs and classes, but there’s no commitment to any dates and time-frames,” said Lantz Simpson, President of the SMC Faculty Association, shortly after the July 7 SMC board meeting. The “I’ll-believe-it-when-I-see-it” feeling was also present with SMC faculty member and spokeswoman for the campaign to “86 the Trustees” — Kelly Hayes-Raitt.
“If I understand Don Girard correctly, they’re going to bring back more than 5,000 students in the next five or six weeks. Yet, there isn’t a specific plan to bring back the classes,” remarked Hayes- Raitt. “There isn’t a specific plan to hire more (non-academic) staff to serve those extra students.
“You know, I’d like to see it in writing.”
The plan to attract more students, however, is underscored by the expected increase in fees this fall. Last year, students paid $18 per unit, but this Fall, students are expected to pay $26 or $28 per unit in order to appease state government officials.
Although students at SMC will be paying more for their classes, officials said the money will, in essence, be returned to the college via state funding. The final state budget and SMC’s share in that budget has not yet been determined, but Girard believes the college could potentially receive $3.5 million more than usual, which could help bring the college up to the state average.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 26, 2004. Read the original PDF.