Board hears complaints about district ignoring values

"One size fits all will surely impede student success," Dr. Helen Vera, women's center chair, said at the Aug. 18 meeting of the Alamo Community College District board of trustees.

That message became the underlying theme for faculty, staff and students as they spoke to Chairman Denver McClendon, Chancellor Bruce Leslie and other board members during the citizens-to-be heard portion of the August meeting.

Throughout the public hearing, 12 members representing the faculty, staff and students of the district hovered over the podium to express opinions of recent board and district policies.

At one point, 20 members of San Antonio College congregated behind Dr. Dawn Elmore-McCrary during her lashing of the Northeast Lakeview College accreditation review process, and then stood behind Julianne Cantu, president of the Student Government Association at San Antonio College, as she berated the chancellor for his remarks concerning the ineptitude of the student body.

Cantu said Leslie responded to an e-mail July 1, stating that students were excluded from the committee because of an inability in "thoughtful and deliberate analysis" of the complex issues associated with the accreditation process.

For 50 minutes Speakers reprimanded the chancellor and the board for the parts they played in the accreditation review process for Northeast Lakeview College, employee hiring practices, the passage of a district comprehensive plan to raise student success levels without the input of those involved with student achievement at the ground level, as well as what many saw as incompetence shown by the chancellor and his administration.

They decried a lack of transparency, one of the defining district values and principles.

English Chair Alex Bernal said the Accreditation Review Committee has no quantitative representation of faculty, staff or students, all of whom are district taxpayers.

The committee is studying a proposed merger among all five district colleges that would require only one accreditation, a move many believe would help Northeast Lakeview College in its attempts to achieve accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

"We must not create a system that is intolerant," he said. "There are five members that represent the chancellor (on the committee)."

The committee consists of a 17-member panel, which Bernal said is unbalanced.

Bernal said the review committee lacks community or student representation.

"That's a shame! We tell our students to think critically," he said. "And then you say they are too dumb."

Dr. Teanna Staggs, biology chair, said she is "not opposed to change, just without a long-term plan."

Staggs, head of the District Chairs Council, said she understood that every decision was supposed to be made with the best intentions for students.

"We can achieve accreditation for Northeast Lakeview without all five colleges," she said. "Single accreditation is not required to accomplish those tasks."

Julianne Cantu, president of the Student Government Association at San Antonio College, spoke on behalf of students at all district colleges.

The SGA and college organizations, such as Faculty Senate, sent two separate resolutions to the chancellor July 17, outlining concerns with the lack of faculty, staff and student representation.

Cantu said it has been more than a month since submission and "we have not received a response from the chancellor or the board of trustees."

At a regular board meeting June 16, McClendon said that there was a need for an all-inclusive committee, but it has not been realized, Cantu said.

 "We believe that Dr. Leslie undermines and underestimates the intellectual capacities of the students within the district," Cantu said.

A few other students spoke on their own behalf, also affirming their lack of representation, for themselves and the student body.

Matt Pokorney, a former student here who transferred to the University of Texas Health Science Center, said he has been lost without the aid of programs such as those offered by the women's center.

He was a recipient of a LULAC parent and child scholarship, which he credited in large part to the center. Programs like this need to be afforded to all, he said.

Sophomore David Rodriguez, majoring in political science, said the district needs to put more voices into the decision-making process.

"Whatever decision you make, let's look at it to help the students go forward, not backward," he said.

Incoming Faculty Senate President Jeff Hunt, theater and speech communication chair, said a problem also continues with district hiring practices, which have remained unchanged over the last 17 years.

Prior to Hunt's hiring as an adjunct employee, he received no contractual guarantee for employment with the district, just a tentative promise of approval for a position

"I was excited, nervous and naive," Hunt said of that time.

He said recently the district lost a promising employee, a candidate for the theater and speech communication department, because of administrative bureaucracy and a lack of contractual agreements for adjuncts.

After two weeks of noncommittal and no formal statement, Hunt said the prospective instructor withdrew from consideration for a position at San Antonio College.

When Hunt moved from Nebraska 17 years ago, he said there was more faith in business practices. "That no longer fits our cynical society," he said. "This continued practice devalues adjuncts."