Students in a animal-health program claim the program was eliminated after an incomplete investigation and that the Hartnell College Board of Trustees failed to post notice of their meetings on the topic and destroyed their notes of the meetings. The District Attorney is investigating whether the Brown Act applies in this case. -DB
Salinas Californian
June 5, 2009
By Leslie Griffey
Animal-health students are rebelling against a proposal to cut their Hartnell College program.
The students, who spoke at a contentious board meeting this week, contend their curriculum was wrongly picked for possible elimination – and that the college violated open-meeting rules in the process.
The debate over the program, which prepares students to be animal-health technicians, will likely continue Monday as the Hartnell College Board of Trustees considers a budget for next year that must close a $3.3 million hole.
The program draws students looking to change careers, those just starting off and some, like Karen Ivey, who want to add to their skills. Her daughter is a 4H student, and Ivey, a part-time student, signed up for the program to learn to better care for the livestock her daughter raises.
The students Ivey has met in animal-health technology courses are overwhelmingly supportive of the program, she said. Fifteen of them are scheduled to graduate in 2010.
They’re also at a loss for why their program was targeted for closure. ”Why the college would want to eliminate a thriving program and one that has been growing over the past few years, it just doesn’t make any sense,” Ivey said.
During the college’s annual occupational-program review, the animal-health technology and electronic-technology programs were flagged as potentially not serving industry needs, having enrollment issues or needing more support to maintain accreditation, said Kathleen Rose, associate vice president of academic affairs and accreditation.
For the first time in seven years, the board referred programs to the campus’ discontinuance committee. While the board requests the committee to assemble, the academic senate picks its members, and its recommendations are sent to the college president.
Declining enrollment and declining market demand for animal-health technicians caused review concerns, Rose said. The discontinuance committee, which Rose chairs, recommended cutting the animal-health technology program Thursday.
Hartnell President Phoebe Helm will present the recommendations to the board, Rose said. It is unclear when that may happen. Ivey was a student observer to the discontinuance board—made up of deans, instructors and a student representative—and she wasn’t happy with what she saw.
She alleges that the committee never interviewed students, didn’t take statements from the program’s adviser and only reviewed the expenses but not the revenue from the animal-health technology division.
At the final meeting, Ivey said, committee members instructed her to destroy her notes. ”It just seemed wrong to me,” she said.
Ivey and other students believe that the meetings were closed to the public and thus violated the Brown Act. Rose countered that the meetings were open, although information about the sessions wasn’t posted.
Moreover, she said the Brown Act doesn’t apply because the board isn’t made by nor does it respond to an elected body.
Nonetheless, Chief Assistant District Attorney Terry Spitz is reviewing the student complaints alleging open-meeting law violations.
Copyright 2009 Salinas Californian