Faculty Leaders Protest Third College Community College Staff Never Asked About Expansion, Sfcc Teachers Say

Nearly a dozen faculty leaders from Spokane Falls Community College have voiced their opposition to plans to develop a third community college.

A group of 11 faculty members who chair SFCC programs turned in a letter of protest to Community Colleges of Spokane’s board of trustees, which met Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Charles Taylor, the new chancellor and chief executive officer of CCS, discussed plans to turn the Institute for Extended Learning into a third, accredited college. As head of CCS, Taylor oversees Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane Community College and the IEL, which provides off-campus education programs and services throughout a six-county area.

“The haste with which the board of trustees and chancellor are moving ahead to establish a third college is of great concern to the department chairs,” states the letter, which was turned in by SFCC faculty representative John Hernandez. “There have been no feasibility studies and no serious dialogue with the faculty for such a serious change in our institution.”

The 11 faculty members who signed the letter are among more than 40 who chair departments within CCS.

SFCC faculty and staff also submitted a second letter requesting a special meeting with board members to discuss the issue.

In the past two weeks, Taylor has met with staff and faculty from SFCC and SCC on each campus to answer questions and address concerns surrounding several of his decisions, including putting plans on the fast track to develop a third college.

SFCC staff and faculty have complained that Taylor has put the cart before the horse by making the decision and then asking for input.

Taylor, however, stresses that developing the additional college was a directive given to him by the board and a plan developed by previous administrations.

“It catches the board and myself off guard when they say they have not heard about it,” Taylor said. “They are protesting something without having all of the information.”

The proposal was presented to the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges in the 1996-1997 school year, Taylor said.

But that, apparently, is news to many faculty and staff.

Don Brunner, an SFCC accounting instructor, said it appears Taylor has inherited the legacy of poor communication from a previous administration.

“I think (Taylor) figured that by the time it went to the state board, people knew about it,” Brunner said. “But they didn’t.”

Brunner said he believes Taylor’s effort to now gather input from faculty and staff is genuine.

Taylor has organized a task force to examine the feasibility of creating a third college, and recently added more faculty members to the committee.

By becoming an accredited college, the IEL would bring in another $2 million annually in state money, Taylor has said. Faculty and staff have expressed concerns a third college would drain resources from the two existing ones.

But before a third college can become a reality, it needs a green light from the Legislature. That requires first getting support from key state boards, including the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges and the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Taylor said the goal of the task force is to draft a preliminary proposal in the next three months in time for preliminary higher education budget requests for the next biennium.

Board chairwoman Helen Malone said the concerns expressed and the request made by SFCC faculty and staff would be taken under consideration.

“I am very surprised that all of the people hadn’t heard of this before,” Malone said. “Obviously, we all have our homework cut out for us and we intend to do our very best to make this a real positive situation for everyone.”