College Trustee Candidate Interview Questions

ANDREW WALZER

1. Why are you running for College Trustee?
   
   I am running for College Trustee because as a Community College Professor and member of the Executive Board of the American Federation of Teacher local 1521, I have intimate knowledge of the problems that community colleges face. For the last six years I have taken a leadership role in the community colleges, having worked on issues ranging from part time instructor pay and benefits to student issues such as tuition hikes, textbook costs, and transportation. I am also knowledgeable on health care and retirement issues, as well as the problems related to state wide funding of community colleges. I know many of the educational leaders working on community college issues, and consider myself part of that community.
   
   
2. What has been your personal involvement with education in our community?
   
   I have taken a leadership position in the Santa Monica College Faculty Association, serving as the chair of the part time committee, and serving on the executive board of the Santa Monica College Faculty Association. I have been involved in the fight against student tuition hikes, as well as preventing budget cuts to Santa Monica College. I was involved in the struggle to prevent the vocational programs from being cut, and I have also been involved in campaign to elect progressive candidates to the College Board of Trustees. In addition, I was a strong advocate around student access issues to the Bundy Satellite campus.
   
   
3. What makes you stand out among the other candidates? What special attributes, talents, and abilities will you bring to the College Board?
   
   I am very involved in labor issues related to the College, having served in a leadership position in the Faculty Association at Santa Monica College, and in the American Federation of Teachers Local 1521. I also have strong ties to the classified union at Santa Monica College, as well as the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. I have also been a leader in student advocacy around reducing tuition, the high cost of textbooks, and affordable access to public transportation. I have also been involved in statewide advocacy related to community colleges, having been active in the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC).
   
   
4. What do you feel is the number one challenge facing the College today?
   
   Ultimately, inadequate funding is the number one problem facing the college. There simply is not adequate statewide funding to hire a substantive amount of full time faculty. Part time faculty are paid roughly 73% of what full time faculty are paid for the same work. In addition, part time faculty receive little if any health and retirement benefits. There are between 600-800 part time faculty members at Santa Monica College. Secondly, the classified staff is poorly paid, with enormous work loads. Thus, the ultimate solution is to find additional statewide funding. I am currently involved in a signature gathering effort to put an initiative on the ballot to stabilize and ultimately increase funding to community colleges. In the immediate present, the college the college needs to grow its student population if it is to maintain adequate funding, and to do this we need to find transportation solutions for the college which don't simply rely on more parking. Thus, we need to develop more programs to encourage students to take public transportation.
   
   
5. Do you fully support the agreement negotiated for the City of Santa Monica to provide funding to the Santa Monica Malibu School District? What was your role, if any, in crafting, supporting or negotiating this agreement?
   
   I support this agreement, although I had no involvement in negotiating it.
   
   
6. The College is facing a persistent structural operating deficit, with ongoing expenditures about $3,500,000 more than ongoing revenues. The College is using one-time funds this year to meet the shortfall. What will be your priorities over the long-term to address this issue?
   
   My first priority on this matter is to get all of the constituencies of the college at the table to put together the budget so that everyone can trust the budget figures that the administration puts out. This is what is done in the L.A. district, and it reduces significantly the amount of conflict and disagreement over budget matters. Secondly, we need to work on increasing revenues by achieving growth in full time equivalent students (FTES), because the college is in a deficit mode. I suggest that the administration work with faculty to develop a plan to both recruit and retain students. Thirdly, the administration needs find ways of reducing the budget. Fourth, the administration needs to work along faculty to support the community college initiative which will both reduce student tuition to $15 a unit, as well as guarantee growth money to the community colleges.
   
   
7. Recent changes adopted by the accrediting commission for California Community Colleges now require colleges to identify measurable student learning outcomes (SLOs) at the course, program, and institutional level. This is a large and time-intensive process. What role should the Board of Trustees play in approving and adopting SLOs at the program and institutional level?
   
   The commitment to academic freedom mandates that faculty should have complete freedom to teach what they want and how they teach, so the administration and the Board have to be very careful about how they approach SLO's. Faculty need to be in control of both the implementation and review of student learning outcomes. It is appropriate that there be a dialogue on this issue, but the Board needs to tread carefully in mandating specific outcomes.
   
   
8. The College has a number of joint projects underway with local agencies, including a project with the School District to construct new playing fields at John Adams Middle School, a project with the City of Santa Monica to construct and operate a new Child Development Lab School at the Civic Center, a joint powers authority with the City of Malibu to build a new college campus and to meet wastewater management goals, and a proposed project with the City of Santa Monica and the YWCA to build support housing. Do you believe the College is doing enough with other agencies or not enough with other agencies? What additional areas of cooperation, if any, should the College engage in?
   
   We are entering into a new era in terms of cooperation between the college administration and various government agencies. I support and applaud this new found commitment on the part of administrators and the Board to work more openly and cooperatively with the community institutions, including city government, neighborhood associations, and the school district. I simply want to continue these efforts and put additional energy into them.
   
9. Do you endorse Measure BB, the Santa Monica-Malibu School Safety and Repair (Bond) Measure on the November 7, 2006 ballot and will you actively campaign for its passage?
   
   Yes, I have endorsed it, and as I precinct walk I will distribute literature on its behalf.
   
   
10. What is a priority concern you might have regarding the College that has not been raised?
    
    I want to make sure that we build green buildings, and I want to see a short, medium and long range transportation policy that emphasizes affordable public transportation. I want to see the administration work more closely with the Faculty Association and Classified Staff to lobby on behalf of Santa Monica College in the Legislature. Working together, these three groups will be a much more effective lobbying force.