Green River College cuts four programs, seven spared

The administration of Green River College has eliminated four programs while sparing seven others that had been on the chopping block, college officials announced last week.

In May, the college notified faculty in 11 programs of the potential cuts to help close a budget gap. Faculty had 30 days to come up with ways to save money or increase enrollment in their programs.

After faculty presentations last month, administrators eliminated German, French, the Montessori track of early childhood education and study skills. Business technology evening courses at the Kent Station campus, fingerprinting certification, design drafting, drama, parent-child education, geography and occupational therapy assistant will continue at the Auburn-based college.

“The presentations that were given just didn’t become viable enough for us to continue them,” Marshall Sampson, Green River’s vice president of human resources and legal affairs, said of the four eliminated programs.

No full-time faculty positions were eliminated because of the cuts. Several adjunct or part-time positions were impacted,although the instructors themselves may be allowed to teach other courses.

The program reductions will save the college about $188,000, said Shirley Bean, the college’s vice president of business administration.

Initially, officials anticipated a $4.5 million budget gap. Bean said the gap has been reduced some, but she doesn’t have a final number. Administrative staff will present the budget to the Board of Trustees for approval in September.

Although officials are scouring the budget to find additional savings, Bean said she does not anticipate reductions in personnel.

“We are trying to align the budget to the business of what we actually do,” she said.

Including the program cuts, the instructional budget has been reduced by about $700,000, Bean said. Other cost savings came from reductions in travel and equipment budgets, not filling vacant faculty positions, and leaving the vice president of instruction post open when Derek Brandes resigned to become president of Walla Walla Community College. Deb Casey, vice president of student affairs, is filling the role on an interim basis in addition to her other duties.

Five programs to be reviewed

Sampson said the decision to cut German and French was all about lack of demand.

“It is not to say we don’t value the foreign languages,” he said. “We have faculty members looking at additional languages that they are looking to bring on.”

To meet standards for the Montessori program, the program would have needed additional funding.

“The solution was not cost effective,” Sampson said.

No changes will be made to the fingerprinting certification program.

“The way it is working within the criminal justice program is appropriate,” Sampson said. “The presentation informed us how it is working within the program, and we were completely satisfied with the presentation we got.”

The parent-child education program, which was slated for elimination last spring but spared, will be moved to continuing education, allowing more flexibility in how it is scheduled and offered.

“We like this program,” Sampson said. “We do believe it is a community service. We want to have it in a place where as long as it is meeting the needs of the community and covering its own costs, we can maintain it.”

The five remaining programs will undergo further review to make sure they meet students’ needs.

There is not a set process for academic program review, Sampson said, so the college will develop one. There is a review process in place for trades and technologies programs.

The review will include faculty input and perspective from outside the college, such as someone from a transfer university.

“We want to make sure as we take a look at something that we have an expert who can come in and talk about that field,” Sampson said. “We want to make sure what we are offering is still relevant and viable, and that we are offering it in the best way possible to meet the demand.”

Desire to make budget process more transparent

The announcement of the potential cuts in May added to growing discontent on campus. Students and faculty packed Board of Trustees meetings and held numerous rallies, including a walk-out. The faculty union authorized a three-day strike in late May, during which faculty called for the end of the program cuts and the removal of Eileen Ely, the college’s president.Ely resigned June 16.

College officials are working to make the budget process more transparent, Bean said.

“We are hopeful that we can implement some strategies where we don’t get back to a place every spring where we are having this angst,” she said.

Faculty questioned the reasoning behind the proposed cuts, arguing they weren’t justified and were being used as intimidation tactics.

It is important to have the entire campus community involved in the budget process, Bean said.

“We are committed to working together and making this a college process and having those discussions be far more transparent,” she said. “When resources become scarce, you need to have more people involved in the conversation.”

Faculty disappointed with cuts

Green River’s faculty union is disappointed with the decision to eliminate the four programs, Jamie Fitzgerald, English division chair, said.

“It is hard for us to understand how cutting programs that have classes that are nearly full will save the college money,” Fitzgerald said, in reference to the German and French courses. “These are not empty classrooms.”

After Ely’s resignation last month, the union asked the college to reconsider the cuts. While the faculty had asked for the programs to undergo review instead, Fitzgerald said doing so during a transitional period doesn’t make sense.

“The fact that interim president would make some sort of decisions is a little disconcerting,” he said.

The Board of Trustees is in the process of hiring an interim president to replace Ely during the search for a permanent replacement.

The faculty union wants to be involved in the budget process, Fitzgerald said. The administration’s pledge to make the process more transparent sounds promising, he said, but it doesn’t align with the decision to make the cuts without more faculty involvement.

“Going ahead with these cuts undermines any credibility to that statement,” he said.