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VOICEWashtenaw Community CollegeAnn Arbor, Michigan washtenawvoice.com@washtenawvoiceJanuary 14, 2013Volume 19, Issue 9 THETHEVOICEWashtenaw Community CollegeAnn Arbor, Michigan washtenawvoice.com@washtenawvoiceMarch 18, 2013Volume 19, Issue 13 THETHEWCC welder

takes on world

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Voice staffer reflects

on first

Latino

pope

A4

Noonie Andersons

skaters gliding for gold

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BUDGET

CONTINUED A5

VP INSTRUCTION

CONTINUED A6

TUITION

CONTINUED A3

UNION

CONTINUED A5

HFC

CONTINUED A3

Trustees to raise tuition, but freeze rates for early registrants

College to lose millions in revenue next year

Faculty: deep concerns about new administration

By BEN SOLISEditor

After months of uncertainty, mounting rumors and hushed mud-slinging, Washtenaw Community Colleges faculty union aired its griev-ances concerning communication breakdowns with college President Rose Bellanca.

In front of administrators and trustees at Wednesdays Board of Trustees meeting, the unions chief negotiator David Fitzpatrick made it clear to trustees that the faculty feel they have been pushed aside while try-ing to communicate with the president and her office.

Citing various ignored emails sent to Bellanca, Fitzpatrick, flanked by sci-ence instructor David Wooten and the unions 2nd Vice President Bonnie Tew, said that the disregarded communica-tions have given them cause to ques-tion the presidents commitment to staff and administrator collaboration.I want to be very concise in my

language, Fitzpatrick said. At last months board meeting, Jennifer Baker reported to me that we were experiencing problems in collabo-ration and communication with the administration and were working through those problems. You should know now that those problems were more severe than she had lead on, and her communication with you after the cancellation of last weeks board meet-ing, describing in detail our concerns and the steps weve taken, both in the (faculty union) and with the depart-ment chairs, to move things forward.

At present, there are three paths of commu-nication through which we are hoping to work, he continued. First, Carrie Krantz (English D e p a r t m e n t chair) and the other department chairs send an email to President Bellanca request-ing that she meet with that body. In liaison, on Feb. 18, the second path, Jennifer Baker and I expressed our deep concerns about the academic cabinet President Bellanca had an-nounced. And third, were hoping to work through the email that Jennifer sent to you last week. It is our hope that these will result in the discussion that will fix the serious communica-tion problems that exist on this cam-pus and we anxiously await replies to all of those communications.I want to be clear here, effective

communication on this campus, both lateral and vertical, have all but col-lapsed, Fitzpatrick added. This is not just a faculty perspective. We hear this frequently from administrators and mid-grade employees. This thing is not a figment of the facultys imagination. It is a widely held view that stretches across the college.In closing, I want to quote to you

from an email that Jennifer sent last week. It is my hope, she wrote, that articulating our concerns to you will bring to our institution to a better place that we can begin to operate in accordance with our policy on staff collaboration. We love this college. I

their programs ahead of time and get marching through school at a good pace.

College officials estimated that 80 percent of returning students would take advantage of early registration rates for Fall 2013 and maintain rates from 2012.

Proposing a $2 increase for in-dis-trict students, $4 for out-of-district and $6 for out-of-state in Fall 2013, Plan B found a consensus and will be voted on by the board at its March 26 meeting.

Trustees were concerned with WCCs declining enrollment as a ma-jor factor in tuition rates and hoped the increase in tuition could create more revenue for the college. They also justified that a zero increase for early registration, by July 1, could help enrollment by encouraging

Students to get lower fitness club feesBy BEN SOLIS

Editor

Washtenaw Community Colleges Board of Trustees voted to lower the student Health and Fitness Center membership rate from $160 per semester to $140, an action that could result in a $30,000

shortfall in revenue per semester for the facility.

The change reflects a $5 decrease in the four-part monthly payment plan offered to students, altering the monthly dues from $40 to $35.

The changes will be introduced as a pilot program for the 2013 Spring-Summer and Fall semesters, and will

earlier academic commitments. I have always

been a person, since Ive been on the board, trying to keep tuition low or to low-er tuition, said Trustee Diana

McKight-Morton. But I feel because of the uncertainty thats coming, that we dont know what those are, were in a good spot but it doesnt feel like we are with declining student enrollment.I just feel that (plan B) is a good

plan. Without having any revenue coming in, especially Plan A could hurt us. I dont want to cut off our nose to

be reassessed by trustees in November for any necessary modifications. Other changes in the proposed amendment include lowering the non-credit monthly membership rate from $45 to $43.

Administrators blame state aid and declining enrollment

By ADRIAN HEDDENManaging Editor

Washtenaw Community College could see an $11 million shortfall in total revenue next year, an 11-per-cent decline from last years total revenue of about $97 million, bud-get officials warn.

At the Board of Trustees spring retreat last week, Interim CFO Chuck Thomas and budget spe-cialist Barb Fillinger delivered the annual projec-tions and ex-plained many contributing factors, in-cluding chang-es to state l e g i s l a t i on and drops in enrollment.Over the

past 18 months weve had a decline in enrollment, said WCC President Rose Bellanca. We know it impacts the budget, but how?

Trustees discussed a $5,000,486 decrease in revenue due to low en-rollment and a decline in tuition pay-ments, along with another $5,000,114 loss from the current personal prop-erty tax budget of $46 million, due to recent legislation to phase out pay-ins for personal property taxes.

But the government didnt stop there.

Officials anticipated that state aid is to be reduced by $690,000 and that the college has already projected a loss of $40,000 to recent sequestration laws. Investment income to the col-lege will also drop by $500,000.For those areas between tuition

and fees and other revenue drivers, its about $11 million, Fillinger said of the reduced income. It will mostly impact investment income because we will have less to invest, so therefore were

David Fitzpatrick

Chuck Thomas


Washtenaws Board of Trustees is considering a hike in tuition for next year, but may allow returning students to register early and see no change at all.

Presented to the board at its an-nual spring retreat, interim CFO Chuck Thomas laid out four sce-narios for consideration. And af-ter an initial idea to hold the line on tuition was found to create a $600,000 deficit for the college, the board settled on the second path. That would offer students

the option of paying the current years tuition if they registered early, Thomas said of the second plan. This would encourage stu-dents to register early, commit to

Administration takes ax to

deferred maintenance

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Trustees worry about overspending

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Update on the CFo searCh

page a6

see editorialpage a3

VP Blacklaw firedFaculty livid at presidents cowardly decision


and BEN SOLISEditor

Incited by the abrupt departure of Vice President of Instruction Stuart Blacklaw, members of the Washtenaw Community College Education

Association were angered by what they called a cowardly move.

After months of waiting for an answer as to whether or not he would keep his posit ion, Blacklaw learned

his fate when he was relieved of his ad-ministrative duties effective immedi-ately Thursday, according to an email sent out by Washtenaw President Rose Bellanca.

In his place, Bellanca has appoint-ed Dr. William (Bill) Abernethy, the colleges Dean of Humanities, Social

and Behavioral Sciences. Abernethy will act as the Interim Vice President of Instruction until the college can hire a permanent administrator for the 2014 academic year, Bellanca said in her email.

Blacklaw will continue to receive his annual salary of $128,270 until his contact expires in June, totalling in three months pay of $32,067.

Abernethy will be paid $131,400 per year.

Dr. Abernethy has demonstrated diverse leadership and I have full con-fidence in his ability, Bellanca wrote. He is working on a transition plan that includes learning more about all of our instructional areas and working with deans and department chairs to resolve issues.

We will also discuss a collaborative process to hire a new Vice President for Instruction for the 2014 academic year.

And after CFO Steven Hardy re-signed suddenly last November, the college must now endeavor to find a replacement for its two most promi-nent vice presidents.

Blacklaw was shown the door im-mediately after meeting with the

Mark Freeman

Stuart Blacklaw

PRZEMEK OZOG THE WASHTENAW VOICE

Pricey fitness: The WCC Health and Fitness Center, located across the street from the Student Center, offers all the gym amenities students would expect to see after paying $140 for a semester membership.

March 18, 2013The Washtenaw Voice A5News

projecting that to decrease.But Thomas commended the

school for continuing to function despite an annual drop in state aid. Looking back to a peak in 2002, he said there has been no increase in gov-ernment-allocated funds to WCC and that the school is receiving $6 million less, not adjusted for inflation, than it was 11 years ago.

If this was adjusted for inflation, wed be in the double digits, said Trustee Richard Landau.

Thomas also said that the school has experienced a 26-percent increase in enrollment since 2002 and, despite reductions in state aid, has continued to flourish.This is an amazing statistic, he

BUDGET FROM A1

Trustees worry about overspending


Washtenaws Board of Trustees aired concerns for $400,000 given to institutional objectives a category primarily opened to fund the strate-gic planning initiatives instituted by President Rose Bellanca.

Is there no way to cost it out or it is just an unknown cost? asked Trustee Diana McKnight-Morton of a lack of information in how the $400,000 will be spent. How did you come to that number?

But Bellanca responded that the ambiguity of the funding is its essence. For me, thats one of the most

important categories because its all about the future, Bellanca said. To cut costs in innovation is cutting into your future, so thats why that area is extremely important.

Administration takes ax to deferred maintenance

said. Its to the credit of community colleges everywhere that can main-tain their service to their communi-ties in the face of this. The college is growing and very healthy. Overall the trend is up.

But WCCs faculty community is on the decline. Fillinger reported that the biggest savings the school can expect are due to 20 vacant instructor posi-tions caused by low enrollment.

Our biggest empty pot is faculty, she said.

But non-personnel spending, Fillinger said, will be maintained from last years allocation, a facet of the budget she said she watches carefully.There really hasnt been much of

an increase, theyve maintained rela-tively flat, she said. Thats something


A resolution passed last year by the board mandated that $4 million would be put into a fund for deferred main-tenance and that $1 million would be spent annually for next three years before reassessing.

But financial planners pulled back on that expense, allotting only $800,000 for deferred maintenance

this year. I think we were fairly clear that

this was a priority for us, said Trustee Stephen Gill of the resolution. I hope we can protect those dollars.

Other trustees were concerned at the dramatic drop in funds for campus repairs and maintenance, hoping that cuts could be made elsewhere. I think if we do 800 (thousand)

thats a lot better than what we have been doing but we do have that

resolution out there that we passed, said Trustee Pamela Horiszny, regard-ing the boards deferred maintenance plan. The campus maintenance and repair number has really been pared back.

Budget specialist Barb Fillinger explained that cuts had to be made to keep overall expenses consistent with last year.

We started with the scenario that wed zero out, she said of the budget.

In order to keep the other costs rather flat, we had to pull back somewhere and we took it out of campus repair and maintenance.

Horiszny suggested that savings could be made in non-personnel ex-penses, which saw little change this year. She worried that reducing the maintenance budget will fail to ad-dress the necessary problems with the physical campus itself. We have to be realistic about

needs, she said. And for campus repair and maintenance to drop $337,000 is a lot of money.

Fillinger responded that in April, budget hearings will take place in which each department will have the right to make requests for the reallo-cation of funds. We do try to move funds around

per the requests, she said of the hear-ings. There will be movement be-tween the categories.

Thats where our strategic plan comes in and funding for the new initiatives.

She continued that the fund was es-tablished to respond to departmental requests, mainly instruction, to fur-ther their programs using new tech-nologies and teaching concepts they need to reach the objectives of the strategic plan, per their own research.Every initiative is different,

Bellanca said. Some people ask for brochures, others want to get on a so-cial network. Theyre all very differ-ent. Some may need $1,000 and some might need $20,000. I dont know.And thats going to vary because

next year it might all be different so thats why we cant give just an accu-rate number. We felt this number we could fit into our budget. I dont recall how we figured it out.

But trustees still wondered how the funding of $400,000 was decided on for the strategic plan.So it was kind of a stab in the dark,

McKnight-Morton said in response the vague number. A smart stab, responded

Bellanca. An educated stab.

we watch very closely to make sure things dont skyrocket.

But although a 15-percent de-cline in funds taken for a furniture-replacement plan were reported in WCCs general fund budget projec-tion and planned for the 2012-13 year, a 507-percent increase from $28,820 to $175,000 was reported between last year and the previous.

Comparisons between WCC and other schools for 2012-13, however, show that Washtenaw is one of the lowest-spending schools in terms of administration expenditures. Everyone is concerned that

were not spending too much on ad-ministration, Thomas said. Were one of the lowest. It speaks highly of WCC.

Honestly its not that much. I take 16 credit hours, so theres $32 extra Id have to pay out-of-pocket. And most teenagers nowadays live on their own, so they have to pay bills be-

sides tuition. Theyve cut down on grants a lot, too, so we dont have as much money that we could get to pay for school. That $32 could go towards gas to getting here. So I dont believe they should raise it at all; I actually think they should lower it.I believe thats good for the students that come here who have been here before. But for the students who are coming in, its not fair to them, especially because theyre just fresh out of high school. Most of them dont under-stand how college works yet. So theyre going to have to pay more for a place they dont know much about.

Storm Cichon19, Ypsilanti, Orthodontic Medicine

Its crazy. Even though Im not paying for school right now, it is crazy. It doesnt seem like they should be charging so much for people who want to learn for something thats just by district. Anybody can go to a community college. There shouldnt be a fee no matter where you live. A lot of people are coming from Dundee

and beyond coming here to go to school. They have to spend so much on gas, and gas goes up every other day. To charge people a silly fee for district, its kind of stupid.It makes sense to, but at the same time its very confusing. Because when I was registering today, they were like, Oh, you can register now. I know what I need to take for my program, but at the same time I dont know what Im going to be taking. It seems like theyre trying to rush everyone to get in and get out. But me, I need to take my time or pretty much fail.

Amanda Pruitt26, Pinckney, Elementary Education

Well theyre small changes you wouldnt notice at first, but in the long run they make a big difference. Would these increas-es be a sign of allowing future increases, which would be a big long-run change? Im kind of wondering why the sudden

increase whats it supposed to really cover? If youre tak-ing 13 credits per semester, youre really not going to notice it. But if you want to save a couple of bucks in the long run and avoid future increases, pay attention to the issue, and see what you can do to prevent this increase. Thats defi-nitely an incentive to promise that to students, but I think the increases themselves are coming from the loans given to students affecting tuition across the board for all colleges, because its money being promised to them that isnt neces-sarily based off of the capital of the college.

Ethan Burt19, Ypsilanti, Retail Management

I used to go to Eastern, so any-thing thats still cheaper than go-ing there is fine with me. So if you register early, you get to keep the same (rate)? Oh, yeah, Im register-ing early!

Im okay with it because it is not a lot. Obviously it gives us more incentive. I used to go to Eastern and their credits are like $350 per one credit, so if its only a couple of dollars more then its still way

cheaper than there.

Jasmine Glover21, Ypsilanti, Physical Therapy

Kirin Qidwai30, Canton, Human Resources

I guess I will come to school, but most kids wont come. Theyre paying too much now. Keeping it the same makes it more easier for students to come to school. New students

may be very disappointed with prices and make them not want to come back here.

Devaughn Rolax22, Ypsilanti, Culinary Arts

As long as it is being used in a useful manner, I dont really see a problem with it. Its not really too much money to increase it by, but as long as its for something good then Im down for it. I guess thatll just give more people a reason to get it done

earlier. I could see maybe thatll initiate more people to pre-register.

Kyle Jacobs23, Tecumseh, Business Management

It doesnt sound like the worst thing as long as it doesnt go up each year, because it sounds really small for the time being. But if that kept increasing and increasing over time, I could see that being an issue.Only current students? I could see how it might be unfair, but I think its always like that at colleges how current students have

some sort of advantages anyway. I dont see a huge problem with that.

Lyza Muckler23, Milan, Dietician

I know my parents live by Muskegon, so my first semester I had to pay the out-of-district, and I had to find a place here to move to at least for the week because it cut my tu-

ition in half. I wouldnt like it to increase. I think my first semester here was like $2,200, and my second semester here I moved to Ypsi. That pretty much got cut in half, like $1,600. I think thats a good idea. I have to take advantage of that.

Mario Ochoa20, Chicago, Auto Body Repair

With the college raising the cost per credit-hour by $2 for in-district, $4 for out-of-district and $6 for out-of-state students starting this Fall semester, what is your reaction to the tuition increase?

Does it help knowing that early registration guarantees the current rates for fall term?

Interviews and photographs Michael J. Hlywa Staff Writer

Voice Box

UNION FROM A1

am asking you personally, on behalf of the faculty, and the staff, and the county citizens, who elected you and who you represent, to address the is-sue our institution is currently facing.

Aside from the communication breakdowns, faculty had been wor-ried since January about the future of former Vice President of Instruction Stuart Blacklaw, who was fired on Thursday. Other topics weighing on the minds of faculty, and not ad-dressed in the public forum, include the sudden resignation of the colleges Vice President of Administration and Finance Steven Hardy in late November.

Both situations have left the fac-ulty union with unanswered questions, adding to the communication com-plaints issued before trustees.

And while this formal interaction marks the first time trustees have been made publicly aware of the unions dis-tress, each trustee defended Bellanca, her goals and actions thus far and most of all their decision to hire her.

I feel that in this point in time, my support has been and will always

be with this president, Dr. Bellanca, said Trustee Diana McKnight-Morton in an emotional appeal to the union. Dr. Bellanca came to this table, in our interviews from the board, from the campus community, very honest, very forthright in what she had to say and what she would do for this campus and for us to be in the 21st Century. If there are any issues, I feel that were big people, and we know how to talk. All of this mud-slinging, and whats going into the newspaper at The Voice, we need to say lets see if we can come to the table and try to work something out, because at this point in time, we need everybodys cooperation.

In her own brief defense, Bellanca acknowledged the issues that now face her and the instructors and vowed to address it.Id like to thank the board for your

support, and I will do my best to con-tinue to collaborate with the faculty, staff and students and I know that we can work together to resolve whatever it is we have to, Bellanca said. We may have differences in communi-cation, but we all have the same end in mind.

MCT COURTESY PHOTO

Francis, repair my church: The new pope blesses the masses gathered in the Piazza Saint Pietro, Vatican City.

Read more online atwashtenawvoice.com

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March 18, 2013 The Washtenaw VoiceA6 News

By MICHAEL J. HLYWAStaff Writer

For years, students have been clam-oring for someone to do something about the cost of textbooks. Well, the college may final-ly be doing some-thing about it or at least its con-sidering it.

At the March 6 meeting of the WCC Board o f Trustees , Victor Liu, Dean o f Learn ing Resources, delivered a presentation about Open Educational Resources, or OER, which encompasses free online media available to anyone including students and faculty.

According to Liu, OER include e-books, e-textbooks and videos that are published under a Creative Commons license, which makes them flexible, accessible, and best of all low-cost or even free.

Victor Liu

WCC down to two CFO finalistsPresident uncertain of timeframe, but interim help is gone


Since former Vice President of Administration and Finance Steven Hardy resigned suddenly in November, Washtenaw officials have been entrenched in the ardu-ous process of replacing him. But last week they were confident of finding a successor soon.Were at the final round of in-

terviews, WCC President Rose Bellanca said at a board retreat last Tuesday. Its going very well.

In early December, Bellanca was confident she could have a new CFO in place by Jan. 22. But as mid-March approached, she was ambiguous regarding a target date for filling the position.

She said it depended on the

interview process tailored specifically to each candidate. She offered no in-formation on either of two finalists from more than 50 applicants.

Meantime, Chuck Thomas, a 35-year employee at Macomb County Community College, where Bellanca once taught, has been filling in since November.

There are always challenges in keeping the costs associated with ed-ucation low, he said. But generally, things are well run.

Thomas works on campus one day a week and has been available constantly by phone, according to Bellanca, who added that Thomas stint at WCC was nearing an end. He retired from Macomb in 2010.I knew Rose from back in those

days, Thomas said of his past at MCCC. I know a couple people in the budget office. Its been fun, but this week is about the end of it.

That was one of my conditions in the first place.

And despite the impending exit of the schools interim CFO, the Board of Trustees deferred immediately to

Dr. Bellanca when asked about the job opening. Trustee Stephen Gill was indifferent to the vacancy, cer-tain that Dr. Bellanca will take care of its replacement.The board is not concerned, Gill

said. The president has it under control.

And other trustee members are looking forward to the long-range vision that a permanent CFO could bring to the college. At the boards March 12 retreat, budgeting informa-tion provided by Thomas projected trends spanning just one year.

Once we have a new VP, well start looking further out, said Trustee Pam Horiszny.

Past reports have forcast up to 10 years to allow for adequate time in planning for changes. But trustees are wary that such long-term planning may be the victim of circumstance. We could have never predicted

in 2007 what happened in 2008 and 2009, said Trustee Richard Landau of a dramatic spike in enrollment and the ensuing challenges it produced. Our projections were vaporized.

VP INTRUCTION FROM A1

faculty union in a scheduled month-ly meeting.Of course it happened during the

WCCEA meeting. They did every-thing they could to not handle anything profes-sionally, said graphic design in-structor Kristine Willimann. Hes out immediately, which a nice way to say hes fired.

Blacklaw had concluded the meet-ing just one hour before Bellanca sent out the announcement, via email, that Blacklaw had been relieved of his du-ties effective immediately.

WCCEA President Jennifer Baker was bitterly disappointed by the deci-sion as well, asserting that Blacklaw was one of the most respected VPs ever at the college.We dont support this at all, she

said somberly. It was less than ideal. I think its fair to say that this institu-tion has not had a VP of instruction that has more support from faculty.

Thats all I have to say.Teachers were certain that the

WCCEA would take a stance against the change in personnel that they felt theyve had little say in despite con-tinuous attempts to collaborate with the presidents office.Weve been asking for clarifica-

tion on this position, said biology instructor David Wooten as he and other union members congregated near Blacklaws office hoping to say goodbye after the decision in vain.

Blacklaw was already gone. And weve been getting the run-

around, Wooten added.The only clarification faculty re-

ceived came in the form of Bellancas email.This decision

was reached af-ter long and care-ful consideration, Bellanca wrote. As president, building a team with the necessary leadership skills is critical to the suc-

cess of the college.The union was not impressed.What a cowardly move, said

chemistry instructor Kathy Butler. This is at the very least not support-ed by the union.

Abernethy was unavailable for com-ment, and VP of Human Resources Douglas Kruzel deferred questions to the colleges public relations office.

Blacklaw preferred to only recall the good times from his three-year tenure at the college.

Washtenaw is an awesome place. There are faculty members here who are truly the best I have ever seen and I have been in this business for 27 years, Blacklaw told The Voice, Friday. There are amazing people here who just somehow reach students and in-spire them.I love that. I am excited by that. I

think there is no greater achievement as an academic leader than to help faculty do their work give them the tools they need, the support they need and the encouragement they need to do great things. Washtenaws faculty do great things.

Could library have a plan to relieve textbook cost woes?OER cover a lot of subject ar-

eas, and they can potentially serve as supplement to or replacement of student textbook requirements, and in the process lower the education costs for students, Liu said in his address to the board.

Having just heard a different pre-sentation that, among other things, revealed how restrictive purchasing textbooks with financial aid can be, Diana McKnight-Morton, the boards vice chair, responded enthusiastically.

Im really encouraged because this is not too far away, for me, for students to be able to access free textbooks, McKnight-Morton said.

Liu and his staff have been work-ing hard over the past year to research, compile and publicize OER. The Bailey library website now contains information about OER and links to OER repositories.The field is so big, evolving so

quickly and there are so many pro-viders of e-resources out there that we felt that we needed to provide some structure, so that when people say, Im an instructor teaching ENG 111;

if I really want to find an alternative to an expensive print textbook, I need to know how to find those resources, and thats what we have done so far.

The next step, Liu said, is to get the administrators and faculty to col-laborate on a trial course designed around the use of OER in lieu of print textbooks.

I think that its the right time to do some sort of pilot and see how things go, Liu said.

To further facilitate this process, Liu is sending his librarians to meet with faculty departments. During each meeting, the librarians will explore the departments needs regarding text content. Armed with specifics, they will then compile a list of relevant OER and forward it on to the department for their consideration.

At that point, Liu thinks its up to the departments.Theres definitely a difference in

the quality of the OER out there, no doubt about that, he said. Therefore, its very important for the faculty to make a determination about whether the author has the credentials to do it,

and, second, whether the content is appropriate for this particular course given the learning outcomes that they are aiming for.

Liu acknowledges that redesigning an existing course around OER may be a laborious endeavor, but he is confi-dent that the faculty is up to the task.

This week librarians are scheduled to sit down with the math department. For math professor Brenda Foster, whether to adopt OER comes down to two factors.Were always very interested in

saving money for our students, Foster said. We also want quality materials for our students at the best price, and if that best price is free then we would make the decision as a department to adopt that material.

But what do students really want?Many, like business major Jordan

Jones, 27, of Ann Arbor, already pur-chase e-books and would certainly appreciate the cost-savings of their OER counterparts.If I had access to download the

book physically so Im able to study without Internet access, or if I had

some type of DRM capabilities, I would definitely be interested in that, Jones said.

But Liu calls the idea that every-one wants free e-books a blanket statement.Its not as cut and dry as that, Liu

explained. I think you always have a segment of the student population that gravitates toward e-books, while others gravitate toward print books.

Kelly ONeil, a 24-year-old occupa-tional therapy student from Brighton, definitely agrees not everyone wants e-books. She routinely studies with an array of texts and notebooks spread out in front of her.I hate that I have to pay for books,

but I like things that are really tangible. I have to have it in front of me, and I like to write in my book. I study better with the book, ONeil said.

So for tech-savvy students who prefer to breeze into class carrying only a tablet, OER may lighten the fi-nancial burden as well. But those who prefer the aroma of a stout textbook should continue to expect equally rich educational expenses.

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KELLY BRACHA THE WASHTENAW VOICE

Future discourse: WCC President Rose Bellanca discusses the future of the college, from the budget to student success, at the Board of Trustees spring retreat at Webers Inn on Jackson Road, last Tuesday.

NATHAN CLARK THE WASHTENAW VOICE

Speaking to excellence: Former Vice President of Instruction Stuart Blacklaw speaks to WCC students, family members and staff at the Honors Convocation held Jan. 24.

I think Stuarts the most well-loved and respected VP this col-lege has ever had, said WCCEA Vice President Maryam Barrie. I was a student here, so Im used to thinking of this as a beautiful place. Its heartbreaking to see ugliness

intruding here.

March 18, 2013 The Washtenaw Voice

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Volume 19, Issue 13

The Voice is committed to correct all errors that appear in the newspaper and on its website, just as we are committed to the kind of careful journalism that will minimize the number of errors printed. To report an error of fact that should be corrected, please phone (734) 677-5405 or e-mail [email protected].

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EDITORBen Solis

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MANAGING EDITORAdrian Hedden

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PHOTO EDITORNathan Clark

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DESIGN EDITORPeter Hochgraf

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WEB EDITORTom Lee

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ADVISERKeith Gave

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ADVERTISING MANAGERBecky [email protected]

STAFF WRITERSAnna EliasMichael HlywaMaria RigouKelly Bracha

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERCharles [email protected]

GRAPHIC DESIGNERGeorge [email protected]

CORESPONDENTSBenjamin Knauss

EDITORIAL

Faculty union, president and trustees: were counting on you

A silent hush fell over attendees at a recent meeting of Washtenaws Board of Trustees, as David Fitzpatrick, chief negotiator to the colleges faculty union, began to air serious grievances directed at the board and WCC President Rose Bellanca.

Internal problems at WCC that had been rumored for months and talk-ed about behind closed doors had now boiled over into the public domain, and recently came to a head with the firing of Vice President of Instruction Stuart Blacklaw.

Fitzpatrick spoke delicately about problems in communication between himself and other union members when attempting to work together with college officials.

He felt that his ability to communicate within his own chain of command had faltered along with any ability to cooperate directly with administra-tors, all the way up to the presidents office.

When Fitzpatrick concluded his remarks, he optimistically quoted an email from union President Jennifer Baker sent to Dr. Bellanca the previ-ous week.

Baker expressed similar concerns and worried about the cancellation of last months board meeting, an essential public forum that brings together administration and instructors to discuss changes to the college.

We love this college, Baker said in the email. I am asking you per-sonally, on behalf of the faculty and the staff, and the county citizens who elected you and who you represent, to address the issue our institution is currently facing.

All trustees stood firm in their decision to hire Bellanca, almost two years ago.

They made clear that they were previously unaware of any problems between WCCs president and the union.

As board members delivered their responses, in some cases emotionally defending a president they hired, it became clear that a wall had been built.

How could the teachers, the most important employees to the objective of any school, be in such direct opposition to the views of the colleges ad-ministration and governing body?

As students, were not sure what the problem is. And we have no interest in picking sides in this confrontation. All we can do is go to class, keep our heads down and try to learn. But as people paying good money for a degree at a renowned college, we do have our stakes in this fight.

And to say that we, the students, love this place too would be an under-statement. We need this place.

We dont just hope the communication breakdown will be resolved, our futures depend on it. Its hard to even imagine the detriment that a vote of no confidence would create for student and teachers alike, and what dam-age its rumor has already caused in past weeks.

We ask that college officials and teachers work together to come to a reso-lution before everything that past employees, from top officials to part-time teaching assistants, have worked for comes crashing down.

Work it out now. Thousands of students futures are on the line and they are counting on you.

With sincerest gratitude and a few words of advice about giving

By BENJAMIN KNAUSS

The power of generosity, especially when it is from strangers, is amaz-ing. My faith in mankind has been strengthened many times over dur-ing the past month, in my time of need. The giving of others has touched my soul in many ways, but not every act of kindness left me in a better situation.

After losing everything in an apart-ment fire last month, I have been the recipient of many examples of great charity, and I owe lots of people a debt of gratitude.

The last thing I want is for anyone to think that I am not grateful for all the acts of kindness bestowed upon me, I just want to take the opportu-nity to share what it can be like on the receiving end of some not-so-great donations and give donors something to think about.

Some people just do not have a filter for what can be seen as gen-erosity or an insult by the person on

the receiving end. I have even been a part of a few situations that left me questioning if the gift being given was out of generosity or just a way to get some unwanted items carried out of the house by someone else.

I had to deal with a bed that was reported to be in great shape and prac-tically brand new. I found the bed in a junk filled basement with a strong smell of cat urine and mold. The mice droppings where enough of a sign that I was wasting my time, the floor of my apartment would be better than this.

The owners of the bed said that if I did not want the bed they were go-ing to throw it on the burn pile and seemed insulted that I did not want to take the bed with me. I was insulted they would even think to offer it to anyone, let alone someone in need.

In dealing with yet another bed, I got to take a pee and mystery stained mattress off the hands of an owner. If it was not for the bed frame that I did want, I would not have taken it at all. This beds owner was smiling and feeling great about helping out some unfortunate people, never once acknowledging the reality of the mat-tresses condition.

You wouldve thought this person was donating a bed gently used by the Royal Family.

Clothing donations have been an

adventure as well. Again, I am sure everyone was giving with an honest and caring gesture, but clothes that are only in style around the retirement communities should have stayed in a closet other than mine.

The items donated more than anything else have been toiletries. It seems like the one thing no one thinks about is the one thing everyone thinks about. I have a bathroom closet now stocked so well it rivals a drug store.

I love how thoughtful everyone has been when it comes to this stuff ex-cept for the half-used bottles. An open bottle just leaves too many questions in my mind.

I know I have done it myself with-out even realizing what I was doing. I stand over a box of items and think to myself someone can use this stuff. I dont want to just throw the stuff away; I still believe it is good stuff. I dont buy or own trash after all.

The box sits around for a few more months as I ponder if I should try and sell the stuff on eBay or if I should just take it to a donation center. Finally, I drop everything off and part ways with it believing I am doing some good. The reality is I just made my problem someone elses.

For more information about giving visit washtenawvoice.com

One huge leap for Latinos, also a huge step for mankind?

As he was praying in San Damiano church, he heard Christ on the cruci-fix speak to him, Francis, repair my Church.

From the life of Saint Francis of Assisi

By MARIA RIGOU

The news bulletin about the white smoke came to me on my iPhone as I sat down to take a quiz in journalism class. Appropriately enough, it was from my app of The Associated Press, the worlds largest news-gathering organization.

The world had a new pope and Latin America would never be the same.

Nor would I.For the first time this millennium,

a pope from a non-European country

revealed himself from the balcony of St. Peters Church in Vatican City. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who served as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina my country was elected by College of Cardinals to serve as the 266th pope of the Catholic Church, a church that faces so many challenges.

His election follows the stunning resignation of Benedict XVI, some-thing that hadnt happened since the year 1415.

Before and during the papal con-clave, I wasnt optimistic that a cardi-nal from my country would be chosen. But I knew one thing though: I was rooting for a Latin-American pope.

So I rushed through the quiz and turned the computer on, searching for a news portal that was streaming live from the Vatican. This was a good exercise in breaking-news journalism. And just for the record, CNN was far behind on this story.

I refreshed my screen every 30 sec-onds to see if there was progress, if the name of the new pope was being reported.

I had never experienced such an in-tense papal election. I knew Bergoglio was second or third favorite, behind

the frontrunner from Italy. So I was more interested and alert about this story than usual. But I have to admit, I still wondered if my church was com-pletely ready for a Latin pope. I was betting on the Italian, Cardinal Scola.

Yet there, on the balcony, was Pope Francis I, a man from Argentina. I think about it and I can only partially believe it. Every time I say his name, I get goose-bumps.

Immediately after his naming came phone calls and texts from friends and family members. Facebook and Twitter exploded with the news.

This is all they are talking about back home. And it is all they will be talking about for days, even weeks.

The pope is from Argentina. Francis was elected after much de-

liberation. It took five tries, but it was all worth it. This man, the leader of the Catholic Church, is from the Americas.

In a world with 1.2 billion Catholics 40 percent of whom live in Latin America this has to be significant.

It also means that Latin Americans are capable and this is good for a church that so badly needs healing.

So yes, this is huge for us, everywhere.

Faculty communication clamped downBy ADRIAN HEDDEN

Managing Editor

College administrators shut down an essential communications tool used by faculty in the wake of Vice President of Instruction Stuart Blacklaws abrupt firing.

The day after Blacklaw was re-lieved of all duties at WCC, a memo was sent out at 11:21 a.m. Friday from Director of Curriculum Assessment Joy Garrett, Friday to all the chairs that the use of their email list server had been discon-tinued. Department chairs were left to communicate internally direct email messages to their staff.

On Wednesday, however, in-structors were told by administra-tors that a communication failure between Blacklaw and faculty re-sulted from a computer glitch.

When he attempted twice to re-lease information about a monthly-scheduled general faculty meeting, his emails were not received by their intended recipients.

Blacklaw turned to the faculty unions email server to announce the 3:30 p.m. meeting for Thursday and just one hour after the meeting concluded at 4:15 p.m., faculty and staff were notified of his firing via email from the college presidents office.

I think there was a glitch, Blacklaw said in an email to faculty

on Thursday. Jennifer (Baker, union president) provided these avenues, so Im keeping my fingers crossed.

The union believed that the cor-respondence was interrupted on pur-pose. When they attempted to contact Blacklaw on the school server, the day of his departure they received no response.

Usually we get an email the day be-fore our regular staff meetings with an agenda, said Rosemary Rader, chem-istry instructor and chair of the college assessment committee. The day of (the meeting) we received a forwarded email from Stuart saying I think there was a glitch.

But according to Chief Information Officer Amin Ladha, there was no mal-function. The server was temporarily shut-down in light of excessive, pub-lic use, he said. Any connection with Blacklaws departure, Ladha said, was a coincidence.I was not asked to do anything to

stop messages from the list server, he said of allegations of interference. This had nothing to do with Stuart. Were not trying to curtail anyone from communicating.

The decision to turn off the facul-ty email group was made by Director of Systems Administration and Information Technology Services Michael Aldrich, as ITs servers had become deluged with correspon-dence unrelated to the college via the

facultys private email group.Someone made it public earlier

this week, Aldrich said of the private server. It turned out there were so many people using it at the college that we werent aware of. I renamed it. It got out in the open, and we had to change it.

It was a coincidence that it hap-pened in the same week as Stuart Blacklaws departure. There were a lot of complaints. It couldve happened anytime.

The IT department was contact-ed by Executive Director of Public Relations and Marketing Anessa Carlise to reinstate the email group at 11 a.m. on Friday, but notification did not reach faculty until 1:02 p.m.

The PR department would work to develop a new policy in the meantime, Ladha said.

From here on, we need to better communicate, Ladha said. What is the process? That has to come from marketing. You always have a gatekeeper.

Faculty members attempted to contact Blacklaw shortly after notifi-cation of his firing was given, but the former administrators email contact had been eliminated.

Its like he never existed, Rader said.

Editor Ben Solis contributed to this report

Comments from the webPosted on the story VP Blacklaw fired

Hey Trustees, are you sorry you didnt check references now? How much more damage will you allow before you do the right thing and end the reign of ineptitude.

~ Rob

I hope the Board of Trustees are paying attention to the fact that EVERYONE on campus IS NOT HAPPY with the new president and her decisions. This last de-cision just goes to show just how divided the college has become under this new dictatorship. Us students, the faculty, and staff may not get to make the deciding factor in who our college President is but WE DO IN FACT VOTE ON THE BOARD MEMBERS AND WE WILL REMEMBER THIS COME THE NEXT ELECTION! WE ARE PAYING ATTENTION!!!!!

~ Kitten

VOICEThe student publication of Washtenaw Community CollegeAnn Arbor, Michigan washtenawvoice.comApril 1, 2013Volume 19, Issue 15 THETHE Y o u r v o i c e . Y o u r p a p e r .


We are better than this: WCC biology instructor David Wooten speaks at the March 26 Board of Trustees meeting, denouncing the firing of the Vice President of Instruction Stuart Blacklaw.


In defense: President Rose Bellanca addresses the facility in attendance, defending the rea-soning for why Blacklaw was fired.

BUDGET

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UNION

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VP FIRED

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VOICE BOX

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What do you call someone who went to WCC?

Undead

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Editors note: This article has been updated by Voice staff after it was deter-mined that there were multiple critical errors in a Page One story in our March 18 issue regarding the colleges finances.

Budget crunch

Why VP Blacklaw was firedPresident explains reasons in review

Despite declines in enrollment and government funding, WCC still operating in the black


Despite declining enrollment and annual reductions in state aid, Washtenaw Community College proj-ects an increase of 1.2 percent in rev-enue next year.

Over the past 18 months weve had a decline in enrollment, said WCC President Rose Bellanca. We know it impacts the budget, but how does it impact the budget?

At the Board of Trustees annual spring retreat, Interim Chief Financial Officer Chuck Thomas and Budget Director Barb Fillinger delivered several surveys that explained many contributing factors to the colleges revenue over the past four years.

Factors included drops in en-rollment since the colleges highest registration counts in 2008, while re-ductions in state aid and a decrease in revenue from property taxes were taken from that year as well.

Trustees discussed a $5,000,486 decrease in revenue since 2008 due to lowered enrollment and tuition pay-ments and they were presented an-other $5,114,000 decrease since 2008 from their property tax budget which now stands at $46 million.

For those areas between tuition and fees and other revenue drivers, its about $11 million, Fillinger said of the reduction over the past four years. It will mostly impact invest-ment income because we will have less to invest, so therefore were projecting that to decrease.

The college estimates that invest-ment income has dropped $500,000 as well and that recent sequestration laws may cost WCC $40,000. Officials also anticipated that by this year, state aid is down $600,000 from a peak in 2002.

I added a few years to this because its a pet peeve of mine that for com-munity colleges overall, theres been no increase, as a matter of fact theres been a significant decrease over that 11-year period, Thomas said of projec-tions presented to the board. For us here at Washtenaw its about $600,000 less than we received in 2002, which


A performance review conducted by college President Rose Bellanca on June 28 and acquired by The Voice staff through a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that Dr. Bellanca saw Blacklaw as unfit to perform the du-ties required of his position and that she felt he failed to adequately com-municate with her and her executive leadership team.

I have lost confidence in Stuarts ability to lead and communicate with me in confidential matters when need-ed, wrote Bellanca in the review. The faculty and deans know that he does not support the president and be-lieve that there is a conflict between us. With the exception of scheduled appointments and meetings, Stuart rarely speaks to me.

As the President, it is up to me to ask Stuart for updates. Stuart has also lost the confidence of many of his col-leagues because of his lack of commu-nication with individuals on the team.

Bellancas first issue with Blacklaw arose, she said, when the position of executive associate to the president was reassigned to his office. When she asked him to change the job descrip-tion, she said he merely changed the title and sent it to Human Resources for approval.

She said the only reason Blacklaw was to be kept on through the 2012-13 academic year was due to his strong relationship with faculty and that she would not recommend an extension of his contract to the Board of Trustees.

Stuart clearly lacks the experience needed to lead and make decisions as the Vice President of Instruction. Many of his duties have been reas-signed because of lack of initiative on his part to learn and to become in-volved with the areas under his lead-ership, she said.

Bellanca fur-ther b lamed Blacklaw for communication problems be-tween herself and instructors.

A s t h e President, I believe that having a posi-tive culture to work and learn in is very important, she wrote. Unfortunately, the deans or faculty members are not aware that their issues are not researched and presented as thor-oughly as they could be and because of that, they often receive an unfavor-able answer.

And often the ELT (executive lead-ership team) is not apprised of issues early enough so that we can facilitate an appropriate, positive response.

Blacklaws performance before Bellanca

Bellancas evaluation of Blacklaw was in stark contrast to one he re-ceived a year earlier from former WCC President Larry Whitworth on April 25, 2011 which showed staunch sup-port for Blacklaw, detailing his posi-tive relationships with administrators and faculty alike.

Stuart has done an exceptional job this past year at developing a positive, productive working relationship with faculty, department chairs and deans, Whitworth wrote. He contributes significantly to the management of the college, and Im particularly im-pressed with his willingness to take on responsibility for difficult issues and to find effective resolutions.

Stuart has done an exceptional job this past year, learning and becoming part of the Washtenaw Community College culture.

Tuition hike official: freeze for early registrants until Winter


Washtenaw Community Colleges Board of Trustees voted unanimously last week to raise tuition for next year, holding the line for students who reg-ister and pay for classes early.

The resolution was adopted at the boards March 26 meeting and will raise tuition $2 for in-district students, $4 and $6 for out-of-district and out-of-state students respectively.

The increases mark a 2.2-per-cent hike for in-district, a 2.7-per-cent increase for out-of-district and

a 3.2-percent hike in tuition rates for students who reside outside of Michigan.

But for students who register and pay by Aug. 1, its a different story. They will be charged this years rate, seeing no change to their tuition until the Winter semester.

I want to applaud administration for allowing us to keep tuition frozen for early registrants, said Trustee Patrick McLean. Its an important function of this board to make these decisions while weighing the long-term needs of the community college.

Registration for Fall 2013 be-gins April 17. Students who enroll in payment plans before Aug. 1 will also see no increase to their tuition payments.The board and I are truly

pleased that we are able to offer this zero tuition increase, said WCC President Rose Bellanca in a press release about the early regis-tration rate. I strongly encourage our current students and students interested in enrolling at WCC this fall to take full advantage of this opportunity.

Bellanca appeals to faculty union: Give me a chance

Union concerns come to light at contentious Trustees meeting

By BEN SOLIS.Editor

In a show of force and solidarity, over 50 unionized faculty and staff aired a second round of grievances to-ward Washtenaw Community College President Rose Bellanca in front of a standing-room only boardroom on Tuesday.

Yes they do impact me as a stu-dent, mostly because dis-putes between faculty and ad-ministration leads to less

getting done. And they obviously dont seem to be concerned about the students in this because theyre just talking between themselves or, rather, not talking. Its a concern because theyre arguing, and people are leaving at the same time; its creating more and more tension.

Jonathan Martindale, 17, Redford, Math and Science

Voice BoxTheir main concern: anger and confusion over the firing of former Vice President of Instruction Stuart Blacklaw the facultys once-closest ally.We are better than this. Stuart

Blacklaw deserved better than this, Wooten said in a rousing speech as he addressed the colleges Board of Trustees and Bellanca in the public comments portion in the opening of the 4:20 p.m. meeting. This is not the

Considering recent news stories like the vice president of i n -struction being fired and a mounting acrimony between faculty and admin-istration, what do you think about this? Do these things impact you as a student and if so, how?

Stuart Blacklaw

April 1, 2013 The Washtenaw Voice

EDITORBen Solis

[email protected]


[email protected]


[email protected]


[email protected]

WEB EDITORTom Lee

[email protected]

ADVERTISING MANAGERBecky Alliston

[email protected]

STAFF WRITERSAnna EliasMichael HlywaMaria RigouKelly Bracha



DESIGN CONTRIBUTERSMichael AdsitJason Duncan

CORESPONDENTSShayler BarnesNatalie Wright

ADVISERKeith [email protected]

VOICE

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The Washtenaw Voice is produced fortnightly by students of Washtenaw Community College and the views expressed herein will not imply endorsement or approval by the faculty, administration or Board of Trustees of WCC.

Student publications are important in establishing and maintaining an atmosphere of free and responsible discussion and in bringing matters of concern and importance to the attention of the campus community. Editorial responsibility for The Voice lies with the students, who will strive for balance, fairness and integrity in their coverage of issues and events while employing the best habits and practices of free inquiry and expression.

The Washtenaw Voice does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the information or content in advertisements contained in the newspaper or its website, www.washtenawvoice.com, nor the quality of any products, information or other materials displayed or obtained as a result of an advertisement or any other information or offer in or in connection with the services or products advertised.

The Voice is committed to correcting all errors that appear in the newspaper and on its website, just as it is committed to the kind of careful journalism that will minimize the number of errors printed. To report an error of fact that should be corrected, phone 734-677-5405 or email [email protected].

A copy of each edition of The Washtenaw Voice is free to everyone. Additional copies are available at The Voice newsroom, TI 106, for 25 cents each.

EDITORIAL Learning or full of shit?

ADRIAN HEDDEN

Since taking on the task of serving readers of the community as a report-er for The Voice, Ive experienced my share of hot water. Ive been accused of sensationalism, characterized as someone just out for a good story, and painted as being unconcerned with the repercussions of his written actions.

But no conversation boiled over like the recent tongue-lashing I en-dured from one of WCCs most capable and trusted administrators. When I was summoned in the wake of colos-sal inaccuracies in my Page One story, I honestly had no idea what to expect.

It was like being called to the prin-cipals office. But unlike the many times I made that trip in grade school, my conscience was clear.

Id done my best to report an elabo-rate and difficult story on the schools budget as discussed at a recent Board of Trustees retreat without much help or support from college officials when I was fact-checking.

So in the face of subsequent bitter

accusations of negligence and irre-sponsibility from five different admin-istrators, I could only stand before them and say, We tried.

After leaving the retreat and writ-ing the story, I attempted to contact two different budget experts from the college to go over the numbers and correct any inaccuracies before they were made public. We were denied documents presented at the meeting, dismissed by the suggestion to submit a Freedom of Information Act request.

We were also told that these admin-istrators simply did not have the time to teach us about the budget when all we asked was five minutes to go over the numbers. One said she didnt have time, the other didnt return a phone call.

Then how is the public to know if we cant know?

As reporters, we are tasked with seeking out information in public doc-uments and in interviews with expert sources and to interpret this informa-tion for our readers and shed light on what otherwise might be shrouded under a cloud of bureaucracy. We seek truth and report it.

Campus officials occasionally have been surprised by our zeal and attention to detail. Weve provided students with tuition possibilities ahead of trustee votes and printed word-for-word transcriptions from campus crime log entries, publiciz-ing information that officials didnt expect to get out.

No one reads the (crime) log, one administrator told us last year. But everyone reads your paper.

If this sentiment is shared, it is then essential for the administration to strengthen its relationship with this newspaper and share just a little time for the sake of clarity and accuracy.

Learning to be a good news report-er is a high-pressure pursuit steeped in stress. We deal with a lot of extremely important information and honest mistakes are made. Some of the finest and most experienced professionals in our business make huge mistakes that require corrections and clarifications.

This is not an easy craft to learn especially when were throwing our work out there for all to judge. The on-the-job training we receive here at Washtenaw is both valuable and crucial to mastering and embracing what is necessary to survive and suc-ceed in this field.

And I defy any other program at this college to share a story of student error resulting in an administrator looking that student in the face and saying, Youre full of shit. The bell has been rung; you cant un-ring the bell.

If this campus community cares about its newspaper, then we can only hope she misspoke.

Ive learned more, in making an error that I profoundly regret, than I ever thought possible. I can only hope there is another bell, another day, another story to prove what I have learned and why it matters.

Not-so-common courtesy

MICHAEL J. HLYWA

I encountered an older woman maybe in her 40s or 50s wheeling her rolling briefcase down the third floor hall of the GM building one afternoon in March. Three 20-somethings were sitting on either side of the hallway between the woman and me, one on a bench and two on the floor against the opposite wall.

Seeing that there was a path be-tween the youths wide enough for only one person, I stepped aside to let the older woman through. She hurried past, eyes forward, without acknowl-edging any of us.

As she surged through the youths, her briefcase practically rolled over one of the guys feet. The woman hesi-tated for a millisecond I could al-most see the thought form in her head: should I stop and apologize?

Then it was over. Decision made. Keep walking as if nothing happened. No Im sorry. No excuse me. Not even an apologetic glance. The woman just hurried on her way as though she was walking through an abandoned

parking lot toward her car on a cold winter night.

I expected a reaction from the young men something interlaced with profanities and slights regarding her age. But they were surprisingly composed. If the young hit-and-run victim was bothered at all by the in-cident, he didnt show it.

I, on the other hand, was aston-ished by the womans lack of com-passion. I felt almost compelled to apologize to the kid on her behalf. What was that lady thinking?

Unfortunately, incidents like that are all too common on campus. It seems that we have forgotten the im-portance of common courtesy.

Think about the last time you walked unaccompanied down a long hall toward your next class. How many of the couple dozen strangers walking past said hello? One? Two? How many smiled or at least made eye contact with you? Four or five? Then think about how many walked right on by with eyes averted, as though entirely absorbed in thought all the rest.

I know that we all have pressing matters to deal with on a daily basis, but are we all honestly so engrossed in our work that we tune out the people around us? I think thats just a conve-nient excuse.

We have to ask ourselves why. Why is it so difficult to acknowledge each other?

Were all more or less in the same

boat. We all share the same environ-ment and have similar goals involving education either getting it, admin-istering it or facilitating it. Dont we have enough in common to warrant a warm greeting or a friendly grin as we pass each other?

For me, part of it stems from fear and insecurity. I imagine myself say-ing hello to some guy walking past, he ignores me and I suffer rejection. Or, worse yet, he casts a bothered glance at me that says, Cant you see Im deep in thought here, and I feel foolish.

So, I dont say anything at all. Its easier that way. I dont have to put myself out there and risk damage to my confidence or pride. And I repeat the same scenario with each individ-ual I pass until Ive made it safely un-scathed to Spanish class and missed countless opportunities to make a new connection or impact someones day.

Or, I can cast aside all that nega-tivity and recognize that Im part of a community of people who rely on each other every day to achieve our goals. I can stride confidently down the hall generously sharing grins, glances and greetings with everyone I encounter. I can change my attitude and then watch it bolster the attitudes of those around me.

Im not changing the world. But if the common courtesy I extend ben-efits just one other person, then Im at least making this campus a better place.

Talking past each otherFor the past few months, Washtenaw Community College President

Rose Bellanca and the faculty union have been locked in a simmering feud regarding the decisions shes made and her attempts to effectively commu-nicate with the employees of the institution.

The struggle has resulted in two public addresses before the colleges Board of Trustees, a show of force from 50 union members gathered together, and various emails, statements and columns published in The Washtenaw Voice by Bellanca.

None of these measures, however valiant, over three months have yet to produce any reasonable results or compromises from either party.

From the news and rumors flying around campus, interested parties would like you to believe that the issues at hand are one-sided, dictatorial, aggressively oppressive or not even about the issues at all that the prob-lems arising are the fault of one woman alone.

It is true that the presidents past record at other institutions has been wrought with hardship akin to the kind presenting itself now at our own gem of a community college. It is also true her past problems have given many here at Washtenaw and the community it serves cause to question her decision-making process and its intent.

Indeed, losing two top ranking administrators, both of whom have had a tremendously positive impact on the college during their tenure, is a sad case for any campus community especially when they were both so well-liked. Worse, one of their departures showed obvious signs of a tenuous relationship with the new administration.

And while we can most certainly respect and support calls for greater communication between any two important campus institutions, the fact that the bickering and bold action is still taking place is a sign that neither body knows how to effectively communicate, or is willing at this point to reach a compromise.

Grand gestures such as showing up en masse to trustee meetings and giv-ing pointed speeches may be historic for any unified body, but those actions come at a price, and that price is the perception of great pride and mulish-ness. Such gestures may give many a sense that what the union is doing is intrinsically right in the face of an administration that refuses to hear them.

Yet to say that Bellanca hasnt tried would be patently false.In an email sent out to faculty and deans on Feb. 15, Bellanca announced

that she was forming a Presidents Academic Cabinet, an advisory body existing outside the realm of the administrative team already assembled. This team would be made up of one member from each division including various department chairs, deans, faculty members and representatives from counseling.

Her goal, Bellanca wrote, was to use this body as the main form of com-munication between faculty, staff and her administration.

The effort was dismissed almost immediately, and not because it may have been inherently a bad idea. The faculty union scheduled a meeting with Bellanca for Feb. 18 to present their concerns thus far. Three days prior, Bellanca announced the cabinet via email.

This is not a case of one side refusing to hear the other, but rather an in-sult to injury by talking past each other at all the wrong moments. The union perceived this email as a slap in the face. Bellanca perceived this simply as doing what was asked of her building a stronger means of communication.

When asked what we can hope for as students caught between these war-ring tribes, which are more akin to dueling cousins or aggravated spouses, both sides gave little in the way of a credible answer aside from what they alone hoped to achieve.

As this situation becomes clearer, as more information is gathered, it is apparent to the student body of this campus that the only outcome at present would be a unilateral victory as opposed to a bilateral compromise.

Instructor Dave Wooten proclaimed to trustees that the faculty union was willing and ready to come to the table. We hope that if approached by Bellanca, the union will accept her compromise as they make sacri-fices of their own to end the months-long battle for the soul of Washtenaw Community College.

There is more at stake than finding a means for effective communication.

JASON DUNCAN THE WASHTENAW VOICE


Spring has sprung: A group of students enjoy the warm pleasant weather of spring that has finally come to Ann Arbor by playing a pick-up game of football in community park behind the Student Center.

VOICEThe student publication of Washtenaw Community CollegeAnn Arbor, Michigan washtenawvoice.comApril 15, 2013Volume 19, Issue 16 THETHE Y o u r v o i c e . Y o u r p a p e r .

BENJAMIN KNAUSS THE WASHTENAW VOICE

Turning a new leaf: Eric Jiskra (right) works with a automotive student David Churchill, preparing a door for a coat of primer in their Auto Body Restoration (ABR111) course.

JISKRA

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UNION

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WEBSERVER

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The Voice celebrates

Record Store Day

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Hash Bash blows

through Ann Arbor

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From behind bars to building carsStudent shows what is possible by battling challenging times

By BENJAMIN KNAUSSStaff Writer

When times get tough, life gives you exactly what you need, when you need it, as long as you are paying at-tention and not busy giving up. Eric Jiskra, a lab tech with the Washtenaw Community College Custom Cars & Concepts program, has a story to prove that.

Its really weird how the chain of events have been unfolding in my life for the past few years, said Jiskra, 34, of Ypsilanti. Four years ago I started this program, but four years prior to that I was in belly chains on my way to prison.

Jiskra worked in construction prior to being sent to prison for an alcohol related offense. During his incarcera-tion he spent time learning how to work out. After his release, he came to WCC and enrolled in the nursing program so he could study physical therapy.

The biggest thing when I got out, for me, was I wanted to find a way to give back to the public for being a scum bag, Jiskra said. As far as society is concerned, I have paid my dues, I did my time, and I got out. On a conscious level, for karma so to speak, I wasnt in the clear with me yet. I thought physi-cal therapy would be really good.

Not so much, he soon learned.After my first year of basics, they

denied me because of my felonies, Jiskra said, referring to the nursing program. I did not know what to do at the time, so I loaded down with a bunch of classes I knew would trans-fer and continued on.

He went back to work in the con-struction field. One winter he built the foundation for a hot rod shop in

Dexter, a shop owned by Gary Sobbry, an Auto Services instructor at WCC. It was the middle of winter and

I was hauling block, Jiskra recalled. He (Sobbry) says, you know youre working too hard for your money. The next thing you know, I took one of his classes and now I work in the shop that I built.

Jiskra has been working in that Dexter hot rod shop for less than a

year. He also started working in the WCC auto body shop as a lab tech three days a week last semester.I ended up down here (in the

custom auto program). The doors opened and shut so fast, but I ended up being involved in the program that changed my life, Jiskra said.

Spring/Summer enrollment on declineOfficials point to summer jobs and changes financial aid


For Christy Courtney, getting an education used to be a year-round en-deavor. But the Ann Arbor resident and business major at Washtenaw Community College has recently seen her financial aid and desire to learn dry up in the heat, leaving spring and sum-mer sessions an impossibility.

And as her trust in the viability of WCCs Web offerings during the Spring/Summer session gradual-ly evaporated as well, Courtney, 26, now would rather appreciate the recreational benefits of the warmest months of the year. I want to

(take summer classes), she said. But the money is not there. I used up my financial aid but if there were more class-es online that I needed, then that would be easier. Everything of-fered online during the summer is useless.And no one wants to be stuck in-

side when its nice out.These sentiments are shared

across campuses state-wide, accord-ing to Vice President of Student and Academic Services Linda Blakey.

She explains a drop in enrollment for WCCs 2013 spring and summer sessions as reflecting a student body committed to finding work as year-round Pell grants begin to dry up.

By the end of last years spring and summer sessions, WCC had calculated a total of 42,262 budgeted credit hours, but currently has counted a total of

29,494 for 2013. With about a month until the first Spring semester session begins, credit hours are down about 30 percent.

And last weeks headcount for 2013 was at 4,834 students, down 33 per-cent from the final headcount of 7,243 students for the Spring/Summer se-mesters of 2012.

Those numbers could still change dramatically. Students can register up until 8 p.m., the day before their class is to start, and Blakey hopes that with the spring sessions starting a week later than last year on May 13, stu-dents will enjoy more time to register for classes.

She also asserted that some of the decline may be attributable to stu-dents waiting until the last week of registration to enroll.

Looking at where other schools are, numbers are down across the state, Blakey said. People are working in the summer instead of going to school. Theyve used up financial aid and dont have the funds to go in the summer.

So it is for Jeff Ratliff of Ann Arbor. The 24-year-old photography major usually prefers summer classes to overcoming the extreme weather of winter when commuting by bus to get his education.

But busy working a wealth of sum-mer events for local head shop Foggy Bottom Bayou, Ratliff will be sitting out school this summer, set to return to his studies in the fall. Usually I do (take summer class-

es), but not this semester, Ratliff said. My new employer gets really busy over the summer, but usually I like summer classes because I dont like treading through the snow.

And I like that classes are shorter; you can get it done sooner, and its not as crowded.

Hoping students will fill the halls of Washtenaw this summer, Blakey has planned a pilot program for the upcoming semesters, scheduling

back-to-back , six-week sessions to better allow for sequenced class-es such as English Composition 111 and 226, to be taken before the fall. This prac-tice, she said, can be found at other

institutions in the area.We got a lot of complaints that stu-

dents needing to take a sequence of classes could not do that because the classes overlapped, she said. Eastern (Michigan University) does six-week sessions, so the idea was to mirror what Eastern does as we have a lot of students who attend both institutions.

Typically, Washtenaw has offered 7 -, 10- and 12-week sessions, but the six-week courses will replace the 7 sessions, allowing the various de-partments to compress their classes or expand to a 10-week offering based on the needs of the programs.Some departments went into the

six because they could do sequencing, some classes were able to stretch it out to 10, she said. Some of the science classes are not going to fit the curricu-lums (into a six-week sessions). They didnt fit it into 7 -weeks either.

According to Blakey, the col-lege will be mak-ing phone calls to current students who have not reg-istered for spring sessions and fol-low up with those who have begun, but not completed, the application process. Were trying to help them walk

through the process if theyre stuck somewhere, she said. Thats whats happening right now.

Christy Courtney

Jeff Ratliff

Linda Blakey

Trustees double down on Bellanca supportFaculty union is appreciative, but not very impressed

By BEN SOLISEditor

After months of holding their cards close to their collective chests, the Washtenaw Community College Trustees issued a formal statement of support for college President Rose Bellanca during its regularly sched-uled public meeting on Tuesday.

The statement, tepid in tone and written in the form of an open letter from Board Chair Anne Williams, act-ed as the boards direct response to the myriad concerns brought forth by the Washtenaw Community College Education Association, the colleges faculty union.

For several months, the faculty union waited for an official response from trustees regarding their trep-idations, which were outlined in a 26-page packet of emails and other documents given to trustees in early February. Various union members ex-pressed dissatisfaction that the trust-ees had not given them an adequate response, prompting several speeches

Marketing, Public Relations continues to build empireCollege saves with consolidation, critics call it a power move


Washtenaw Community Colleges bourgeoning marketing presence is going digital.A full-service, creative agen-

cy: thats the model, said Annessa Carlisle, executive director of Marketing. Web Services now re-ports to marketing. Now we have more resources and they (PRM and Web) can work together to create the piece that goes on the website.

And still have the message that we want.

The conversion was official as of last July and Carlisle was hired in the fall of 2012. Web Services pre-viously fell under the supervision of Information Technology.In order to reach a bigger audi-

ence, you have to go online, said Chief Information Officer Amin Ladha. The availability of robust Internet infrastructure, availabil-ity of great tools like Word Press makes it easy for any organizations to manage many of their technical needs themselves.

ITs role is more of managing the data center, security and all the backend support.

Ladha said that the merger be-tween Web Services and Marketing makes sense as more and more or-ganizations have already made use of the growing convenience of on-line tools and services.

He estimated that when WCC out-sourced its email server to Google, the college saved about $400,000.Forward thinking organiza-

tions are making web services

part of their marketing department, Ladha said. It is not just to cut cost, but to use the web as an integral part of any of their marketing campaigns.It makes it very efficient when you

dont have to go through three people to make adjustments to the website.

But sources familiar with the situa-tion regarding PRM and Web Services at WCC have characterized the change as having nothing to do with resources. Rather, it constitutes a power move by administration to control the department.

The sources also questioned whether anyone in the Marketing or Web Services department has the adequate background in Web devel-opment to manage the schools site. They also debated the possibility of the college looking to consolidate re-sources, explaining that personnel in both departments have recently seen little-to-no downsizing.

Were still trying to build that road map, said Web Services Director Bryan Freeman who earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1999. Weve been working on trying to build our team here.

Freeman joined the college staff on Feb. 11.

In building his staff, Freeman filled two vacant positions for a Web de-veloper and programmer as of last week. The new employees begin on April 22, and Carlisle looks forward to developing her staff with the neces-sary skills instead of seeking outside consultation.Id rather spend a little on training

rather than looking for outside help, she said. Its utilizing the talents that we have.

And WCCs message of affordable, higher-education has recently been

April 15, 2013 The Washtenaw Voice

EDITORBen Solis

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WEB EDITORTom Lee

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ADVERTISING MANAGERBecky Alliston

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STAFF WRITERSKelly BrachaMichael HlywaBenjamin KnaussMaria RigouEric WadeNatalie Wright



DESIGN CONTRIBUTERSMichael AdsitJason Duncan

CORESPONDENTSBrian KonicekMohamed Maiza

ADVISERKeith [email protected]

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Volume 19, Issue 15

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The Washtenaw Voice is produced fortnightly by students of Washtenaw Community College and the views expressed herein will not imply endorsement or approval by the faculty, administration or Board of Trustees of WCC.

Student publications are important in establishing and maintaining an atmosphere of free and responsible discussion and in bringing matters of concern and importance to the attention of the campus community. Editorial responsibility for The Voice lies with the students, who will strive for balance, fairness and integrity in their coverage of issues and events while employing the best habits and practices of free inquiry and expression.

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