A town hall meeting to discuss the budget crisis’ impact on Pierce College will be hosted by the school’s administration tomorrow in the Great Hall from 3 to 4 p.m.
The meeting will be open for all Pierce College students, faculty and staff.
“The situation is extremely bleak,” Academic Senate President and member of Pierce’s new Budget Task Force (BTF) Tom Rosdahl said.
The BTF, whose members will be speaking at the meeting, was created by the college this semester with the goal of finding areas that could be reduced to make the programs offered fit the budget of the next fiscal year.
President Kathleen Burke-Kelly, as well as the BTF members, will discuss the recent $7.2 million budget cut with the community.
During the time of the town hall meeting, and until 4:30 p.m., the following offices on campus will be closed: Admissions and Records, Graduation Office, Information Desk, High School Outreach and Financial Aid Office.
The BTF, which has been working to find areas to be reduced from, has not yet found half of the $7.2 million worth to cut, Rosdahl said.
“The simple fact is that the amount of money that the district is willing to provide Pierce College for the next academic year is not sufficient to function,” Rosdahl said.
Due to this, more classes will be cut, and all supplies provided to teach classes such as chemistry, art, theater production and sports will be eliminated, Rosdahl said.
“This is horrible,” A.B. Fofana, a 21-year-old journalism major, said. “We come here for two years, and end up spending a lot more. They just keep on building new classrooms while cutting classes.”
“The meeting will be informative,” Rosdahl said. “I encourage all students to attend, because this will greatly affect them.”
The Roundup will be streaming the meeting live.