Pierce College Academic Senate members brought two important incidents to everyones attention on Monday, Nov. 3, when they discussed the school’s process of evacuation and class adding.
At the beginning of every semester, long lines at the Admissions and Records office have been an on-going issue for students. However, President Kathleen Burke announced what might soon help the situation, and benefit the entire process.
“We’re hiring a registrar for Admissions and Records,” Burke said. “We’re also hiring another Admissions and Records technician because the more students we have, the more help we need to process students.”
The main purpose of hiring a registrar is to bring students needs to attention, which in this case are the lines at Admissions and Records.
“It’s going to increase the efficiency in terms of processing applications for new students,” Dean of Student Services Kalynda Webber Mclean said. “And it’ll also help with eliminating some of the lines that we see with adding and dropping at the beginning of the term.”
There is no definite time as to when this new system will be used at Pierce, but Burke mentioned that the paperwork has been signed and the process of hiring is still in the works.
Chemistry Department Chair Izzy Goodman brought up the matter of the evacuation that took place on Oct. 16, and asked Burke if she was satisfied with what took place during that event.
“I am always impressed with the speed in which the campus is able to evacuate and the fact that it happens as quickly and orderly as it does,” Burke said.
However, not every department on campus was satisfied with how things were handled. The Center for Sciences building doesn’t have cell phone reception, which caused confusion for students and professors in that area.
“We couldn’t get any notifications on our phones, and I called the sheriff with the room phone and was given an order to lock down,” said professor of nursing Connie Tiu. “Then five minutes later we were told to evacuate, so we were very confused.”
But the emergency notification center has improved, and was a lot better during the October evacuation, Burke said.
However, for future precautions and less confusion, a public address system will be installed and ready to use within one to two years, Burke said.
“These are serious decisions to make and I always worry about the impact of the classroom,” Burke said. “So there is a point at which we need to rely on the professionals, and the sheriffs and what they’re telling us in order to make some of those decisions.”
