The Academic Senate announced on March 8 that students will have the opportunity to apply for laptop scholarships to access their online classes.
Students who apply for laptop scholarships in their SIS portal are given a need score and whoever has the highest score would be entered into a lottery for the laptops available.
Senate member and assistant professor of anthropology Brian Pierson briefly discussed that Senate funds could be used to help students and the upcoming transition into a new normal.
“It’s going to be different and I think they all need the support,” Pierson said.
Senate Executive Committee Treasurer Angela Belden addressed the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) and said that the money given to Pierce by the Los Angeles Community College District would be able to help them lower the school’s deficit.
“The CARES Funds must be allocated by April and can only be used to cover lost revenue and expenses due to COVID-19,” Belden said. “We may be able to purchase more laptops for students and were informed there are more laptops waiting for us at City College”.
The Board also discussed their plans to try and quickly resume in-person learning on campus.
Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Donna-Mae Villanueva said the college’s administration is working very closely with re-engaging planning.
“We’re working with different teams,” Villanueva said. “Right now, they are doing deep cleaning on all classrooms and putting in HEPA filters for vents.”
Villanueva also said that the administration is looking at the possibility of reopening the college with more open spaces.
“As I am looking at it over the weekend and today, things are changing rapidly,” Villanueva said. “I know that other colleges outside of LA county are pushing to open up. We’re not going to be leading – we’re going to be following the lead. Biden is really pushing to get the whole nation opened again so we’ll be following up on that.”
President Alexis Montevirgen said that faculty and staff are looking to increase the library’s capacity because of the higher ceilings and larger space.
Jamie Crespin, President of the Associated Student Organization, said they will be swearing in the new senators for the spring semester on Wednesday, March 9.
Crespin also said that on March 12, ASO will be hosting another event for the student wellness series.
“We will be hosting spring training which will include a 10-15 minute presentation on staying active as well as a body weight workout session with Susan Armenta,” Crespin said. “Then other events in the series will include creating your vision board on March 17 and creating a mantra on April 23.”
Dance Professor Brian Moe spoke about the value and treatment of the ERC Adjunct Professors at Pierce.
“We’re all about equity and being about equity,” Moe said. “It’s kind of like, let’s put our money where our mouths are and stop treating our adjuncts like second class citizens, so by giving them half of the full time award it’s almost like they’re half faculty members and that’s not right”.
Moe aims to make genuine, monumental steps on the professional development committee.
“We really want to support our adjuncts more and start treating them with the value that they do have,” Moe said.
