Budget discussion and campus construction continue to be top of mind for the Pierce College Council (PCC), which met Thursday, March 27, on Zoom.
PCC Chair Brian Gendron led the meeting to discuss campus updates.
Multiple buildings are planned to be demolished in relation to the Academic East, Academic West, Child Development Academic and Industrial Technology construction.
Project manager Soufiane Boudiaf presented an update on the construction plan and its progress.
“We are about 30% in terms of construction progress,” Boudiaf said. “We already poured half of the second-floor decking, which is really good.”
Boudiaf revealed that the Academic West building is headed toward the second phase of construction.
The Child Development Academic Building framing is 90% complete and is now in development for details, according to Boudiaf. The Industrial Technology Building is also in the works, with needed finalizations aiming to be started late April.
Buildings set for demolition include buildings 1200, 1300, 1400, 1500, 3600, 3800, parts of the Child Development Center, the Botanical Garden and Pierce College Village, except for 8100 and 8200.
Senior Sheriff Deputy Isaac Jorge updated members on recent incidents at Pierce College.
“We have had a little uptick in crime, a couple of vandalism and graffiti in some restrooms,” Jorge said. “We have a bike theft, a golf cart theft from one of our trailers and a lot of gas has also been stolen from the gas carts.”
Jorge also added the recent changes in the sheriff’s department’s operations on community college campuses.
“All of the other deputies and security officers at the community colleges will start wearing cameras from April 1,” Jorge said. “It is just to give you where when we receive a call for service, and somebody calls us on the camera.”
Michael Habata, from the Diversity Committee, raised concerns that students are afraid to attend in-person classes because of fears of immigration enforcement, based on reports from other faculty.
“The faculty members reported that they had students who had stopped coming to in-person classes due to fear of possible raids on campus and their students who were anxious not only for themselves but for their family members and children attending K-12 schools,” Habata said.
Vice President of Student Services Jason Cifra mentioned that new policies will be implemented for the fall semester of 2025. Priority registration will encourage more students to register, and services for financial aid and enrollment will be provided.
“We are also going to be committing to more financial aid workshops, and as well as Super Saturdays, that are targeted to a special population, to make sure the work that we are doing is really sticking to the students that need it,” Cifra said.
With the budgeting process being a highly discussed topic, Vice President of Administrative Services Rolf Schleicher mentioned that Pierce is trying to keep enrollment high.
“Enrollment is everything. I mean, that’s what we’re here for,” Schleicher said. “Instruction, making sure support services are where they need to be, the facilities are what they should be.”
Schleicher added that finances are limited despite the school’s size.
“We are not given a whole lot of money to run a big college at this level, but we do an outstanding job, in my mind,” Schleicher said.
Pierce President Ara Aguiar announced that a Budget Summit was set to be held and hosted by the Budget Committee, featuring a panel with administration. Aguiar also mentioned that the budgets are constantly recalculated, and this meeting provides information about the budget and its progress. The meeting was set for Tuesday, April 1.