March 2, 2007
Roundup
While I am a champion of Freedom of the Press, I was greatly distressed at the tone of your editorial under Viewpoints, on the current state of the campus, in the Feb. 28 issue of The Roundup.
We are all aware of the many problems and difficulties that exist right now, but I feel the general tone was overly negative and mean-spirited.
I have been at Pierce for 25 years, and my experience has always been that, with very few exceptions, our staff is extremely hard working and committed to doing the very best job they can.
No one wants or expects to undertake a project with failure in mind-we all want and expect success.
But unfortunately, many times unforeseen circumstances arise which are not any one person’s fault, but they add to the anger and frustration many of our employees are experiencing.
It is all too easy to stand apart and criticize without always knowing all the facts, and hiring additional people is not accomplished quickly or easily in a system such as ours.
I certainly feel that existing problems need to be aired, and the Roundup has every right to do so.
However, it seems to me that somewhere in the editorial, a sentence or two acknowledging the hard work of so many of the people involved who are trying their best to resolve the situation could and should have been included and would have been a nice touch.
Thank you. Barbara Heller, SecretaryAcademic AffairsExt. 6405
March 2, 2007
I would like to respond to the article, “Make a plan and make it work” from the Feb. 28 issue of The Roundup.
I am one of the two counselors that launched the “Student Success Workshop Calendar” project this semester.
I would like to clarify that this project was created by the Counseling Department, but it’s a collaborative effort with eight other departments on campus. The Counseling Department worked with these eight departments to set up dates, times and room locations.
Each individual department is responsible for leading their own workshop.
We spent several months planning these workshops. We also created an online sign up database.
However, because of the sudden resignation of Pierce College’s Webmaster that created the database and maintains our Web page, we have not been able to upload the online sign up database nor have we been able to notify students that the database is not available on our Web site.
As a result, all departments were instructed to create their own sign up system for their own workshops.
In your article, you stated that none of the three workshops took place after an e-mail was sent to the student body.
I have been in contact with the three departments that lead these workshops on the date in question and found that all three workshops did take place. Two departments waited for students but then cancelled their workshops because no students showed and the third workshop was attended by two students.
This is what has occurred in response to the situation.
Each department has been contacted to: 1) confirm that they all knew the times, dates and locations of their workshops, 2) ask that they ensure that all of their staff members know the information about the workshops they are leading and 3) ask them to refer students to the appropriate department conducting other workshops.
Students interested in attending future workshops should contact the department leading the workshop for further information.
Thanks,Cristina Rodriguez