President Board Report
November 14, 2024
ACTING SUPERINTENDENT/PRESIDENT’S BOARD REPORT
President Olivares-Lambert, Board Members, and Community Members:
Since our last meeting, the College has hosted a variety of events that brought our
community together in celebration and reflection.
- The 3rd Annual Black and Brown Minds and Mattering Conference gathered over 300 attendees including members of our Governing Board, community, students, staff and faculty. It was a day of learning, music, art, and celebration.
- Our Report to the Community luncheon featured inspiring student success stories and showcased faculty innovations to advance career opportunities.
- On November 11th we celebrated Veterans Day, honoring the 162 veterans in our community with programming throughout the week.
- Fall sports are winding down for our scholar-athletes. Women’s soccer finished strong with a 14-3 fall record, and the football team stands at 7-2 as they conclude their season.
- Finally, we were honored to participate in the celebration of Meritorious Service Awards recognizing emeritus faculty Marie Boyd and Eva Rose and posthumously, Sherm Taylor, Donna Colondres, and John Machado.
On the day after the election, I had a lengthy meeting with one of the attorneys who
provides legal counsel to our students regarding immigration matters. As I noted in
my September board report, at the Board’s direction, the College has begun implementation
of the UndocuFellowship. We are
concerned and we are committed to support our undocumented students and staff. We
will continue to provide legal services, mental health support, basic needs resources,
and we will do all that we can within the law to provide support and protection. In
the coming months, the College will be working
with various groups to host information sessions in the areas of law enforcement,
legal rights, and advocacy.
Coming up on December 3, 2024, we will be hosting a townhall meeting to discuss the LGBTQIA+ Student Survey data to advance safety, inclusion, and wellbeing. We hope all will participate in this important conversation.
I want to turn to a topic that’s been raised quite a bit in the last couple of months, and I’ve been asked to speak about this issue, the issue of retaliation discussed in previous meetings. I’ve had this conversation with the Senate, CCFA leadership outside of the Board meetings, and we spoke about this issue at Board Dialogue. But I think it’s important to recognize, as a matter of record, the College’s understanding and commitment to an environment free from retaliation. So, let me make sure, as an old HR person that I define my terms a little bit.
Retaliation is a legal term of art, and it occurs when an employee engages in protected
activity and then suffers an adverse employment action as a result of doing so. A
protected activity is for example, like filing a complaint, requesting an accommodation,
taking protected leave, reporting illegal
conduct, engaging in protected speech, etc. An adverse employment action is an action
taken that materially and adversely effects an employee’s terms and conditions of
employment. Examples of an adverse employment action include suspension, demotion,
or termination, etc.
So, in summary, retaliation basically has two components to it: an individual engages in a protected activity, and then is subject to a negative or adverse employment action for doing so.
I have shared this information with the leadership of the Academic Senate and CCFA,
and all groups during the Board Dialogue. Human Resources has reached out to both
CCFA and CSEA on this matter as well. To be clear, as Mr. McDougal noted, the College
has not and will not engage in retaliation. It
is unacceptable, and we will not engage in it now.
I know that there’s also been a lot of discussion about legal letters that were sent.
I will echo as I think as some have said tonight, this is not personal. We all care
about the College. So, what you are doing – expressing your opinions and your concerns
– I understand that’s not personal. But the College also when it has to address something,
or to correct something, it must do so as well. So, there’s been a lot of discussion
regarding two letters that were sent, not to the entire community, but to the four
Academic Senate Leaders from the District’s outside legal counsel. Now some, if not
everybody, perhaps saw the letters, and some believe that those letters contain threats.
I will tell
you, I hope that they are shared with you so that you will see that there are no threats.
In those letters there was no attempt to suppress speech or threat of litigation or
otherwise. Some people are calling those letters an act of retaliation. Any such statements
are completely inaccurate.
At least twice, the Academic Senate published false and misleading statements of fact
that were harmful to the District. Not for me, not for individuals, but to the District.
The District’s outside counsel sent Senate leadership those two letters to address
those specific issues, the publication of false statements. And the Senate has those
two letters. They’re dated October 7th and October 14th. As is reflected in those
letters, neither the District nor its outside counsel sent them with the motivation
to threaten legal action. It was communicated that these need to be corrected. Nor
has
the District attempted to dissuade the Senate from exercising its right to expression.
So, I think the Senate asked me to clarify, if someone comes to speak their opinion in a public forum like this: Of course, that opinion is in the arena supported by the Governing Board and by the Executive Team.
I also want to share that I have recently joined the Academic Issues Group this fall,
and I will tell you that I am not responding quickly to anything (nor do I think any
of my colleagues are responding quickly to anything), because we’ve been threatened,
as previously mentioned. I do not feel threatened. I feel motivated. When I come to
the Academic Issues Group meeting, I want to hear what the problems are. I want to
hear what concerns aren’t being addressed. We are committed not just to talk to the
Academic Issues Group. I have met with the Labor Management groups for many years,
and we have not had these kinds of concerns raised in the past. But when concerns
are raised, we address them. And so, I will say the same thing here and now.
When Academic Issues Group raises issues on the agenda, we will absolutely address
them. We have, and we will continue to address those items. There are some items that
were raised today that I hadn’t heard, that I didn’t know about. They had not previously
been raised (during this semester). I haven’t been on the Academic Issues Group for
the last five years, so OK, bring them. Let’s bring them on now and take care of them.
There is nothing that was raised today or in the past that is not manageable. These
are very manageable issues, and we just need to know what they are and come with constructive
dialogue and a desire to resolve concerns. We are motivated to do that.
I also want to share that Academic Issues Group decided to join the ASCCC Collegiality
in Action Program to improve effective participation. We will take the concerns raised
by the Academic Senate very seriously, and we remain committed to constructive dialogue.
The Executive Team will spend
much of the rest of the year conducting listening and communications sessions with
members of our community to better understand and act on concerns. That will go beyond
Senate. We are scheduled to go to the Coordinator’s meeting tomorrow, so we want to
hear from all of the community; we are committed to hearing from all of the community.
We are also having visioning and listening sessions, so we will have many opportunities
to work collaboratively with all of the members of our
community.
Finally, I just want to say, I know that it’s a concerning time. But the College does
continue to thrive. Look at our students. Enrollment, engagement, and student support
for students are at all-time highs. We will not let this time distract us. We are
all committed to this work, I know that we are. We are
supported by a skilled and diverse workforce, expansive technological resources, a
stable budget, and innovative strategies to advance academic achievement. People who
show up every day, they know what I’m talking about. You know what I’m talking about.
We all care about the College, we care about each other, the people that we work with,
and we care about our students.
I do want to emphasize that the concerns that are raised today are something we continue to listen to, we continue to take note of, and we continue to be committed to resolving. Also, I want to share that during this period of Thanksgiving, we really do appreciate everybody who contributes to making this College an exceptional resource for our students and community.
Thank you,
Lisa Bailey
Acting Superintendent/President
Associate Superintendent of Business Services and Economic Development
