"Not a police state"

Evidently, yesterday, the conservative San Diego Union Tribune finally printed some letters critical of the paper’s obnoxious Oct. 31 editorial. (See our Nov. 1 post, Oddly, they seem to have disappeared!)

Cuts and protests at Southwestern

1. MAKE YOUR FEELINGS KNOWN NOVEMBER 2010

I am a proud member of the Southwestern College faculty and am responding to your Oct. 31 editorial (“Community colleges in a vise”).

Whenever I read about the protesters “leaving the free speech area”, my stomach turns. Southwestern College is not a police state where the dictator grudgingly permits token free speech in a small, contained area. This entire country is a free speech area.

Three excellent, dedicated professors have been sitting at home since Oct. 23, unable to come to the college or check their campus e-mail under threat of a jail sentence. The administration constantly points out that they are being paid—as though that were the only thing that matters. It isn't. These three are being deprived of doing what they love, teaching.

Your editorial says that we “wailing faculty” do not realize that President Raj Chopra has reserved 50 of the 429 cut sections for emergency decisions to add classes. (For some reason, this reminds me of Richard Nixon's secret plan to end the war.)

Voters of the South Bay will have an opportunity in the November 2010 election to replace three members — the majority — of the Southwestern College Governing Board.

DIANE GUSTAFSON, Bonita

2. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT, U-TRIB!

Your editorial omits some very important facts about Southwestern College.

First, no one is proposing that we “drain college reserves” to provide classes for students. At the most recent governing board meeting, the public was informed that saving 429 class sections would cost anywhere from $1.3 to $1.7 million. Our current unrestricted reserves are about $11.5 million.

Next, your editorial states that faculty could “volunteer to take a pay cut” to help balance the budget. In 2003, faculty voted to do exactly that under a different president.

While it is certainly true that community colleges are “in a vise,” it is not only “militants” who are suggesting that cuts should begin from the top down, that sacrifices should be shared, or that students — the very heart of our institution — should be the last to be cut.

PHILIP LOPEZ, President, Southwestern College Education Association

Also: Among those who have recently noted the scandal at Southwestern is the blog Prawfsblawg. Check it out.

And there's even a Rap Song called "Chopra's downfall." Check it out. I don't get it, but some of you whippersnappers might.