Candidate for
Board Member; Monterey Peninsula Community College District; 2 Year Term

"Political"/Educational Philosophy: The Master Plan for Higher Education that established California Community Colleges charged these colleges with training vocational students, preparing students for transferring to four year institutions; and with "responding to the felt needs of the community".

I believe in that educational philosophy. Education is our most important mission, our most important job. Whether these goals of that Master Plan are met in a classroom, a gymnasium, an outdoor field, a concert hall, a drama stage, an artists' studio, a laboratory, lecture hall or technical vocational setting + it is in these centers of learning where the community colleges shine.

No other college or university system admits so many students and such a varied student body. Our doors are open. We educate and train more of California's workers than any institution of higher learning. We are truly the people's colleges. And we do all this with less funding per student than any other college or university.

MPC has long had a reputation for its fine faculty. And as changes take place, as they will, we must strive to maintain and perhaps, surpass, that reputation with new faculty, a faculty of such a diverse nature that our highly diverse student body may find their own likenesses in the faces of their faculty. An "untestable" learning outcome is that students will come to think of themselves in such roles tomorrow as the teachers, nurses, artists, mechanics, fire chiefs, coaches, musicians, lecturers and the other faculty who teach them today.

But to meet such broad needs for such a diverse group of people with vastly differing skills and preparation, MPC and the other community colleges must bring home to those in Sacramento responsible for our funding the importance of the job we do and the value to the state of a community college education for our people. We must help them understand that because of our wide open doors, our financial needs for special preparation, for student assistance from books to English learning centers to tutoring, to special testing and learning assistance are greater than those of other institutions and must be funded adequately to maintain this valuable resource of a people's college. I believe it is part of the role of a board member to help Sacramento understand our value and our needs and to invest in community colleges as a "best buy" educational and vocational training resource.

Finally, there are those "felt needs of the community". These are the needs of our older community, our business and trades community, our ethnic communities, our re-entry and (post degree) returning students communities, our communities from both south and north Monterey County. That is why we have "Gentrain" and classes for older adults, special vocational schools and training academies, distance learning classes in addition to regular academic classes. We are working to meet the needs of these communities and we must continue to do so as those needs might change or expand. And that is as it should be in a people's college. I believe in that goal. Furthermore, I believe in a broader, more democratic structure for representation on the MPC board so that it may be better able to respond to the "felt needs" of all our communities. I will work toward that end.

MPC should always be noteworthy for its excellence. The Board must strive with fairness, openness, imagination, intelligence and diligence to meet the needs of our communities; our students and the just needs of our faculty and staff. We must continue to strive to keep MPC one of the best of the people's colleges. That is what I pledge myself to do.