monitor
ohlone college Vol. XLIII No. 6
Board votes against results of Task Force
ohlonemonitoronline.com Fremont, California
Campus of mass construction President Browning plans the future building blocks By JOE NICHOLS Opinions editor
By MANIKA CASTERLINE Editor-in-Chief
A package of 22 recommendations to fundamentally change 112 California community colleges received a thumbs down from the Ohlone College Board of Trustees following the advice of Ohlone president Gari Browning. The Board voted 7-5 on March 14 in support of Browning’s resolution to oppose the recommendations of the Student Success Task Force (SSTF). Trustee Teresa Cox and s t u d e n t t r u s t e e Kevin Feliciano abstained from the vote. Browning advised the Board during a special session workshop on March 7 that she could not condone support of the task force findings. “There is at least one issue contained in every one of the recommendations,” Browning said. That appeared to be the sentiment of her colleagues that were at the table, vice president of student services Ron Travenick and vice president of academic affairs Jim Wright. Wr i g h t c r i t i c i z e d a recommendation that mandates community colleges to have centralized placement testing. “The chancellor’s office will make available their assessment that colleges can opt to use. The irony is that every assessment test that is used has to be approved by the chancellor’s office,” Wright said. Travenick backed up Browning, saying that within the recommendations are many things where the spirit behind it is good, but it leads to unintended consequences. In Browning’s comments about recommendation 2.1, she said, “Community colleges are designed and intended to serve local populations and each one is unique. Those differences have led us to offer different programs and services and have resulted in Continued on Page 3
March 15, 2012
COURTESY OF / HMC ARCHITECTS
COURTESY OF/HMC ARCHITECTS
Business brews up a ‘cup of joe’ By JOHN HUGHES Staff writer
Fresh and Easy opened a coffee cart in front of the library on Feb. 14. “We offer freshly brewed Peet’s Coffee, made to order,” cafeteria general manager Jenny Setoh said. The coffee cart also offers fruit smoothies and fresh pastries, fresh fruit, bags of chips and banana nut bread. “Peet’s is a better grade of coffee. My costs are high, but the prices here are cheaper than outside,” Setoh said. The price of a small cup of coffee at the Ohlone coffee cart is $1.60 and a slice of the banana nut bread is $1.95 or $2.12 with tax included. The prices at the Fremont Peet’s Coffee store at 2780 Paseo Padre Parkway, are slightly higher. The small coffee price is $1.80 and the banana nut bread is being sold for $2.25 without the tax. Setoh estimates that sales are about 70 percent student and 30 percent faculty. The coffee cart is open Monday through Thursday, providing fresh items at a reasonable cost.
The Ohlone Board of Trustees will vote April 9 on plans to demolish and rebuild Buildings 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 on the Fremont campus by 2020. The major reconstruction of the campus, first announced in President Browning’s State of the College speech on Jan. 9, is now detailed in the current draft of the District Facilities Master Plan. The five buildings, nearing 50 years old, have beThe bird’s eye view gun to suffer of what from major the Ohlone infrastruccampus will ture problems look like. with the water, sewer, electrical and telecom systems. Stairs on campus have also been a big issue brought up by current and former staff and students. “These buildings are considered to be at the end of their useful lives,” Browning said. According to Browning, the Newark Center was built with a bond of $150 million. The current bond of $369 million should be more than adequate to complete most – if not all the construction projects – that are being considThe future ered as part Ohlone campus of the master will offer plan. an ease of Browning accessability said the Disto students trict Faciliand faculty. ties Committee had looked at remodeling the buildings, but concluded that it would not solve the current issues. Another concern with the buildings is to bring them into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Currently the buildings to be demolished are not in total compliance. “With the old buildings, we would anticipate more problems and we would not have the improved learning environment for our students,” Browning said. “New buildings also have the advantage of easier and less costly maintenance than the older ones.” The new buildings will have more wheelchair friendly elevators. The current proposal would also include the revamping of Ohlone’s athletic fields as part of the campus renovation project. Continued on Page 6