Future of college farm now in question Animals may be sold, Pre-Vet classes possibly canceled due to budget cuts

The Pierce College Farm, the only urban community college farm in Southern California, is undergoing a financial crisis as a result from budget issues plaguing California community colleges.

If the farm does not gain resources within a month, Pierce will have insufficient means to feed the cattle, sheep and chicken, according to Dr. Leland Shapiro, head of the Agriculture Department.

The college will be forced to shut down the farm, which is home of dozens of animals and many dedicated students.

“It will be wrong to raise animals here if we can’t treat them humanely,” Shapiro said.

“But we’re broke.”

The college administration, on the other hand, insists that there is no intent to close the farm.

“There is no imminent threat of the farm being closed down,” Dean of Research, Planning, and Enrollment Management Carol Kozeracki said.

If the farm does close, it would leave agriculture, pre-veterinary and veterinary tech- nology students in the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles without an opportunity to obtain hands-on experience in treating animals.

“No one is going to go to a doctor who’s only watched surgeries on television or in movies,” he said. “Likewise, no one is going to hire a manager of a farm or operation unless they have the hands-on experience.”

Without the farm, students would be incapable of competing against other students in the country when applying to graduate schools, UCs or CSUs, Shapiro said.

“I love my students,” Shapiro said. “They have to work so much harder than any other student just to get the work done.”

Tanisha Naido, pre-veterinary major, chose to attend Pierce over a community college closer to her hometown of Redwood City, Calif., because of the Pre-Veterinary program and the tools it offers its students.

“[The farm] has helped me a lot,” Naido said. “ [We have] the animals, and get handson experience. If the farm closes, we won’t be able to learn the way we do.”

When Shapiro began his work at the farm 40 year ago, it provided a home to 450 cattle, 250 sheep, 250 pigs and 6,000 chickens.

Today, the farm has 20 cows, 12 sheep, no pigs, 33 chickens and only 3 workers.

“There is no imminent threat of the farm being closed down,” Kozeracki said.

The cost of feed per day for the animals is about $90.

“We could feed more animals with that money, but we don’t have enough workers and I don’t have money coming down from the sky,” Shapiro said.

In past years, the farm earned money from movie shoots on the farm and a profitable dairy.

Eventually, the college requested to receive a part of the income from the movie shoots. Today, the farm only receives 20 percent of money paid for usage of the farm for filming.

In addition, when on-sight filming causes accidental damage to the farm, the Agriculture Department is forced to pay to repair it, Shapiro said.

The school also decided to close the Pierce College Dairy to save money, Shapiro said.

“Actually, this costs money because the dairy was the only part of the farm that was profitable,” he said.

[See Farm on page 3]

The foster youth services program provides support services to children that have been through events in their life that caused them to suffer. Some of the problems with these children have to do with the displacement from family, schools and multiple placements in foster care.

“The goal is to give them a fair advantage with all the other students,” David Follosco, dean of Students Services, said. “In order to do that priority registration was put into the program.” the number of citations distributed, passes sold or parking spaces available this semester.

Priority registration allows qualified students to register for classes ahead of new students.

In addition, special services like counseling, tutoring, note-taking assistance and seating arrangements will be offered.

There are four groups of students that can take advantage of priority registration and they must all qualify under their programs: disabled students, Extended Opportunity Programs and Services students, veterans, and foster youth.

Although there are many factors in students that can be taken into consideration to be given special services such as early enrollment, some students agree that it is necessary and fair to the groups that are given that chance.

“I may not always get the classes I need, but the people that get the benefit [priority registration] deserve it, they should feel just like any other student,” Carol Medel, a marketing major student, said.

Many students on campus struggle to get classes every semester due to budget cuts. Some think early enrollment for these certain groups can also affect the amount of time it takes to graduate.

“Many students that are given this opportunity don’t take advantage of it and its not fair to the rest of us. Seniors and students with a high GPA should also get priority to pick classes,” Andrea Meneses, 20, a political science major student, said.

According to Follosco, the college follows the decisions of priority registration under the state law mandated by the California education code.

Priority registration serves a purpose for these groups and that is to help them achieve their educational goals with less difficulties; the foster youth program will be given that opportunity to the students that qualify under the requirements.

Kraus added that the plan was to install meters in lots 5 and 6 East because they get the most traffic, but the project lacks funding.

The six existing meters on campus generate a combined total $60,000 a year, that is $10,000 each.

According to these numbers, installing meters in lots 5 and 6 East would pay for itself in less than two years.

Until then, perhaps parking enforcement could sell passes instead of citing students that have much more to worry about than where to park.

The Academic Senate has a number of task forces addressing the campus’ problems and this is an issue that affects a significant number of students as well as visitors.

Parking has gone unaddressed for too long.

Maria

Opinion

Paid parking is nothing new for college students, but is preferred parking really worth the extra $7 when parking on campus is anything but preferred?

College is difficult enough with the rising tuition costs and education cuts, but now students may face a $3 increase for preferred parking depending on the upcoming March student elections.

This would take the cost of a preferred parking pass from $27 up to $30, bringing the total ASO fee up to $10.

Which makes me think, what is it that we are we actually paying for?

Are we paying for a preferred parking pass or an Associated Student Organization (ASO) membership?

As stated in the Business Office’s section of the Pierce College website, administration is in an agreement with the ASO: “To encourage membership in the Pierce College Associated Students’ Organization.”

If this is the case then it should be clearly stated that the $7 preferred fee goes to funding the ASO, perhaps then students would find the fee reasonable.

Possibly, but not likely when students find themselves burning gas in the endless search for decent parking only to be condemned to lots 3, 4, 5, and 6 up by Pierce’s unfinished and incredibly distant Shepard Stadium.

Though most students are aware

Volume 116 - Issue 1:

Nadim Abu-Hashmeh nabuhashmeh.roundupnews@gmail.com of the terrible parking situation on campus and are experienced enough to deal with it, it no longer makes sense to buy a parking pass when off-campus parking is free. The Metro Orange Line parking lot is now used as free Pierce overflow parking, so why should anyone spend? This struggle for parking puts students in a difficult position, requiring them to travel further distances with less time to get to class. It does not help when kicking skateboards and riding bicycles across campus is not permitted. Students pay for tuition and books to attend school and learn, this burden of paying extra for undesirable parking is not worth our precious time or money.

On the front page story, “FTR leaves jobs incomplete,” the Division of the State Architect was accidentally refered to as the “District State Architecture.”

Taylor Rouch trouch.roundupnews@gmail.com

Associated Students Organization President Shane Mooney is spearheading the development of a film that will be created wholly by the student body, from script writing to final edits.