Chancellor visits, answers audience questions

Nieman and two Sheriff’s officers escorted an audibly upset former Pierce Foundation Director Dennis Washburn from the building.

SCOTT PREWITT News Editor @s_prewitt

LA Community College

District Chancellor Francisco

Rodriguez fielded questions March 26 at a Pierce College event dubbed “Conversation With The Chancellor.”

Rodriguez addressed several issues centered around the district’s budget woes during the recession, and attempted to reassure audience members that those issues are in the past.

“I’m not concerned about this year’s budget, or the following year’s, but three or five years from now,” Rodriguez said. “And the good news is, we’re finally out of the recession.”

Rodriguez said between the 200809 and the 2013-14 school years, the LACCD cut its enrollment by 20,000 full-time students. He added that the district is starting to increase enrollment to pre-recession numbers.

But before Rodriguez took the stage, Facilities Director Paul

“This is not a way to run an airline, I’ll tell you that,” said Washburn, also former mayor of Calabasas.

Pierce President Kathleen Burke took the stage after the incident and welcomed the chancellor. In her introduction speech, she made reference to the event’s private nature.

“I just want to remind everybody this isn’t a public event,” Burke said.

However, the event’s fliers made no reference to that, and listed only the “Conversation With The Chancellor” tagline, accompanied by Rodriguez’s name and the location, date and time of the event.

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Rodriguez called for questions at the end of his address.

One student seated in the back of the theater asked the chancellor why there were no notifications on the vacant cafeteria to explain the absence of food vendors. Burke stepped onto the stage and redirected the question to Associate Vice President Larry Kraus.

“I assume you’re talking about the fact that the cafeteria had been open at one point, and that the contract wasn’t renewed with that company,” Burke said. “Larry, is

Larry [Kraus] still here? So you’ll take care of that Larry.”

Kraus responded affirmatively.

However, he had no information when he was asked about it later that day.

“No, I don’t have any [answer],”

Kraus said. “I don’t have any information right now.”

Rodriguez also addressed a question about whether costs to operate the cafeteria were taken into account before its construction during the recession.

“Uh, so, what we want to do is, you know, and, when the district was running food services through a variety of mechanisms,” he said.

“It was spending, it was costing the district about $700,000 per year to do that.”

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The Career and Transfer Center will host free workshops for students to learn about transfer resources, minimum transfer requirements and general education pathways.

The workshops will happen Wednesday, April 1, 10 to 11 a.m. and Thursday, April 2, 1 to 2 p.m. in the Career and Transfer Center Workshop Room on the first floor of the Student Services Building.

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