Management of farm questioned

Former Agriculture department chair left Pierce after changes to farm operation

come back to the farm, and it never got to us,” he said.

carpentry,” Shapiro said in the email. “They have no expertise in farming.”

10/22—Sexual Assault

Leland Shapiro, former chair of the Agriculture and Natural Resources department, has said major changes by the college to the management of the farm prompted his retirement from Pierce College in September.

He retired this semester after 39 years at the college, one year earlier than he’d planned. He said after the college transferred authority over the farm to Plant Facilities it became too difficult to teach his students using hands-on classes.

“I miss the college and I miss the students but it was my time to leave,” Shapiro said.

According to Shapiro, under “tremendous pressure from developers,” the college has sold several pieces of the farm’s land over the years.

“The Board of Trustees promised the revenue of the sale of that would

According to Shapiro, the college “wound up overspending on other things.” He criticized Pierce President Kathleen Burke’s predecessors, but said Burke herself has been more supportive. Shapiro added that Burke has dedicated about $100,000 per year to the farm.

“She did a lot more than her predecessor,” he said.

Associate vice president Larry Kraus disputed Shapiro’s claim that the farm was cut out of the land sale proceeds.

“After part of the land was sold, about half a million dollars went to the farm,” Kraus said.

In an email statement Shapiro sent to former students, he said “college administration decided to take the farm away from Agriculture and give its management authority to the facilities branch of the college.”

The statement added that the Plant Facilities department is not suited to oversee the farm.

“The facilities branch is great at painting, electrical, plumbing and

According to Shapiro, director of Plant Facilities Paul Nieman “controls the purse and overall management of the farm.”

Shapiro compared Plant Facilities managing the farm to him “going over to the music department.”

Shapiro said after Plant Facilities assumed management in his last semester at Pierce, “more chickens, goats and lambs died in the past year than in the previous years combined.”

Christy Daugherty, a PreVeterinary major at Pierce College, works with the farm animals each week. Daugherty works primarily in poultry production and said she wasn’t aware of a spike in animal deaths.

“Animals die,” she said. “It’s not like we get an email that says ‘one chicken died this week’ or ‘no chickens died this week.’”

According to Shapiro, the hours of operation at the farm have been cut drastically.

“Animals require a 24/7 management, and not a 7 to 4 p.m. management,” he said in an email. “Today, workers close the gates by 4 p.m. If an animal needs help in the evening it takes an act of Congress to get permission for someone to stay.”

Daugherty said she was more optimistic about the ability to tend to animals after hours.

“When it comes to emergencies I’m sure they’re not going to let an animal suffer just because it’s night,” Daugherty said.

Instructor of Agriculture Lu Dao could neither confirm nor deny Shapiro’s claim about animal deaths, and Shapiro did not provide documented instances of animal deaths.

Everything the farm does is part of the college’s instructional programs, which fall under the supervision of Vice President of Academic Affairs Sheri Berger.

“I receive a weekly farm report from Greg Mruk,” Berger said, referring to the farm manager at

Pierce College. She said she had not heard about the string of animal deaths Shapiro mentioned. She was only aware of one, a chicken that died during a heat wave. According to Berger, the reports she has received all indicate things are going well at the farm.

Berger said she takes the welfare of the farm’s animals seriously, and is currently working on strategies to keep the animals safe from coyotes.

“The health and safety of the animals is just as important as the safety of our students,” Berger said.

The new chair of the department, Liz White, is excited to be taking over where Shapiro left off.

“I am very excited about where the farm will be in a year from now,” White said. “The farm is at a crossroads as to what they are doing in an instructional sense.”

Shapiro said not many people wanted to run the department after he retired. He said that the chair of the department was only given seven hours to do a job that required 30 to 40 hours a week. There used to be a full-time secretary that would handle phone calls, paperwork and the ordering of supplies. The college asked the chair of the department to handle all of those responsibilities after the secretary retired.

“It looks like it was calculated to be uneconomical to sustain the farm,” Shapiro said.

White described the administration’s attitude toward the department as “quite supportive.”

“Shapiro would be proud of how we are operating the farm and taking care of things,” White said.

Shapiro said that though White “does an excellent job” as the Veterinary Technology director, he will not be satisfied with the situation unless the farm is managed by the Agriculture department.

Neither Nieman or Burke responded to multiple requests for comment about the management change or allegations of animal deaths.

A sexual assault that occurred in September was reported to the Sheriff’s station on Thursday. Fliers with a description of the suspect’s vehicle have been posted around campus to alert students.

10/22—Student Injury

The Sheriff’s station responded to a report of a student injury on Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 9:45 a.m. The student twisted his ankle on the Avenue of the Champions which runs in front of the Gym.

10/19—Student arrested

A male student was arrested at about noon on Monday, Oct. 19, for possession of and attempting to sell marijuana at the SSB student drop-off zone. See News Brief on page 3 of last week’s Roundup Newspaper for more information.

Pierce College Sheriff’s Station

General Information: (818) 719-6450 Emergency: (818) 710 - 4311

California Humanities and aims to promote greater understanding of veterans and the impact of war on communities, according to the organization’s website.

“I’m very pleased to see the library and the college take this on,” said Barbara Lombrano, who served in the military for 13 years and is now vice president of the Student Veterans Club. “They’re putting together not only an exhibit but a lot of different activities for the student body to learn about this.”

War Comes Home provides attendees an insight into the experiences of veterans and their families using the correspondences written between them. Lombrano, who served in the first Gulf War during her time in the Navy, said that letters can be a huge source of reassurance for both those serving and their families.

“I know how important mail from home is,” she said. “It gives you a release to let your family know how you’re doing and to still feel that connection to your family members and it helps relieve some of the stress.”

Valdez said she hopes students can learn more about the lives and struggles of the people tasked with defending their country.

“I’m hoping that students have a better understanding of some of the things these soldiers go through,” she said. “We can only imagine what it was actually like for them so I hope they take away a better respect and acknowledge their service.”

War Comes Home will be on display inside the LLC from Monday, Oct. 26 until Saturday, Dec. 4.