From ‘Psycho’ to ‘Jaws’
Hollywood history in every square
Visitors enjoy Universal Studios tour- A2
TCL Chinese Theatre remains popular for its courtyard - B1
Our 166th Year
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7
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3
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5 2nd
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T U E S D A Y , J U L Y 2 7, 2 0 2 1
Former SBCC superintendent addresses resignation Vaccination mandates caused tension in leadership By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The July 12 resignation of Santa Barbara City College’s superintendent and president, Dr. Utpal K. Goswami, stirred speculation about his departure, which was rendered effective immediately. An explosive Board of Trustees meeting Thursday showed a clear divide in the campus: to mandate vaccination or not? During an interview with the News-
Press, Dr. Goswami confirmed that the proposed vaccination mandate spurred his resignation. He began his role at the start of 2020, and the board lauded him as the promising leader the college needed. Soon after his initiation, the pandemic forced the college into virtual learning. “In virtual learning, things were going well, actually. We did some wonderful things,” Dr. Goswami told the News-Press. “Moving online was not the problem.
Dr. Utpal K. Goswami served as Santa Barbara City College’s president/ superintendent from Jan. 1, 2020, until his resignation July 12, 2021.
Dr. Goswami confirmed that the proposed vaccination mandate spurred his resignation. “I think things became more problematic when it came time to discuss coming back face-to-face.” In mid-May, while discussing the return to campus, he began to consider resigning.
“I knew things were not going the way they are supposed to go,” he said. The style of governance wasn’t as he expected. He thought the short length of negotiations was “troublesome.” Please see RESIGNATION on A4
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Santa Barbara Library thrives on private donations Fundraising stressed after city decreases department’s operating budget By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Santa Barbara Library Services Manager Molly Wetta watches patrons walk up to the doors Sunday and Monday, unaware that the central and eastside branches are closed, and press their faces to the glass, disappointed. Santa Barbara library staff were faced with a tough decision this spring as they budgeted for the 2022 fiscal year: Cut hours or cut programming? Staff members wanted to provide literacy courses and tutoring, so they sacrificed operating hours. The city of Santa Barbara, impacted by the pandemic’s constraints, couldn’t offer departments the funding they received in pre-pandemic years. City officials asked them to cut back proposed budgets to allot for the decreased revenue. The Santa Barbara Library’s budget is normally tight, so staff decided to leave two full-time positions open and scale back hourly employees. Its proposed budget cut $150,000 in hourly wages and just over $265,000 for the salaried positions. The Santa Barbara City Council, expressing appreciation for the library’s services, funded an additional supervisor position for the library and contributed seed money toward a teen center. The libraries faced additional expenses when reopening the buildings at the start of June, such as new furniture for social distancing. Around 50 to 100 paper masks have been handed out each day. And staff don’t want to delay pre-existing goals, such as renovating the plaza outside the Central Library. Private funding then becomes essential in the library system’s pursuit of cuttingedge, accessible programs and upgrades. In June, a state-of-the-art mobile library was driven around the city to deliver books, provide internet access and more to community members. “We’re able to meet people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to visit the library by bringing the books to them,” Ms. Wetta told the News-Press. The “Library on the Go” van was launched with a Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara grant and backed by additional private donations. Unfortunately, Ms. Wetta said, grants don’t cover the general operating costs of the libraries. “It’s always been up to the community to step up and help fund our community’s library programs, but it’s also the city’s job to properly fund the operation costs of our libraries,” Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation Director Lauren Trujillo said. The Santa Barbara Public Library’s two main fundraising organizations are the Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation
By DAVE MASON
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Today’s Olympics competition got under way just hours before you picked up this morning’s paper. Around 3 and 4 a.m. Pacific time, Team USA was hoping to win gold medals in women’s gymnastics and softball at the Tokyo event. Also slated today are four swimming events and the women’s triathlon, but all outdoor events could be affected by tropical storm Nepartak, which is expected to hit Japan today. As of Monday, the U.S. placed second for the number of gold medals. It had seven. Japan was in first place with eight golds. China was in third place with six. In terms of the total number of medals, China is leading with 18 (including five silver and seven bronze), the U.S. is in second place with 15 (including three silver and five bronze) and Japan is in third place with 13 (with two silver and three bronze). In light of today’s storm, Olympics officials decided that the first Olympics surfing competition would be condensed. Both the men’s and women’s finals were scheduled to be back-to-back this morning. Originally one would have been on Wednesday. The storm is expected to make today’s waves climb as high as seven feet. Team USA did well Monday morning after sweeping the skeet shooting competition and getting a fourth-straight gold in the 4X100M freestyle relay. The swimming competition also featured Katie Ledecky taking a silver in the women’s 400 free. Team USA struggled Saturday, but soared back Sunday to capture four gold medals.
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
The Santa Barbara Public Library’s central branch, located at 40 E Anapamu St., opened its building June 1. But it never stopped its services during the pandemic. Santa Barbara Friends of the Library contributes to the library’s large collection.
and Santa Barbara Friends of the Library. The Foundation focuses on large capital campaigns whereas the Friends of the Library funds programming and collections with an annual contribution of $65,000 or more. Friends of the Library funds provide a free book to each child in the summer reading program. The Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation is currently seeking the final funds for the Central Library plaza project. It has raised more than $4.1 million so far of the $5 million needed. The city of Santa Barbara contributed more than $1.6 million to the project. “I really think (the plaza) is the light Please see LIBRARY on A3
email: dmason@newspress.com
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U.S. behind Japan in gold medals NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
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OLYMPICS UPDATE
Sudoku................. B3 Weather................ A4
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 1-5-19-27-40 Mega: 8
Monday’s DAILY 4: 8-9-9-8
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 13-17-19-40-69 Mega: 17
Monday’s FANTASY 5: 6-18-19-26-29
Monday’s DAILY DERBY: 03-05-09 Time: 1:42.08
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 1-4-11-59-67 Meganumber: 10
Monday’s DAILY 3: 7-7-9 / Midday 1-9-5