Protesters Disrupt St. Louis Community College Board Meeting

ST. LOUIS, MO — The St. Louis Community College board of trustees voted to approve a plan to lay off more than 100 full-time faculty and staff amid a student-led protest Thursday night. Protesters changed, "Justice for faculty" and "Chancellor Pittman, you can't hide, we can see your greedy side." The board says the cuts are necessary to prevent a multi-million dollar deficit resulting from a drop in enrollment and deep cuts to state funding, but critics point to the Chancellor's salary and irresponsible building projects as better candidates for belt-tightening.

"The college is in a tough position right now," Pittman said. "Laying off faculty and staff is the last thing we want to do. But a $5 million state budget cut calls for us to make critical decisions now."

He said the school has already acted to reduce operating costs with a voluntary separation incentive program, and by cutting administrative positions by 20 percent and selling a downtown administrative building — Cosand Center where the board meeting was held — to reduce overhead costs.

But, adjunct instructor Steve Taylor, who was tackled by police at a board meeting in October, believes that's not good enough. He released a statement yesterday saying the staff cuts were not in the best interest of students. "The replacement of full-time faculty with adjuncts, who do not have the professional support such as offices, job security, and are often overworked with long commutes to various colleges during the workday is not good for students and will harm the quality of education," Taylor said.

Taylor called the college's financial problems self-inflicted and provided documents that indicate the college's chancellor, Jeff Pittman, received a $40,000 stipend for housing and transportation for 2016 and a $35,000 stipend for 2017, in addition to his base salary of $260,000 annually plus health and retirement benefits. A new $32 million Center for Nursing and Health Sciences building has also added to the financial crunch. Taylor called the building project troubling.

"As a college we need to focus on student success, which is more closely aligned to proper full-time instructional staff rather than legacy building projects and extravagant housing and car expenses," Taylor said. "Most people, and all instructors use salary for housing and cars, why does Chancellor Pittman need extra funds to pay for necessities, especially when he is suggesting the layoff of nearly 18 percent of full-time faculty?"

Pittman said the new center is a common sense approach to the demand for allied health and middle skills jobs in the St. Louis area. "As it relates to funding the center, the college utilized a wraparound bond issuance method that will result in minimal impact on our overall budget," he explained. "In fact, our debt service is only 3 percent of our budget, and will decline over time given the current budget situation as past bonds will soon be paid off."

He believes the new building will have a positive impact on student learning and workforce preparation since students will be able to learn on the same state-of-the-art equipment hospitals and other health care providers are using. And, despite protests, Pittman said he has been heartened by input from student leaders who have proposed solutions for the college.

Taylor challenged Pittman's assessment. "I am a math instructor, and I am concerned that the Chancellor thinks 3 percent of the budget is insignificant when it comes to his pet project, but the drastic actions he is taking in firing staff addresses only 1.6 percent. By the numbers, it is clear he could have very different priorities and put faculty and students before buildings."

Taylor did not attend the board meeting, telling Patch that he was given a notice of no trespass preventing him from setting foot on the campus. As of Friday morning, it is unclear — including to Taylor himself — whether he is still employed by the college.

Watch the October board meeting where Taylor was tackled below:

Image via Youtube