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POLITICAL ECONOMY DAYS
Palomar College’s Independent Newspaper
were hosted at Palomar last week. For full coverage, check out the-telescope.com
Vol. 66, No. 15 • Monday, April 22, 2013 1140 W. Mission Rd, San Marcos, Calif. Find us online at the-telescope.com
Clockwise from top left to right: Professor John Stoessinger, Professor Farideh Rahmani, a group in attendance of a session, a map from Rahmani’s presentation, and Professor Rangeeta Basu April 17 during Political Economy Days. • Photos by Kaity Bergquist, David Krueger and Cliff Ireland/Telescope
WHAT’S VETERANS’ TUITION CUT • PG. 3 RAPE CULTURE• PG. 4 INSIDE PLAY PREVIEW• PG. 7 MOTORCYCLE RACING • PG. 12 RETIREMENT
FACULTY
Dean to retire after 38-year career
GETTING WHAT’S DUE
Emma Maliszewski
After five years with no pay raises, a group of Palomar faculty members is working with the district to make changes. The Palomar Faculty Federation (PFF) is in negotiations with the Palomar Community College District for compensation and benefits for faculty. According to PFF lead negotiator Teresa Laughlin, no faculty or staff have received raises in the past five years because of budget cuts. Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is one of PFF’s bigger issues. COLA is defined as a raise in salary when the economic inflation calls for higher incomes. This is dependent on the state budget - the PFF has proposed to the district that if the State budget includes a cost of living adjustment, then and only then would it be applied to faculty and staff salary schedules.
THE TELESCOPE
Social and Behavioral Sciences Dean, Judy Cater has seen Palomar’s campus and the city of San Marcos change dramatically during her nearly fourdecade career. Now, after 38 years, Cater is ready to retire in June and said, “It has been extraordinary to see all of the changes.” Cater may be an interim dean, but her career at Palomar has proven to be anything but temporary. She started at Palomar as a replacement for a librarian on a yearlong sabbatical in September of 1975. Since then, she said she “never found a good reason to leave.” Cater was offered a fulltime position in the library where she spent the first 34 years of her career at Palomar. Judy Cater. • Melinda Finn “I was hired at Palomar a year after I graduated from Simmons College in Boston, where I got my master’s degree in Library Science,” Cater said. Cater was offered the job as the Dean of Social and Behavior Sciences in August of 2009, which she accepted conditionally. “I decided that when the permanent job was open that I really didn’t want to stay as long as the college had a right to expect me to,” Cater said. She agreed to be a temporary dean until they could find a worthy candidate for the job. “I’ve been an interim dean for four years. My position isn’t permanent, but the position that I’m filling is going to be filled by a permanent dean,” Cater said. A nationwide search is underway to find a permanent Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences. According to Cater, Palomar is hiring 18 new faculty members for next year, with six new hires in Cater’s division. “The permanent position opened in the late fall, so it seemed like a good time for me to retire,” Cater said.
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“Moreover, the PFF proposed a formula to distribute any growth funds, (actually we suggested the same formula that the district and PFF agreed to in a previous contract). The district rejected both of these ideas; instead they offered to come back to the table to negotiate any new funds including COLA,” Laughlin said in an email update. “Everybody on this campus has been waiting for it to come. We are wanting COLA so badly because we really need it,” Governing Board President Nancy Chadwick said. She explained that it’s still a waitand-see situation because they don’t know if the state will allow Palomar to get COLA. “The inflation over the past five years has been about 13 percent and we’ve not had any kind of increase in pay,” Laughlin said. “COLA is minimal really, we need more than that, but our contention is that is should be passed through without any delay.” The 13-percent increase is measured by the Consumer Price Index and reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The college is expected to receive $3.2 million from the state in the next fiscal year to the General Fund. “They’re worried about uncertainties and they don’t want to get into a situation where they don’t have cash, but they’re fine. I imagine that when push comes to shove we will
COLA: COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT NO RAISES IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS FOR FACULTYBUT THERE WAS A 15 PERCENT INCREASE IN INFLATION get COLA, that’s my guess,” Laughlin said. “It’s been five years without an increase in pay, so it’s kind of necessary.” The District and the PFF met Feb. 11, Feb. 27 and March 11 to work through issues, including changes to the academic calendar, leaves, course maximums, compensation and benefits. Laughlin said these were very productive meetings. She reported in an email update March 14 they had approved part-time faculty benefits for another year. The next meeting between the two parties was scheduled for April 25, but may be pushed to May 9, Laughlin said. “It was a rough five years and things are on the mend, things are getting better, and in our opinion, in terms of the PFF, we think the faculty has worked really hard to keep classes open and to add more people into classes,” Laughlin said. “It’s a good faith gesture on the part
Teresa Laughlin. • Telescope File Photo
of the administration to let COLA pass through and figure out how to do growth later.” The District and the PFF have decided if they don’t come to a compromise by Oct. 1, the funds will be distributed according to a previous agreement. kbergquist@the-telescope.com