SCENE THE
THE
Spring Issue 6
MAY 10, 2019
THESCENEFP.COM
heartbreaking finale
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See page 6
Competition for Trump See page 7
St. Louis Community College at Forest Park
STLCC employee accused of stealing $5.4 million By Joshua Phelps The Scene staff The Forest Park campus has been buzzing for the past week in reaction to news that St. Louis Community College is accusing an employee of stealing $5.4 million over 10 years. The college filed a civil lawsuit on April 30 in St. Louis County Circuit Court against Donald Robison for allegedly diverting the state funds to a fictitious company, beginning in 2008. He is manager of corporate Pittman solutions for the STLCC Workforce Solutions Group, which offers “programs and services designed to advance people, businesses and communities,” according to its web page. Robison has been placed on administrative leave pending completion of an investigation, according to an STLCC news release emailed May 1. “Also, we’re seeking to freeze his accounts in an attempt to recover any money that we can for the state,” Chancellor Jeff Pittman said in a telephone
interview with The Scene. Robison has worked 27 years for the college. Pittman said another employee discovered “financial irregularities” that prompted the college to begin an investigation. “What we have discovered so far is that this was not college money,” Pittman said. “This was money that came from a state account, and for years this individual had been diverting funds into his company. We’re taking immediate actions against this.” STLCC is one of 12 colleges contracted by the state to administer the Missouri Community College New Jobs Training Program in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Economic Development. At STLCC, the contract is handled by the Workforce Solutions Group. The group is based at the Corporate College building in Bridgeton, but it has offices on individual campuses, including Forest Park. According to the lawsuit, Robison registered a fictitious company, called “MS Services,” with the state and portrayed it as a third-party vendor that was providing job training. “Donald Robison began creating and submitting requisitions to the Training Fund on behalf of MS Services for non-existent training services,” the lawsuit states. “In re-
College, union disagree on raise By Joshua Phelps The Scene staff
sponse to each requisition, the fiscal agent paid MS Services for training services, which it never performed.” The college has hired the audit firm BKD CPA & Advisors and the law firm Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale in St. Louis to help with the investigation. “We have notified local law enforcement and state authorities who have been enlisted
Adjunct faculty members at St. Louis Community College have received two 3 percent raises since they voted to form a union in 2015, and now they’re asking for a third. The college has agreed to another raise, but it’s only offering 2 percent, and the union wants 5 percent, saying it needs to make up for all the years that salaries remained flat. “I have to teach at both St. Louis Community College and at (St. Louis University) in order to earn enough to make a living,” said Russell Tallant, an adjunct who has been teaching Spanish at Forest Park since 2013. “I’m working 65 hours a week just to make one salary.” On April 25, adjunct Linda Stewart addressed the STLCC Board of Trustees at its monthly meeting. She argued that there is too much of a discrepancy between adjunct pay and the salaries of full-time faculty members. “There are more adjuncts than any other group at the college,” said Stewart, an STLCC adjunct for 25 years who now teaches English on the Florissant Valley campus. “We are the people who students see. We influence them
See Employee page 3
See Adjuncts page 3
Provided photo
Don Robison is shown speaking at the 2015 fall conference of the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers.
38-4 Lady Archers have an eye on a bigger goal By Timothy Bold The Scene staff
Final push
Photo by Timothy Bold
Contractors use cranes to work on the façade of the new Center for Nursing and Health Sciences building on the Forest Park campus last week. See pages 4 and 5 for a sneak preview of the inside.
The STLCC women’s softball team is on fire, winning its first Division II Region 16 tournament in dominant fashion against the Mineral Area College Cardinals while gearing up for a trip to the district tournament. Since taking over the women’s team three years ago, the wife-husband coaching team of Kristi and Joe Swiderski have led the Lady Archers to national prominence. They both come from an extensive background of select and college softball in the St. Louis region. They met as students at UMSL, she as a softball player and he as a baseball player. Before coaching at STLCC, Kristi Swiderski was a stay-at-home mom, joining her husband in helping their son battle brain cancer for 9½ years. He died in 2015. Kristi Swiderski puts a big emphasis with her players on grades and mental toughness. “You’re not going to play softball forever, and eventually you’re going to have things you don’t want to do,” she said. “It’s easy to lose focus, so you try to find a balance to keep them motivated.” The Lady Archers, who are ranked No. 6 nationally in NJCAA Division II, enter the District 24 championships May 16 with a
38-4 record and a 17-game winning streak. They’ve won 32 of their last 33 games. A victory in the regionals would send STLCC to the national tournament on May 22-25 in Clinton, Miss. The team also won the regular season title of the Missouri Community College Athletic Conference. The 8-0 regional victory May 6 over Mineral Area came from the combination of batting, fielding and pitching. Sophomore Hannah Marquardt delivered a one-hit shutout after dealing with a bout of plantar fasciitis, a heal inflammation. “When I started warming up, I was afraid of hurting myself, but I had to push through for my team,” Marquardt said. She was pitching a perfect game until Cardinals freshman Kelly McMahon drilled a pinch single through the middle with two outs in the sixth inning. “I was feeling really good today, very happy with my performance,” Marquardt said. She got support in the field, especially from sophomore shortstop Abby Lavely and freshman second baseman Breanna Potthast. Kristi Swiderski described Potthast as a “fireplug, short in stature, but has heart and the whole package.”
See Softball page 3