Bunker King | Staff Writer

Santa Monica College (SMC) Board of Trustees members at a public meeting at the SMC main campus, Santa Monica, Calif. on Sept. 12, 2023 (Photo by Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair).

As classes and faculty get slashed, students speak up.

SMC is experiencing a $7.8 million budget deficit, and one of the ways the administration is tackling it is by cutting faculty and courses. Students have been some of the first to speak out about how this is affecting them, especially the ones in the photography department.

At the September 12 Board of Trustees meeting, the sole public comment was photography student Ren Klein, who voiced concerns about the impacts these cuts are having.

Klein feels that whatever operating costs will come from these cuts, they ultimately won’t be good for the student body. After naming professors Steven Moulton, Steve Anderson, and Natasha Calzatti, Klein said, “these budget cuts will, in effect, cause all of these amazing adjuncts to be fired.”

One of the strategies implemented by the administration is to seek 100% class efficiency. The goal is to monitor student responses to reduced course offerings and adding in sections as demand calls for it. In order to comply with budgetary concerns, this means that some highly qualified professors and coveted classes are not available to students this semester.

After Klein’s comment, Peter Morse, the President of the Faculty Association, gave a speech addressing the cuts to class listings for the fall semester. Morse largely echoed the concerns of Klein, saying, “we support the college trying to be more thoughtful and mindful about what sorts of programs they’re offering… But not at the cost of getting students where they need to be.”

Monica Lopez, another photography student, arrived at the Board of Trustees meeting intending to voice support for her department, but was unable to because she was too late to submit a request to address the Board directly. Requests to read a written comment must be submitted at least a half-hour before meetings and emailed to the Recording Secretary Lisa Rose.

Lopez pointed out that not only were classes missing, but that some of the most critical and important classes weren’t available. “It’s frustrating. They cut the portfolio class. People are getting a certificate without the portfolio class.” In the photography world, portfolios – collections of photographs intended to show the photographers skill, range, and specialties – are one of the main ways that people are able to advertise themselves and get employed. Losing a class that creates such a valuable asset can be a major setback to students hoping to make a career in the field.

Lopez continued, “People are stuck here longer because they have to wait a semester. They’re only running [required courses] every other semester.” Lopez believes that these cuts are particularly unfair to international students, whose student visas might not be able to be extended, and even if they are, will have to spend extra time and money to finish their education in the United States.

As a stop-gap measure to prevent issues for international students and others who don’t want to or can’t wait for Spring, photography Department Chair Josh Sanseri sent out an email to students saying that he would allow students to receive their Associate’s Degrees this semester even if they hadn’t taken the class by substituting an elective photography course.

Klein and Lopez both feel there aren’t enough faculty left to be able to help them achieve their academic goals and succeed in their chosen fields. The administration’s goal, as outlined in the July presentation to the Board of Trustees, was to save five million dollars from these budget cuts, and students don’t believe it is worth the savings.

Sean McDonald, a photography professor, also believes that this system isn’t ideal. “[The administration] wants the classes to be the same size as an English class or a Math class… That’s not tenable.” McDonald believes that even if the administration’s goal of efficiency can be met, there was a better, more measured way to approach it.

In an interview following the Board meeting, Peter Morse said, “I think that the short-term financial gain of not having to pay the teachers as much… Was not considered balanced against the impact that that would have on students.” Morse’s primary responsibility is to make sure that the faculty is being treated appropriately, ostensibly so that they can in turn take care of student needs and nurture them for the future. He believes that with these and future cuts, they won’t be able to fulfill that mission.

Beyond that, Morse believes that this action will wind up making the budget problems even worse down the road. Starting with the 2025-2026 school year, the way that SMC gets funding is going to change. The Student-Centered Funding Formula, adopted in 2018, dictates what districts get what share of state funding. The more students that are enrolled, the more those students are graduating or transferring, and the greater the percentage of those students that are on financial aid, the more money that district will receive. When the budget is calculated in 2025, the school will no longer be under a ‘hold harmless’ provision that has previously prevented the school from receiving penalties to its funding based on declining numbers.

The Faculty Association’s opinion is that these cuts to faculty and classes will make SMC seem less and less appealing to students, causing less students to attend and lead to the college’s funding to fall drastically in 2025.

Chris Bonvenuto, the Vice President of Business and Administration at SMC, was responsible for the July presentation that detailed the budget amendments that would help alleviate the budget crisis. When asked for comment, he stressed that the administration has had the well-being of its students as a major consideration when deciding what to do.

Bonvenuto also stated, “we will continue to look for alternative areas of savings, but as our expenditures are 91% salaries and benefits, our options are limited. Our hope is that as the year progresses, we realize increased revenue or decreased expenditures and can restore some of the reductions that have been necessitated by our fiscal situation.” Bonvenuto feels that, although nobody wanted these cuts, the administration had to take action, and that this was the only way to prevent the college from shutting down in the middle of the 2024-2025 school year.

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