The results of Seattle Central’s budget crunch-inspired cutbacks have been known to students for a couple weeks now but we haven’t documented the roster of changes here on CHS since reporting on the fiscal process at the start of the month. SCCC’s administration has been searching for some $2 million in cuts to join another $2 million in reductions the school had already decided on. Below are the programs impacted by the slices. Cut back will be the school’s Apparel Design program. Eliminated in whole: Film and Video and Publishing Arts, a program that trained students in skills involving printed and bound paper. Also to be eliminated: the school’s interpreter training program.
In the statement announcing the decisions, the SCCC administration said the cuts are the product of reduced funding for higher education:
These decisions have been reached after great deliberation. The decisions have been painful to make and they will be painful to live with. We are losing dedicated faculty and staff. And we have scaled back or eliminated important community services. Our state voters and our Legislature have drastically reduced funding to higher education in our state. We are seeing the consequences.
The school also announced it is making across the board 5% cuts in all “instructional divisions.” Eliminated programs, the announcement said, will be subject to a union “teach out” agreement meaning SCCC will support the programs until enrolled full-time students complete their coursework. In the meantime, the cut programs will be funded out of the college’s reserves.
Here are the programs cut, cut back and kept intact:
Apparel Design: This program will be fiscally restructured to include the hiring/conversion of one full-time faculty position and the elimination of some part-time faculty positions. In addition, we are suspending major purchases in the Apparel Design program and intend to increase student completion through curriculum review.
Film & Video: This program will be closed at the end of the teach-out.
Publishing Arts: This program will be closed at the end of the teach-out
School of Opticianry: Effective Summer Quarter 2012, this program, as well as the Opticianry store-front, will be removed from state-support/tuition support and placed on tuition and fee support alone (i.e., self-support).
Interpreter Training Program: This program will be closed at the end of the teach-out. We will continue to offer American Sign Language. The college is pursuing a partnership with Western Oregon University on a possible two plus two transfer program for Interpreter Training which may include an online degree option.
Parent Education Program: The college will maintain the nine sites that offer parent education courses, but reduce the number of state-funded/tuition based sections.
Information Center: The college will close the Information Center. An automated voice menu system will be used to handle incoming calls.
Basic Skills: The college will reduce the number of sections offered by five percent — the same percentage for all other instructional divisions.
Distance Learning: To increase revenue, the staff within the program will be restructured to stimulate growth in credit and non-credit distance and eLearning courses. An instructional associate dean will be hired to lead this effort, with the expectation that increased enrollment and revenue will offset the expense.
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I’m really sad to see these programs being taken away. As a graduate from SCCC’s graphic design program, I can attest to the quality and value of these programs. SCCC has always been a great resource for those with modest income to have an opportunity to get some serious training and skills. In my late 20’s, I worked two jobs and attended the program full-time and was eternally grateful for the opportunity to go through the program (I also received a partial scholarship) not only because it was the only place I could afford to go, but because the offerings of the classes exceeded my expectations. I now work in the graphic design field and have stayed employed as an in-house designer and I am so grateful for my education at SCCC. I have also come across many other graduates from the program, along with other professionals who work with people from these programs and there is always commentary about the exceptional quality of work that comes out of here. It’s unfortunate to see these cuts happening. This school is an asset to Seattle and the programs should be supported!
I think the publishing arts program is the print and press program in the basement of the building on the north side. I was in the program in 1988, and left it to get my standard AA. It was an okay program, but I could see the writing on the wall for press operators, even in 1988. Back then we made about 15/hr when min wage was 3.35. They’re probably paying about the same these days, or even less. No sense in having a training program when most of this can be learned on job via apprenticeship.