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After a week of rumors, DMC President Mark Escamilla sent out a campus-wide e-mail Friday addressing a new five-year strategic plan called “Access to Excellence” that said “organizational restructuring would be necessary to accomplish the goals of the plan.”
Claudia Jackson, assistant to the president for community relations, said, “I think the important thing is for folks to understand that for any institution to grow and prosper, it has to be flexible. It has to have the opportunity to shift resources in a way that may make things better. We’ve shifted these particular positions in this area a number of times in the last decade.”
According to numerous sources, as of last Monday, directors and staff members of departments under the supervision of Jose Rivera, vice president of Student Development, began reporting to Lee Sloan, interim vice president of Administration and Finance and not Rivera, indicating changes in DMC’s administrative structure.
Those changes were confirmed when Escamilla announced two new positions, Dean of Student Outreach and Enrollment Services and Dean of Student Engagement and Retention (formerly listed as the vacant Assistant to the Vice President of Student Development positions in the February 2010 organizational chart).
According to the e-mail, those two positions will report to Sloan. Dr. Leonard Rivera, formerly Director of Off-Campus Programs, has been named Interim Dean of Student Outreach and Enrollment Services and will oversee responsibilities for the Admissions/Registrar, Testing, Recruiting, Outreach and Off-Campus Programs.
“Every time there was a change, there were questions about [whether or not] this [was] the right thing to do,” said Jackson. “I think we have to understand that the Board [of Regents] has asked the president to do things with regard to enrollment management and these are the strategic decisions about the positions that he feels strongly will get us where we want to be.”
Another departmental change was that Bud Harris, formerly Dean of Workforce and Economic Development, has been named Executive Dean of Intergovernmental and Business Affairs.
He will be responsible for intergovernmental relations, corporate contracts and general oversight of the Center for Economic Development.
Last week, sources also indicated that jobs were being eliminated.
“It’s not about personalities, it’s about positions,” said Jackson. “I know it’s hard to separate those when you’ve got an individual in that box in the organizational chart.”
DMC exempt employees, administrators and middle management are under contract on a year-to-year basis. Under DMC policy, the college is required to give six months notice if an employee’s contract will not be renewed.
“By policy, the college is required to let them know in the March-April time frame,” said Jackson. “It’s for the protection of the employee.”
Non-exempt employees, custodial, groundskeepers, classified clerical and office staff are on a month-to-month contract.
“They don’t, by and large, get a notification every month,” said Jackson, “but, it is my understanding, that they are given a month’s notice or a period of notice that says ‘At the end of this next month, when the month is over, your contract is no longer in effect.’”
Susie Jarvis, recruitment specialist in the Office of Student Recruitment and Outreach Services, was among those who were told that their job was being eliminated.
According to Jarvis, she was told to report to Sloan for a meeting last Monday.
“I was taken for the biggest surprise,” Jarvis said. “I never thought that would happen.”
Jarvis said that Sloan informed her that her job was being eliminated as part of a strategic plan developed from recommendations from a consultant hired by the college.
“Sloan said that the move had nothing to do with my performance,” Jarvis said, “but I feel that these plans were already in place way before Fall Convocation when the presentation on strategic planning was presented and when I was moved to the South Campus.”
During the fall semester, Jarvis was moved from the East Campus to the Off-Campus Programs Office in the Center for Economic Development, under the direction of (Leonard) Rivera.
“Our demise was already in place,” Jarvis said. “From the very beginning, I needed new business cards and the [order was] never turned in, even after three requests.”
Jarvis said that more people would be meeting with Sloan under the same circumstances. Other sources have confirmed that others have received their notice of job elimination.
“Everybody is talking, everybody is shaking in their boots,” Jarvis said.
“There will be more job eliminations. The buzz is, they’re going to replace (Jose) Rivera’s position with two people. My question is, how is this going to help the college? How are the students going to be affected?” Jarvis said.
Rivera was in charge of handling and conducting investigations into student grievances and appeals including claims of student misconduct, discrimination and sexual harassment and Financial Aid and scholastic appeals.
According to Jackson, Katheryn Herrera of the Student Development Office will field student grievances and appeals. She will review the process with the student and the student will then need to follow through with the steps of the process. Students with concerns can contact Herrera at 698-1277 or visit the office, Harvin Student Center Room 204, during business hours.
Read more about this story anothers in the next Edition of the Forghorn.
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