[Scpg] potential destruction of SBCC Center for Sustainability - please contact SBCC Board with your concerns!!

[Quail Springs]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Ann Crosby <seasmilecros at gmail.com>

Date: May 16, 2010 4:42:24 PM PDT

To: sbperm2006 at googlegroups.com, transition-sb at googlegroups.com

Subject: [transition-sb] potential destruction of SBCC Center for Sustainability

Permaculture friends,

I want to make sure you know what is about to happen to SBCC's Center for Sustainability.  

Enclosed is a letter from Adam Green, Director of the Center.  His letter speaks for itself, the issue being that SBCC President Serban is about to --

1) rip out an large environmental trust fund from the SBCC Foundation that was intended to support the Center for Sustainability, and dump those funds into SBCC's General Fund, and

2)  remove the Center from the Foundation itself, thus making it impossible for the Center to receive future donations.

Adam concludes that these actions  will "effectively end the Center".   Please read his letter below.

The Foundation itself will review Serban's intended action this Tuesday, May 18th at their next meeting.  

We may not be able to attend the Foundation meeting where this decision is made.  But we can email SBCC's Board of Directors with our thoughts, since they bear ultimate responsibility.  That contact information is below, following Adam's letter.

The Center has created so many informative classes for our community, and our future would look very bleak without the many activities they generate.

Again, please contact the SBCC Board with your concerns about this!!

Thank you,
Ann Crosby

---------------------- Adam Green's letter -----------------------

[sent to various staff members 5/6/10]

I am writing this to you because you support the Center for Sustainability
and/or are in a position to bring this forward to the Academic Senate.

Recently, President Serban decided to re-direct 85% of a fund designated for
the Center located in the Foundation. These funds were from a donation
received several years ago from a family trust and are not part of the
General Fund. To determine how best to allocate the funds at the time
Barbara Ben-Horin, the Foundation CEO, spoke with the donor's children and
they relayed that their parents were "environmentalists before it was
fashionable." Barbara and I met with the children and they were pleased to
have the funds placed with the Center.

President Serban feels that because this was an internal decision when the
Center was a priority for the college, that she has the right to re-allocate
these funds because she feels the Center is no longer a priority for the
college. In addition, President Serban has directed the Foundation to remove
the Center from its list of priorities making it impossible for the Center
to raise any more funds. This action simultaneously prevents the Center from
raising any funds and removes the bulk of existing funds. Without these
funds I will have to lay off my coordinator, Margie Bushman, which will
prevent any further efforts outside of ongoing multi-year programs. Even
these multi-year programs (One Planet Faculty Training and s'Cool Gardens)
are threatened if I do not have any support from the campus. To be clear,
re-directing these funds and removing the Center from the list of priorities
effectively ends the Center.

Given the challenges we and our students face in the coming years it seems
the campus should support a program that has worked to enrich our campus and
curriculum with highly relevant opportunities designed to better prepare our
students and improve the resiliency of our campus especially when the vast
majority of its budget comes from outside college funds. In an effort to
keep this email relatively short, I will not list the many programs and
events we have done and all that the Center has accomplished, but I will
prepare such a list if needed. As testament to our work, the quote below
accompanied a recent award bestowed on the college for Leadership in
Sustainability.

"Generally speaking, we researched community colleges to see which ones had
the most comprehensive green programs and projects, including green
building, renewable energy, student sustainability initiatives,
sustainability integrated curriculum. Your Center for Sustainability struck
us as being far-reaching, ambitious and inclusive of all these points."

I ask that you support the Center in a coordinated effort to show the
President, Board of Trustees, and SBCC Foundation board that (1) our work is
indeed important to the campus and community, (2) that the designated funds
remain in place, and (3) that the Center remain on the Foundation's list of
priorities. I encourage you discuss this with your respective departments
and/or divisions. I am working with the Biology Department and Sciences
Division to prepare a letter that would include a list of supporters. I ask
that you allow us to put your name on that list and encourage others to do
the same. Departments and Divisions could also send a letter showing support
for our efforts. The letters should be directed to the President, Board of
Trustees, and Foundation board. Time is of the essence and any letter needs
to be sent before May 18 when the Executive Committee of the Foundation
board meets to decide this issue.

Please remember that I am not requesting any money from the General Fund,
only that donated funds be left in place and that we be allowed to continue
raising funds for our efforts.

Support for this letter can be sent to me and Barry Tanowitz, chair of the
Biology Department, via email.

Thank you,
Adam

Adam K. Green, PhD
Program Coordinator Environmental Studies
Director Center for Sustainability
Santa Barbara City College
721 Cliff Dr.
Biological Sciences, EBS 323
Santa Barbara, CA 93109-2394
office: (805) 965-0581 ext 2394
fax: (805) 730-3050
email: green at sbcc.edu
http://sustainability.sbcc.edu <http://sustainability.sbcc.edu/> 

 

----------------------------- SBCC Board's email addresses -----------------------------

President Joe Dobbs:  <mailto:joewdobbs at cox.net> joewdobbs at cox.net,  <mailto:joewdobbs at aol.com> joewdobbs at aol.com
Desmond O’Neill: Des O'Neill: oneill at silcom.com
Joan Livingstone:  <mailto:jmlsba at yahoo.com> jmlsba at yahoo.com
Morris Jurkowitz’s secretary:  <mailto:cwalsh at bssmco.com> cwalsh at bssmco.com
Sally Green:  <mailto:saldg at aol.com> saldg at aol.com
Kathryn Alexander:   <mailto:alexandk at sbcc.edu> alexandk at sbcc.edu
Luis Villegas:  <mailto:villegas52 at aol.com> villegas52 at aol.com 

 

 

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