The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
If you have been following the news, you know that Pima Community College recently opened a free childcare center to support parents while they take classes. PCC is modernizing facilities to enhance our career and technical programs, and the college forgave students’ debt incurred during the pandemic. PCC continues to train countless essential workers. Clearly, PCC remains a vital contributor to the southern Arizona community.
However, local media also reports that a former vice-chancellor is suing for wrongful termination and faculty groups are speaking out about policy violations. The Higher Learning Commission (PCC’s accreditor) is monitoring dysfunction on the governing board and requiring a report on progress toward “Board Effectiveness” in one year. Rather than showing an increase in cooperation and respect, recent Board discussions and press conferences have been filled with even more division and recrimination. It is clear the college needs new board leadership if PCC is to fulfill the HLC’s expectations for improvement.
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To that end, the PCC faculty association endorses Theresa Riel for the District 2 seat on the board. For over 33 years, Theresa taught countless students across southern Arizona, including during her 23-year career as a mathematics professor at PCC. As a parent and community member, Theresa has volunteered in schools and advocated for people experiencing homelessness. She is an experienced educator who knows PCC as a faculty member, a student, a parent, and a taxpayer. The governing board needs a leader to be responsive to the entire community, not just a few influential individuals who have declared their intention to control the board. That leader is Theresa Riel.
Theresa believes that college decisions must put students first. While PCC faculty value community members and business partners, the interests of our students must be considered above all else. PCC deserves a board that can ask the right questions, understand the data, and make informed decisions. This includes evaluating the impact of decisions on enrollment challenges, availability of classes, ease of student registration, and meaningful support for prospective and current students.
As PCC is a public institution, Theresa insists that the board hold the college accountable with full transparency. Voting to pay high prices for non-essential projects without sufficient discussion or effort to reach shared understanding must end. To accomplish such meaningful change, Theresa intends to restore autonomy to the governing board, which has eroded in recent years as board members have relinquished their responsibilities to the chancellor.
Finally, Theresa would make sure faculty and staff are included in essential decision making. Recent board actions have excluded faculty and staff from important decisions, even when college policy clearly indicated those employees should be included. Theresa will demand the college follows its own policies.
We appreciate Demion Clinco’s many years of service on the board and recognize that it is an unpaid position with the workload of a full-time job. He has participated in some important changes. However, board dysfunction disrupts the college from top to bottom, and it has to end. College employees need to feel secure to best serve students, but board infighting wastes our resources, diminishes our efforts, and humiliates us. Demion Clinco cannot bear full blame for board dysfunction, but, if you watch the board meetings, he appears to contribute to it. We feel Theresa Riel will bring positive change to the board and help resolve current disputes.
Pima Community College belongs to the entire Tucson community. The governing board is the community’s way to hold the college accountable and to steer the institution toward best serving the greatest number of people. Help secure the brightest future for our community college and join us in supporting Theresa Riel for the District 2 seat on the PCC Governing Board. Learn more by searching Theresa Riel For PCC Board.
Makyla Hays is president of Pima Community College Education Association, the faculty association for Pima Community College.
