Despite all the budget cuts, class cancelations, revealed salary figures, teacher reassignments and student protests, we believe that PCC is still a great college.
In fact, all of the turmoil proves that everyone who is connected with PCC is passionate about its future.
However, there has been a lack of transparency on the part of the administration and the Board of Trustees.
Because of the public relations nightmare their decisions have created, they have resorted to censoring the voices of PCC students.
There is no question that the administration and Board have a vested interest in the continued success of PCC.
However, during the broadcast of the Feb. 22 Board meeting the customary live video stream was cut at the very moment that the protest inside the meeting room began. That was blatant censorship. It countermanded the transparency that the administration and the Board have repeatedly promised to provide.
The public, including students, needs and deserves to have access to Board meetings, whether by telecast or in person, no matter the climate of the meeting. Several students were denied physical access to the meeting and had to resort to standing outside the building or watching the proceedings online.
Board meetings are always streamed online live. The only time it may be acceptable to turn off the camera is when the board is in closed session, as Director of Public Relations Juan Gutierrez told the Courier, because technically there is no meeting to telecast.
However, if the live feed has historically continued even during the closed session of the Board with the camera focusing on the audience or the American flag, why was it shut off on this particular occasion? All of us have the right to know what went on during the entire proceeding.
In contrast to Gutierrez’s statement, Vice President of Information and Technology Dwayne Cable told the Courier that if he’d been asked to turn off the feed, he would have. He said it would be a bad thing for the community to draw the wrong conclusions about students and faculty based on the protests.
We are the community and we had the right to witness all of the proceedings on Feb. 22 and draw our own conclusions, whether they put PCC in a negative light or not. That right was taken from all of us.
Regardless of who gave the order to shut off the camera, it is obvious that everyone on the Board and in the administration was attempting to censor the voice of protesters. Is that what they consider to be the best for PCC’s staff, students and the community?
Board member Bill Thomson told the Courier that the protests were “threatening to the Board.”
Many others feel that through censorship the Board is threatening to them and the future of PCC.
This kind of action should not be repeated.
- EDITORIAL: Apologize about the real problem - April 23, 2014
- STATEMENT: District apologizes to Oscar winning alum - April 21, 2014
- EDITORIAL: The Forgotten Students - March 26, 2014
