Chemeketa Community College

Chemeketa Community College officials are considering a $10.50 per credit increase in tuition and fees for Oregon residents.

At a meeting Wednesday night, Chemeketa administrators suggested that members of its Board of Education consider the proposal to partially offset expected budget shortfalls while Oregon weathers the national economic recession.

Chemeketa students currently pay $61.00 per credit for tuition, and that cost per credit would rise to $70. The universal and services fee students pay will also increase $1.50 to $8 per credit hour. The total cost of tuition and fees would increase about 16 percent to $78.00 per credit hour under this proposal. Chemeketa’s board will take action on student tuition and fee proposal February 18^th. If approved, the increases would take effect fall term 2009.

“Chemeketa has traditionally kept its costs among the lowest of Oregon’s seventeen community colleges,” said Craig Smith, Chemeketa’s chief financial officer. “We anticipate other community colleges, which are facing the same funding circumstances we face, will have to adjust upwards. Our goal is to place tuition charges for Chemeketa in the middle third of state community colleges.”

Last year, student tuition and fees accounted for 23 percent of Chemeketa’s general fund budget with local taxes providing 24 percent and state sources providing 44 percent. Miscellaneous revenues and the beginning fund balance forwarded from the previous year account for the remaining 9 percent of Chemeketa’s revenues. Community colleges throughout the state are already facing a decline in state funding for the 2009-11 biennium and college officials are concerned the situation could get worse.

“Current economic trends suggest we could be facing even more funding cuts,” said Liz Goulard, vice president. “We have to plan for the right balance of increased revenue and cost reductions to maintain the education and workforce development training our local residents require now more than ever.”

Terry McLaughlin would stand up to anyone who would dare to tarnish the Chemeketa College Volleyball team’s historic undefeated 50-0 season.“There are those who might claim that we had an easy season, but our team fought their way back from close matches four times,” said McLaughlin, head coach.Looking back, he could see the team beginning to take shape as early as tryouts.“We had 50 athletes turnout for the two tryouts, and it was the decisions we made there that made all the difference,” he said.

 Two players, Chelsea Fosback and Alisha Shigley, were named two-year college All-Americans, first and second teams, respectively. McLaughlin was named Coach of the Year by the American Association of Volleyball Coaches.The 2008-09 volleyball team is just the second undefeated team in the Chemeketa’s history. The first was the 1990-91 men’s basketball team that went 33-0.The team member decided early on that if they didn’t perform no one on the team would receive any honors. McLaughlin said that commitment paid out in spades.

 “This was a cohesive team from the start,” he said. “If they hadn’t been unified working toward a common goal, none of the rest would have been possible.”McLauglin returned to Chemeketa coaching this year after a seven-year break between 2001 and 2008. During his prior 14-year run, McLaughlin led the Storm team to a cumulative record of 491-173, a .739 winning percentage, and two championship seasons in 1997 and 1998. His teams accumulated nine top five finishes in NWACC.(Photos: McLaughlin, Fosback, Shigley.)

Chemeketa is hosting two holiday sales to raise money for it’s athletic and art programs.

The Athletic Department is sponsoring a craft fair in the lobby of Bldg. 2 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 5.

The Art Gallery is hosting an art sale Dec. 5 and 6, from 10 a.m. til 6 p.m. Student, faculty and staff-produced art will be on sale.

With architectural work for a new health sciences complex underway, Chemeketa Community College and Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) officials have laid the foundation for a new program to be housed in the building.

On Friday, Nov. 7, the presidents of both colleges signed documents joining the schools in a dual enrollment agreement and offering OIT’s dental hygiene program at Chemeketa. The signing ceremony was held at Chemeketa’s Salem Campus.

“We’ve built a bridge spanning distance and time for students that might otherwise see those two elements as obstacles to education,” said Cheryl Roberts, Chemeketa president. “The agreement also creates more opportunities for a trained workforce.”

Dual enrollment will allow Chemeketa students to be jointly admitted and enrolled at both OIT and Chemeketa, to benefit from one financial aid package, and to have access to both Chemeketa and OIT services and support.  Chemeketa’s Health Sciences Center will add dental hygiene to its cluster of nursing and allied health programs.

The bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene will be offered on Chemeketa’s Salem campus and supported by both institutions.   In short, students will receive all the benefits of Chemeketa’s small classes and support services while earning a higher level degree than those typically offered at a community college.

“This agreement feels good,” said Dr. Christopher Maples, president of OIT. “We’re streamlining opportunities for success to students increasingly concerned about accessibility to education.”

The new program will be instituted shortly after the completion of Chemeketa new health sciences building in 2011. OIT will be the fourth college Chemeketa holds dual enrollment agreements with, joining Western Oregon University, Oregon State University and Portland State University.

Photos: (Top) Dental assisting student Melissa Del Real practices rinsing and drying teeth on student Ayla Duyn. (Bottom) Cheryl Roberts, president of Chemeketa Community College, and Dr. Christopher Maples, president of the Oregon Institute of Technology, joke as they sign documents joining the two schools in a dual enrollment agreement. 

Well, if all goes well, voters across the country will have determined the next president of the United States by this time tomorrow. We’ve got a couple of programs lined up to keep you busy while you wait for the results and, possibly, to comfort you in the aftermath.

Today, Chemeketa is hosting an Election Day celebration from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Student Center.

Tomorrow, Chemeketa instructors TaylorMarrow and Peter Starr will be discussing the next steps for American democracy now once the election is over. The talk begins at 1:30 p.m. in the Multicultural Center. There’s lots of work to be done out there and we need all hands on deck.

In the meantime, make sure to get those ballots in or get down to your local polling place.

Chemeketa Community College sold $50 million in bonds Friday, Oct. 24.

The sale is the first resulting from the passing of a $92 million bond measure in May 2008. The measure was approved by voters. The sale was also a breakthrough for the college, which had planned to offer the bonds last month just as the municipal bond market began to freeze.

Sale of the bonds also puts the college on track to keep the commitments made to the community when it asked voters for approval, said Craig Smith, a vice president at Chemeketa, and it’s chief financial officer.

“Supporting the construction of new facilities at community colleges is one of the most immediate ways to pump good-paying jobs into the economy as construction gets underway,” said Smith. “On the back end, the college will have increased capacity for more students who will graduate from the college prepared for highly-skilled work.”

Smith and consultants with the college have been monitoring municipal bond markets on a daily basis for the past month. By biding its time, the college succeeded in finding buyers who had pulled money from the stock market and were searching for a place to put it.

The bond measure will fund the construction of a health sciences building and additional classroom space on the Chemeketa Salem campus; an emergency response building, for the training of EMTs, firefighters, and police officers, in Brooks; and a new McMinnville campus to replace the existing modular facility.

Free Trade, Human Rights and Immigration 

Most recent talk about immigration is cast in which resources might be drained from the U.S. as a result, but it is rarer to hear the stories of what motivates immigrants to seek out a place in this country.

On Wednesday, Oct. 8, about 60 participants in the Free Trade, Human Rights and Immigration forum got to hear first-hand about the conditions many present-day undocumented workers flee in hopes of finding a better life, and the realities that immigrants face once they set foot on American soil. The forum was part of Chemeketa’s series of Pizza and Politics events.

Bishop Medardo E. Gómez-Soto, a bishop of the Resurrection Lutheran Church of the Salvadoran Synod, spoke of his experiences as a young pastor in his native El Salvador and how it led him dedicate his life to human rights work.

“I observed many injustices and a lot of suffering, a poverty not lived in the United States,” said Gomez-Soto through an interpreter. “I began to wonder if God existed. If he was blind and deaf, or simply made exceptions for some people and not others.”

Gomez-Soto said the poverty wracking El Salvador seemed to be at its worst during a 12-year civil war fought between the government and guerilla groups. But he observed something else amidst the deterioration and decay that plagued his country. Hope.

“It made me realize I had to be the one to show them God existed. If we don’t oppose injustices, evil will reign forever. We have to act,” said Gomez-Soto.

When a truce was signed in 1992, many expected to see a balancing of the scales.

“We thought we’d be able to work together to create justice, but things have gotten worse,” said Gomez-Soto.

About one-third of native El Salvadorans now live outside the country having sought new lives in the U.S., Canada and Europe. United Nations officials cite an 80 percent unemployment rate within the country. Worst of all, said Gomez-Soto, people are losing hope.

He encouraged those in attendance to organize to fight injustice.

“A disorganized people can be played with and not respected. Only the people can save the people,” he said.

Gomez-Soto shared the stage with Carrie Tracy, an attorney and director of the Immigration Project for the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations. Tracy spoke briefly and introduced the audience to a board game that highlighted the struggle immigrants face even if they apply for legal immigration. Players assume the lives of actual immigrants and must roll their way to citizenship. Only two of the six players end up on a path to citizenship, the rest take a spot on the “undocumented limbo loop.” After 15 minutes of play, no one in the room achieved U.S. citizenship.

“We want to see laws for immigration changed or a change to the way they’re enforced,” said Tracy.

For more information on the Northwest Federation of Community Organizers, visit nwfco.org.

(Photo by The Chemeketa Courier’s Michael Yu)

Join the writers and researchers behind the League of Women Voters nonpartisan Voter’s Guide for discussion of the Oregon ballot issues (all 12 of them) on Wednesday, Oct. 22, in the Multicultural  Center. The conversation begins at 1:30 p.m., pizza and soft drinks will be provided.

Also, let’s hear it for Chemeketa’s civic engagement team. Between classes visits, table displays and even a roaming registration cart, the team managed to sign up 1,426 voters to participate in the Nov. 4 elections. Team members are:

Trey Ward, Nathan Carrick, Anna Putman, Taylor Dunne, and Brittany Stevens.

Sorry for the lapse here at the end of last week.

Chemeketa’s 1st Nation Club is looking for members. Anyone with in interest in Native American culture should stop by the Student Center in Building 2 and fill out an interest card, or call 503.798.8902.

Students with an interest in horticulture should stop by the Horticulture Club meeting. Members meet each Monday at 4 p.m. in the greenhouses on the Salem campus.

Richard Riggs, a member of the Chemeketa Board of Education and a candidate for state representative, will be discussing issues of education in 2008 election tomorrow, Oct. 15,  in the Multicultural Center from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

Vicki Berger, the current officeholder of the District 20 legislative seat Riggs is seeking, will  talk about education issues in the upcoming election on Thursday. She is scheduled in the Multicultural Center from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

A summary of the goings on during the first Pizza and Politics event, on the importance of voting, can be found here (click on the voting is essential tab).

Also, today is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 4 elections. If you’re not registered yet, voter registration cards will be available throughout the day in the Building 2 lobby.