Courtesy photo.
SANTA BARBARA — California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley visited Santa Barbara City College on Nov. 4, touring the campus and meeting with faculty and members of the Board of Trustees. He concluded the day with a town hall meeting in the Garvin Theatre, where he discussed the goals outlined in the Vision for Success and the state’s progress on those goals.
Oakley’s visit to SBCC was one stop on a listening tour of all 155 California Community Colleges. “As a Community College, you are at the epicenter of all things that are going on in the community,” he noted, adding, “About 10 percent of all undergraduate students in the country are in the California Community College system.”
During his town hall remarks, Oakley described the Vision for Success in its most basic terms as making sure that students from all backgrounds succeed in reaching their goals and improving their families and communities. He defined and then elaborated on six specific “bold and straightforward” goals:
- Increase credential obtainment by 20 percent
- Increase transfer by 35 percent to UC and CSU
- Decrease unit obtainment for a degree
- Increase employment for Career Technical Education (CTE) students
- Reduce and erase equity gaps
- Eliminate regional gaps
In addition to these goals, he said the Chancellor’s Office is working to secure better funding for students by asking for changes to the Cal Grant system to provide more support for low-income students.Adding that increasing diversity in faculty and staff is another area that needs attention, he stated, “We fundamentally believe that it is good for all students that they be exposed to and are taught by a diverse faculty. We are asking colleges like yours to look at the diversity of its workforce and to come up with an intentional plan of how it is going to increase diversity.”
He spoke seriously of how “our students are going through very challenging times,” namely, “war, recession, a gig economy or an economy that forces them to continually change jobs without having reliable access to health and welfare benefits or retirement, growing housing insecurity and growing food insecurity.”
“We have to adapt to help them meet those challenges,” he stressed. “We were built to be the most adaptive system of higher education in the country.”
Oakley closed by presenting a certificate of recognition to Interim Superintendent/President Helen Benjamin, thanking her for allowing him to visit SBCC.