EDUCATION
Wednesday, april 20, 2022
HerMisTOnHerald.COM • A7
BMCC plans deep cuts to faculty in budget
proposal would close criminal
justice, college prep and
industrial systems technology
programs
By ANTONIO SIERRA
Hermiston Herald
After warning about impend-
ing budget cuts for months, the
other shoe has dropped at Blue
Mountain Community College.
At an April 25 budget commit-
tee meeting, BMCC administra-
tion will propose shuttering three
programs and eliminating 10 full-
time faculty positions in addition
to several part-time positions.
Should the BMCC Board of Edu-
cation approve the move, the col-
lege would lose its criminal jus-
tice, college prep and industrial
systems technology programs
while also dropping instruc-
tors from its business, English,
humanities/fine arts, math/com-
puter science, science and social
science departments.
In an April 13 interview, Blue
Mountain President Mark Brown-
ing said the budget cuts need to
be made to help close a $2 million
shortfall in the 2022-23 budget.
“We have to start living within
our means,” he said. “That’s the
bottom line.”
The news was not well received
by the Blue Mountain Faculty
Association, the union that rep-
resents the college’s instructors.
Union President Pete Hernberg
described the list of proposed
cuts as “extraordinary and shock-
ing” and raises questions about
the college’s commitment to the
community.
“These cuts are shocking,” he
said. “They are arbitrary. And
they are unnecessary.”
Hernberg questioned why
BMCC administration wanted
to cut the college’s criminal jus-
tice program at a time when law
enforcement was trying to recruit
skilled personnel. He added that
eliminating the industrial sys-
tems technology department rep-
resented a “broken promise” to
Boardman, which would still
have its Workforce Training Cen-
ter but not one of the signature
programs the center houses.
Kathy Aney/Hermiston Herald
A tree blooms on the campus of Blue Mountain Community College, Pendleton, April 14, 2022. At an upcoming
April 25 budget committee meeting, BMCC administration will discuss budget cuts and potential layoffs.
“THESE CUTS ARE
SHOCKING. THEY
ARE ARBITRARY.
AND THEY ARE
UNNECESSARY.”
Pete Hernberg, president of the Blue
Mountain Faculty Association
Kathy Aney/Hermiston Herald
Blue Mountain Community College will consider proposals to shutter three
programs and eliminate 10 full-time positions and additional part-time
positions.
Browning was prepared to
defend his administration’s choices.
He said a degree from the col-
lege’s criminal justice program
isn’t a requirement to enter the
law enforcement field, and while
he admitted the industrial systems
technology had been a “good
idea” when it was started, the
program’s low enrollment meant
it can be replaced in Boardman
by the higher-demand diesel tech
program.
Browning turned his focus
to the English program, which
would lose one of its instructors
under the administration’s pro-
posal. He said the department’s
four-person staff is the same
size as it was a decade ago, even
though enrollment has shrunk
65% over the past 11 years.
BMCC, and other commu-
nity colleges across the state,
have seen significant enrollment
declines in recent years, and Blue
Mountain staff are starting to see
the effects of that trend.
Since 2019, the college has
reduced its workforce by 39 posi-
tions, albeit under different presi-
dents. Those figures don’t include
additional staffing cuts made
when Blue Mountain was forced
to renegotiate its prison education
contract with the Oregon Depart-
ment of Corrections during that
time period.
This round of proposed cuts
differs from previous years
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because it mostly focuses on
making cuts to faculty. With pre-
vious staff reductions focused on
administration or classified staff,
Browning said there was little
room to cut in those areas.
But Hernberg argued that BMCC
was using its budget to deprioritize
instruction and programming in
favor of contracts with consultants
and tech companies.
“What our community needs
is jobs and training for those
jobs,” he said. “What our com-
munity needs are degrees and
classes toward those degrees.
That’s the promise that our tax-
payers expect us to keep. They
don’t expect us to hire some con-
sulting firm. They don’t expect
us to send a giant chunk of cash
to some tech company.”
Browning contested Hern-
berg’s interpretation of the pro-
posed budget, saying they were
one-time investments in improv-
ing the college’s website and
conducting a review of Blue
Mountain’s programs, moves
that will better position the col-
lege for the future.
At a time when BMCC is
facing increasing competition
from nearby community col-
leges in Washington and trade
schools, Browning said the staff-
ing cuts could actually help with
recruitment.
“We’re not actually offering
fewer classes,” he said “We’re
having fewer people offer the
classes that we do currently
have, and we’ll be offering
new and different approaches
to some of the outcomes so that
(students are) better employable
upon completion. The asser-
tion that we’re offering fewer
classes is simply not borne out
in the data.”
While BMCC is holding firm
on its cuts, the faculty union is
not treating them as a settled
issue. Hernberg said the union
plans to explore its legal options
and is also planning a “vigorous”
public campaign to convince the
college to reconsider its plans.
“We believe that there is a
sacred trust between this com-
munity, these educators and our
students, and we’re going to do
everything we can to protect
that,” he said.