Cancellation of Saddleback College Summer Session Sparks Complaints

More than 50 faculty members and a small group of students packed this week’s meeting of the Saddleback Community College Board of Trustees to complain about the cancellation of one of two regularly scheduled summer school sessions at Saddleback College.

The college, which offered 480 classes divided between two six-week sessions last summer, will offer 240 classes during a single session this year, saving the college about $568,000, said Everett Brewer, vice president of instruction at Saddleback College.

“All of us who care about education want to serve the students,” Brewer said. “But when the money is not there, you cannot offer classes that are beyond what funds are available. We have to be responsible.”

Brewer said that inadequate state funding for the college’s rapidly growing student population forced the cancellation of one of the sessions. But many of the faculty members said the board should look harder at making cuts in other areas instead of reducing summer school.

“Many of our students depend on summer school classes to complete their transfer requirements so for some, this means an extra semester at Saddleback,” said Mike Merrifield, an anthropology instructor at Saddleback College.

“If any cuts are necessary--and there is a dispute about that--please make them as far removed from students and faculty as possible,” added Tom Morgan, an art instructor.

Jodi Zacker, 30, a full-time student at Saddleback College, told trustees that she will be seriously impacted by the change. She said she was planning to transfer to a four-year university in the fall but has had to alter her plans because there will not be a second summer school session.

“In two summer school sessions, a student can complete an entire semester of school,” Zacker said. “With only one session, a student’s plans to transfer to a university or to graduate may be seriously altered. This is even more true for older students who have more rigorous schedules because of full-time jobs. This has created a lot of hardship for many students.”

The district’s other college, Irvine Valley, will also hold a single session but also did so last year, said Terry Burgess, vice president for instruction at the college.

“We only ran two sessions for two or three years since the college opened in 1979,” Burgess said. “To run a single session is not a budget consideration for us. We found it works for us this way better.”

However, there will be 30 to 40 fewer classes offered at Irvine Valley College this summer. Burgess said the college is cutting back on summer classes in order to offer more classes during the fall and spring semesters.