Pierce College Finances

In response to Pierce College and its financial woes, let’s talk “betting the farm,” not “selling the farm.” When an academic institution finds itself with a fiscal problem, it’s time to go back to the classroom and take a lesson from private enterprise.

Shouldn’t the academic community show the same need for accountability as the private sector?

First, keep the instructors who maintain the highest enrollments and the most students. Get rid of your deadwood. They put themselves to sleep.

Second, have the leadership or the administration accept voluntary pay cuts or symbolic dollar-a-year salaries as proof of their faith in their own cost-cutting plans. If their plan works and the school goes back into the black, they can repay themselves in much deserved bonuses. This way they would be perceived to have a real stake in the fiscal future of the college, and not as a privileged beneficiary during hard times.

Third, forget about creative head counts and class numbers. Make your college a textbook case of fiscal responsibility. Then we can talk about golf driving ranges and farm property sales. Come on Pierce College. Start by plowing a fresh field where everyone shares in the effort, and grow a fruitful crop that everyone can be proud of harvesting. This is what will truly benefit the entire college community.

MITCHELL GORDON

Topanga Canyon