Student Worker Funds Fluctuate Mid-Semester; Chancellor Admits Error

Student lab aide money that was technically in the budget calculation in the spring has now decreased, resulting in department heads at the college scrambling for their student workers. During the most recent board of trustees meeting, trustee Vick Chung requested for hundreds of dollars to be routed towards the “promised money,”a motion that failed 3-4.

Chung requested an increase of $300,000 to the $879,000 adopted student worker budget, although no one seems to know how many students have been impacted. Chung initially requested an increase for $600,000, and after discussion, settled for half of their original ask.

The vote did not reach a majority. Board President Aliya Chisti, Vice President Luis Zamora, trustees Ruth Ferguson and Heather McCarthy voted against the motion. Trustees Chung, Anita Martinez, Susan Solomon voted to increase the funds. 

Student Trustee Ian Wong voted for the increase but is not officially counted since student trustee votes are considered advisory.

Although it was only the lab aide under the spotlight during the meeting, it’s under the same budget umbrella as federal work study and summer interns.

Chancellor Kimberlee Messina acknowledged during the meeting that an administrative error had occurred and that communication was lacking about the changes made between the proposed and adopted budgets. 

“The chancellor stated that no position, no student worker positions would be lost this year,” said Lydia Hernandez, student representative on the budget committee and president of the Associated Student Council Mission Center.

Messina said that across the college, department lab aide budgets were reduced by approximately $20,000.

As of this week, the Computer Networking and Information Technology Department lab aide budget has gone from $7,000 to zero, the Administration of Justice lab aide budget is reduced by $1,000 and the Environmental Horticulture and Floristry lab aide budget is reduced by $40,000, according to the respective department chairs. The Fire Science lab aide budget is unchanged from last year.

Vice Chancellor Shannon Carter said that $100,000 has been moved to Student Affairs so that Vice Chancellor David Yee can respond rapidly to address problems. The actual amount needed to restore the positions that were cut remains unclear.

Chung was not satisfied. “For any other employee class this would not be acceptable,” they said.

Late in the meeting, the board voted to add discussion of the lab aide situation as an emergency agenda item, an unusual parliamentary procedure that the college’s general counsel assured them was legal through an exception in the Brown Act.

“The money was there at the start of the fiscal year,” said a lab manager who requested anonymity. But a couple of weeks into this semester, the money was gone. They managed to get half the money back through a ‘budget requisition.’

“If a notification went out, I never received it,” the lab manager said. 

“The only thing that happened from tentative to adopted [budgets] was the correction back to the original amount that it should have been without the increase,” said Carter at the budget committee meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

The lab budget increases “were loaded by staff based on a directive of my predecessor,” Carter said.

“Huge” increases were requested by departments but not approved “by Cabinet,” Messina said. Because the rationale for the increases was not clear to them, the administration changed the allocation back to the average of the funds actually used over the last three years, plus an adjustment for the increase in the minimum wage, Messina said.

The two most recent budget committee meetings did not have majority attendance to make a vote on recommending the adopted budget. The board of trustees voted to approve it anyway on Sept. 10 in order to meet the Sept. 15 requirement. 

Last year, student workers fought for increasing the hours City College allows for student workers, from 15 to 20 hours per week.

During public comment, Evangela Brewster, Student Vice Chancellor, said that some students had been retaliated against for speaking out.

A meeting between Yee and department heads is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 1.