Hoyt Hilsman
Candidate for Area 4
hoyth75@gmail.com

1. Please tell us about your background and explain why you want to be a PCC Trustee.

I am an educator and author, am a past instructor at PCC and UCLA, and have served on numerous boards and commissions as a 20-year Pasadena resident, including the Community Development Committee, the Northwest Commission, and chair of Pasadena Community Access Corporation. I am also on the Advisory Board of Marymount California University and have served on the curriculum committee at the UCLA Writer’s Program.

I have a B.A. from Columbia University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. I grew up in Washington DC where my father was an adviser to President Kennedy and later in New York when he taught at Columbia University. My wife Nancy has worked as a teacher at Loyola High School and Glendale College, and my son is a graduate of the UC system.

Having grown up in an academic environment and having taught both at PCC and UCLA, I understand the importance of strong leadership, shared governance and transparency on campus — qualities that have been sorely lacking at PCC over the last few years. I will work hard to address the failures of the past, and to uphold academic standards and community involvement at PCC.

Community college education is the future for many young people in our city, and as PCC trustee, I will do all I can to ensure their future success.

2. Identify the top 5 issues you plan to address if elected and explain specifically how you plan to address them.

The most pressing issue for PCC is the Accrediting Commission’s decision to place the college on probation for leadership deficiencies, citing “a dysfunctional campus climate where participatory governance is not respected.” The Pasadena Star News, in an editorial entitled “Pasadena College Problems Start With Trustees” called the probation an “academic disaster.”

The Trustees and new president must address this dysfunctional campus climate by including all stakeholders in an open and transparent governance process. This is the only path to restoring the trust in the PCC leadership that has been sorely shaken over the past several years.

Addressing the dysfunction on campus will go a long way towards solving the other pressing needs of the campus, including fiscal issues, class size and a host of other problems that have become entangled with the toxic campus environment.

3. Relations between the Board and faculty have fallen to a new low, ultimately impacting PCC’s Accreditation status. How will you contribute to re-establishing open and constructive dialogue with the faculty? Also, please describe how you plan to communicate with various campus constituencies: administration, faculty, staff, students, and community members.

The solution to improving relations begins with the Board. The Board must start working pro-actively to reach out to the faculty, students and staff. Finger-pointing and assigning blame has no place on a college campus, especially when it is coming from the leaders of the college. The Board must examine everything from hiring practices and legal issues to inclusion of all segments of the college community. Instead of reacting defensively to criticism, the Board must be more open and inclusive, taking seriously their mandate for shared governance, transparency and oversight.

4. Four votes of no-confidence against Dr. Rocha were taken by student and faculty organizations. A Campus Climate Survey was conducted. How receptive will you be to faculty and student speech expressing discontent on campus?

A college campus depends on criticism and free expression for its intellectual vitality. Faculty and student expressions of discontent are critical to a successful and constructive campus environment. It is simply unacceptable for the leadership of the college — most especially the Board of Trustees — to turn a deaf ear to criticism or, more ominously, to try to shut off criticism.

5. The Board has excluded faculty from the Presidential evaluation process. Do you feel that faculty should be included in the evaluation of the President/Superintendent?

Yes. Evaluation and accountability is of utmost importance. The history of recent college presidencies should be a lesson learned that all voices on campus must be heard in evaluating the leadership.

6. Are you in favor of larger class sizes for PCC students, as has been proposed by current PCC administrators?

While class size is an ongoing issue for PCC and other community colleges, the decision over class size must be a joint one, involving both faculty and administration. This is not simply a matter of good governance, it is also a matter of law as specified in labor agreements. Solutions to the issues of capacity and class size must be reached through constructive and inclusive negotiation for the benefit of everyone on campus.

7. The success of most PCC students is directly linked to the socioeconomic conditions in which they live. Many working class PCC students are disadvantaged by high housing costs, high unemployment, discriminatory criminal justice, low wages, and the rapidly increasing inequality of wealth in our area. What will you do to help economically disadvantaged students?

There are a number of proposals already on the table — including the President’s proposal for free community college tuition — that will ease the burden on all students. Transportation, housing, the cost of books are all factors that work against disadvantaged students. The College — including the Board — must work to promote programs from the public and private sector that will benefit the students who are most in need of the quality education that PCC provides.

8. The College has paid sizeable financial settlements to two past presidents, various administrators and faculty members. Additionally, it has expended unknown taxpayer funds unsuccessfully fighting a PERB decision regarding the unilateral implementation of a trimester schedule as well as an arbitration regarding unilateral implementation of larger classes. Furthermore, it has been found guilty in court of Brown Act violations. As a Trustee, what steps would you take to rein in the Board’s outsize legal expenditures and restore PCC’s collegial atmosphere and reputation in the community?

The Board has not only failed in leadership, hiring and open governance, it has violated the law both in regards to open meetings and labor contracts. The Board must take much more seriously its legal responsibility not only to faculty and students, but also to citizens and taxpayers. A large part of the Board’s responsibility is to ask the uncomfortable questions of the administrators and legal counsel to protect the rights and interests of everyone on the campus and in the broader community.