William Thomson
Incumbent for District Area 4
billthomson940@earthlink.net

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

I am a practicing attorney, specializing in Intellectual Property litigation – patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets. Thus, I have a significant background in science and technology. I served on the Pasadena City Council for sixteen years, two as the Mayor of Pasadena, giving me deep connections with the community we serve at PCC. I am running for another term on the Board of Trustees because I want to continue working to support and improve PCC and its contribution to our community. I believe deeply that education is the single greatest challenge facing our nation and our local community. That’s why I’ve worked very closely with our K-12 system in Pasadena — serving 8 years on the Board of the Pasadena Educational Foundation and three as its President. I want to keep on working with our in-district schools to promote closer working relationships and encourage more local students to attend PCC.

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

(1) We need to work together — the Board, Administration, and Faculty to get off probation. While much of that work falls on the administration, faculty and other groups on campus, the Board can and will set clear expectations. Faculty and staff appraisals will be completed on a timely basis, interim positions will be filled with permanent appointments.
(2) We need to work together effectively and openly to improve relationships among the Board, Administration, faculty, students and all groups on campus. Bob Miller made significant progress addressing this, and Dr. Vurdien is moving forward with this as a major priority. I support his efforts wholeheartedly and will continue to do so.
(3) I will continue working with our in-district high schools to expand our Pathways and Dual Enrollment programs to other schools within our district and to make certain that the PCC courses we offer at John Muir High School in Pasadena next spring are successful and attract more local students to enroll at PCC. Our experience offering classes at Rosemead has been extraordinarily successful, and attracts more in-district students to PCC.
(4) We can and must continue working to offer more career and technical programs to address the critical needs within our community.
(5) I will continue working with our Foundation to deepen our community’s involvement with and support of PCC. The funding we receive from the State of California is appropriate, but the extra resources from the community are critical to enable the College to increase scholarship support for PCC students and to enrich our academic and cultural offerings to our students.

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.

Interim Superintendent/President Bob Miller did a great job addressing the relations on campus, and Dr. Vurdien is doing an excellent job building on with the progress that was made. I supported substantial involvement by the entire campus in selecting our new Superintendent/President and will continue to listen openly to faculty and take into consideration all input at our Board meetings and all means of providing information as I did with the case of Joe Peron, PCC’s women’s basketball coach, which lead to an amicable solution.

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?

The Board of Trustees often hears discontent from individuals and groups on campus, as was the case with Mr. Peron that I referred to above. As long as the discontent is expressed in a civil manner, I will listen with an open mind and give it careful and thoughtful consideration. I am also always willing to meet with faculty, students, or others on campus to discuss any issue that is raised.

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?

I support fully having the Superintendent/President evaluated by faculty, students, and all campus groups. Our current process provides for three “check point” evaluations only by the Board to provide sufficient time for the Superintendent/President to demonstrate and implement his/her vision and method of leadership for the college. After three years, the entire campus, i.e., faculty, students, and all groups on campus, is and should be involved in the evaluation, what is referred to as a 360 degree evaluation. I am open to consideration of changing this process to have the 360 degree evaluation occur the third year, instead of during the fourth year and would welcome a discussion of this with the Board, faculty and all groups on campus. I would also stress that this process does not mean that the Board is not interested in or receptive to views brought to our attention at any time, whether by individuals, or faculty, students, or others acting as a body.

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

I support classes of large enough size for our students to get the classes they need to graduate and/or transfer to a four-year university. Since some students often drop out of classes shortly after the classes begin, permitting a larger number of students to enroll enables those who need the class to fulfill their academic needs. Also, by modestly expanding class size, PCC can accommodate more students and stay within budgetary limits. The College does not have the resources to increase staff, so increasing capacity by increasing class size allows us to accommodate more students and contributes to their timely completion. PCC’s average class size typically ranges from about 29 to 34, which is about the same as most community colleges in California.

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?

The most straightforward way is with increased scholastic aid, covering not just tuition (for which many students can get waivers from the Board of Governors), but also textbook costs and fees. This is why I was honored, with my wife Carol, to chair the PCC Foundation Gala this past May that raised more than $1 million dollars for scholarships to PCC students and brought more than 500 people to campus!. I will continue to work with our Foundation to increase its revenue and resources so that the College can offer even more support to our students.

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?

Under the leadership of Dr. Vurdien, who assumed his position July 1st, the Board is evaluating different methods to reduce legal costs and other expenses, and I am fully supportive of this work. I am committed to working with the faculty, students and all others on campus to avoid confrontations and needless differences. PCC is an outstanding college with an excellent reputation — # 1 in California for awarding Associate Degrees and for awarding Associate Degrees to minority students. PCC has a Veterans program that has received national recognition and attention and is a model for other colleges to emulate. We have much to be proud of, and as a Trustee who has deep roots in this community, I intend to continue helping lead PCC to be even greater.