Chabot College Facilities Committee

27 March, 2014

PROPOSED RESOLUTION

Resolution to Postpone Two Approved Projects: Campus Signage and Hesperian Landscaping

REQUEST TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES: The Chabot College Facilities Committee hereby requests the Board of Trustees to postpone, indefinitely, the Campus Signage Project, and the Hesperian Landscaping Project, both of which have been approved and are slated to enter the construction phase in the next few months.

RATIONALE: In addition to the major renovation/expansion of B2100 (Biology Building), and the first floor renovation of B100, Chabot College has a number of smaller projects in development that will require Measure B funding, in order to address several essential and highly critical needs that exist on our campus. Such projects include, but are not limited to, the following:

— B100 Library (2nd floor): Carpeting/furnishing/partitions/lighting/etc., to provide much needed improvements to library functionality for our students;

— B100 Elevator: to provide library and mezzanine access for disabled students;

— B1600 Computer Labs: Furniture, instructional equipment, and infrastructure upgrades (building wiring, etc.) to address electric safety hazards, and to make the labs properly functional for the classes using them.

We appreciate that the Board is strongly motivated to move forward on signage and landscaping. It is our fast opinion, however, that those projects are essentially cosmetic; further, there is a great deal of uncertainty as to the Board’s intent with regard to securing more funding for capital projects in the near future (be it to go out for another Bond, etc.) Ultimately, it sends the wrong message to our students, and to our community, if we deplete precious Measure B dollars on cosmetic things, when it effectively diminishes our ability to improve the practical and pedagogic function of our buildings.

We do not propose that the signage and landscaping projects be canceled; merely that they be held in abeyance until more funding becomes available.