By Grace Selvig
The CPJ will be working to make the full transcript of this event available to the community in the coming days. The following Q&A’s are not presented in chronological order.
On April 10th at 2pm in Purce Hall, members of the Evergreen Administration sat down to answer the questions of students on campus. The panel consisted of President John Carmichael, Vice President Dexter Gordon, Director of Student Activities and New Student Programs Kayla Mahnke-Hargett, Dean of Students Holly Joseph, and Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs David McAvity. Also present in the audience was William Ward, the Chief of Administrative Operations who temporarily oversees Residential and Dining Facilities in addition to Campus Facilities. His presence was requested by students to be a panelist but was not seated amongst them. Many of the students’ expressed urgent concerns around housing and Ward had to turn and stand to answer several of the questions posed.
Kayla Mahnke-Hargett served as the facilitator of the panel, directing the flow of questions, reading out-loud the written ones and checking in on time. Speaking of time, the panel was only one hour in length. Some members of the panel had obligations at 3 o’clock, while others stuck around to have one-on-one’s with students. The organization of this panel was well planned. There were staff members dedicated to question collecting who also walked to the back of the room and asked the students there if they could hear everything okay. The microphones and sound system worked the whole time, and the conversation was overall respectful.
Getting to the content of the panel itself, John Carmichael opened with a statement acknowledging that we are all still carrying our grief from the death of our classmate Jonathan Rodriguez. He let the crowd know that pro-staff had been informed on the issues brought to light at the GSU town hall back in February, naming some of the mentioned concerns around the “Israel/Palestine War” and the forms campus policing, offhandedly mentioning the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics distressing new rules around transgender athletes. Carmichael also recognized that we need to elevate student voices on campus.
When he was asked directly about the release of the WSP report and how it revealed just how preventable Jonathan’s death was he said “What I can see reading that full report now is that the way we were training people to understand and respond to alarms was not adequate and so we fixed that.”
Carmichael explained that the mod units with propane heating have all been vacated with its campus residents relocated.
“…I feel very comfortable that we’re not going to have another propane incident on campus and that gives us space to get to these deeper systems. We’re double checking and triple checking the alarm systems, double checking and triple checking how we train, making sure we’re adding our position to oversee the RAD facilities operation. We’re taking it really seriously, I feel that responsibility”.
A question asked by the CPJ’s News editor concerned the alarm system at Evergreen: “Going forward, will Evergreen continue to contract services from Convergint [Technologies]?” Ward claimed his position’s responsibility over the life safety systems of campus and said that currently the college is reviewing the contract made with the company. He also claimed that a third party had reviewed the system which was identified upon further questioning as the contracted party was Evergreen Fire Protection. Ward claimed that if “performance issues,” were found then the contract might be changed. Carmichael stepped in later to directly address the hesitancy when discussing the contract. “we’re being a little bit careful about how we talk because we have both a legal process that we’re going through and a business contract process that’s governed by state law… if we get too far out ahead of that process and then we may not end up at the place that we need to end up.. So the caution you’re hearing our voices is that we gotta follow those steps so that we don’t accidentally prevent ourselves from taking an action that needs to be taken.”
One student asked “Why is Evergreen continuing to host campus tours and promote campus housing despite numerous safety concerns?” Dexter Gordon responded by mentioning the work order indexing and risk prevention processes that have occurred since December 11th, in the same level of detail outlined in the previous quarters community updates. He stated that Evergreen can with confidence say they have done the best of their ability to make our community safe, and that incoming students do not face outstanding risk. He elaborates:
“No one can guarantee full safety. We can do our best to make sure that we minimize risks and vulnerabilities. We believe it is important to keep Evergreen as a valuable entity. That means continuing programs of the college, to grow the college. That means continuing to ensure we bring new students to join us. That means, to some extent, rebuilding the vibrancy of the college but more importantly that means to advance the educational mission that we all share together.”
A follow up question asked about the replacement of student ambassadors by pro-staff on admissions tours in the face of recent protest disruptions. Gordon addressed that this decision was made with students workers, tour participants, and protestors in mind.
“With the Evergreen approach… We respect students’ rights to protest. We also expect that students will understand that there are shared responsibilities that we all have. While we will facilitate the reality that students want to make statements or want to protest, we also have a responsibility to other students who want to make sure they’re safe.” He also mentioned that pro-staff have been added partially for their knowledge of the student code of conduct. “We want to honor our student code and invite the [protesting] students to be responsible participants in honoring that code.” Informal dialogue with a number of student ambassadors has suggested that their work hours have not been decreased in the face of these rearrangements.
Also mentioned at the forum was that flyers related to Jonathan Rodriguez have been taken down across campus. Holly Joseph said that in the event that flyers do get taken down on campus it is for the reason that they do not follow Evergreen’s posting policy. This policy includes posting in the designated bulletin boards and having a form of contact information on them. Students asked if this policy could be changed or if additional boards could be added to higher visibility areas, the response to the first was yes, the policy could technically be changed, but that would involve a longer conversation with the deans. William Ward answered about the bulletin boards saying, yes, bulletin boards could be added, students would have to submit a facilities related work order. Students who see flyers getting taken down without proper cause should report it to the dean’s office.
A big question of the forum was “The RA’s in student housing have been asking for fair pay and better working conditions for years. When will they be fairly compensated and why is it taking so long?” The panel acknowledged that they were not exactly the people to be speaking on RAD affairs, and that Susan Hopp (in charge of RAD) is an interim fill-in for Sharon Goodman, who passed away. They said that the reason this position has not been filled with a designated long term staff member is because they are in the process of updating the job description and analyzing the position itself. They said that they are expecting to have the position filled for the next academic year. The mention of this job position left many with more questions, as the conversation never went back to RA compensation.
Aramark, the contractor that provides the food for the Greenery, was also mentioned. When a food supplier gets contracted to work for the school the contract lasts a few years. Soon, this contract will expire and the college will be taking new bids. The student who brought this up inquired about alternative methods of fulfilling this service, possibly local. Here is what John Carmichael had to say about this topic: “…I think we can look at how it’s structured and figure out if there is a way that we can structure it that would get us more bids from more different kinds of contractors.” Carmichael also mentioned as an agency of the state of Washington the bidding process has certain procedural requirements. He also mentioned that student involvement in the bidding process and reviews of the bids is something that needs to be started as well.
Some other context regarding Aramark is they are a company that is contracted to supply food for prisons as well, a fact often mentioned by students. At the forum, explicit mention was dodged but alluded to in explanation: “Running a food service operation is complex and expensive… that often leaves us with large corporations that may have ties that are not our favorite… that aren’t the areas that we want to have affiliations with, but oftentimes they’re just limited in our choices and so that’s where we end up with organizations like Aramark”
Only one student addressed a question to David McAvity, who otherwise had contributed very lightly to the panel. In reference to Nancy Koppleman’s comments at the What is My Responsibility? Four Jewish Perspectives webinar on February 21st of this year they asked: “Do you have any intention of reprimanding the faculty member who called Palestinians medieval peasants live on Evergreen programming and why has there not been additional effort by Admin to offer a four Muslim or Palestinian perspectives panel?” McAvity seemed confused by this question and what it was in reference to. He clarified that panels are initiated by individual faculty and programs, not administration. Dexter Gordon also added to the answer of this question, asserting that although out of his primary area of leadership, he has been working with staff and faculty to put on panels that “advance the educational mission of Evergreen. That includes grappling with difficult issues like the just devastating war we’re looking at right now and to make sure that there are voices representing the Palestinian interests and the Palestinian cause is part of our planning.” All students were then encouraged to approach the deans in their offices below the clock tower should any formal complaints or concerns against faculty members need to be lodged.
One student came forward to speak about the institutional treatment of black students and the lack of support that they receive. “Jonathan was a black man, one of the few black men on this campus, I mean look around the room. I just feel like Evergreen doesn’t really care about the way the black students are treated. We have BSU going through so many hoops to become an official club and no one is trying to help…Is there anything ever going to be done realistically in the future, even after I’m gone, are there gonna be people still trying to support us?” Dexter Gordon responded by saying “It is very important to acknowledge the small number of black students on campus. That’s an issue that we have to address. I also want to acknowledge your observation that there is no BSU on campus, that has to do with the laws of the state and to say in response to that, that that issue has come to my attention. I know of people working on that issue and I’m actively working with those persons to support student efforts to get an organized way for black students to be able to come together and I’m fully committed to that issue, fully committed to the steps necessary to make it so.”
Another student brought forward a concern of seeing an asbestos van outside the CRC. William Ward said he would inquire on that specific instance, saying he wasn’t sure. He also clarified that with any facilities project that happens on campus, asbestos testing needs to be done. To quote him directly: “Nobody can even poke a hole in a wall or hang something or do anything without getting testing done first”. The same student also mentioned concerns for the concrete structures on campus and water leaks, to which Ward said “We’re going to be spending close to about $800,000 this summer working just on concrete repairs and stuff of that nature as well, too. It’s a great big campus. There’s a lot of work going on here but we’re doing the best we can to maintain it and take care of it and make sure it’s safe for everybody”.
At the end of the forum I reached out to a few members of the audience to ask how they thought the event went and if there were any issues they wished there was time to speak on. Between their one on one conversation with the lingering executive leadership, I took their comments. Here is a summarized list of their thoughts (they asked to remain anonymous):
- One hour felt like too little time.
- Other colleges in the state of Washington have BSU email addresses attached to their institutions, so in what aspect is establishing a BSU a state-issue?
- There have been several RA’s who have not been able to use their meal plans, they go to the Greenery and they just do not show up in the system. (RA’s are compensated for their labor through housing and meals, so not having access to these meals is them not being compensated). Also, in years past RA’s received over 10 meals a week. Currently it is 7 for Apartment RA’s, and talk is that RAD leadership wants to reduce it to 5.
- A-Dorm RA’s only recently receive 12 meals a week, and it is because with no access to a kitchen many were reportedly going without food.
- The 6th floor fire panel in A-dorm keeps going off.
- RA’s were not compensated for the three week training that they underwent.
FOR ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATION:
During the student forum, an audience member posed an impassioned invitation to lay out next steps. Frustrated, they spoke:
“…I appreciate that this space is being opened but I’m extremely concerned that Jonathan Rodriguez died on December 11th and only now in April we’re starting to have these student forums. During these student forums there is still not intentional space for specifically addressing Jonathan Rodriguez’s death and specifically addressing housing and safety concerns.
“I am wondering why there wasn’t immediately a coalition opened between admin, faculty, staff, and students to address this… I feel that after his death, there should have immediately been some sort of organization that could have offered resources, funding to allow students to facilitate spaces with mourning and to facilitate spaces of sharing these concerns.
“I’m extremely concerned that when students did organize a vigil last week, we put in a facilities request and foldable tables never arrived. They never arrived because folding tables were not available. A student died on campus and it is extremely devastating that there couldn’t be two foldable tables. It feels disrespectful so I would really appreciate some kind of context on why it’s taken so long to get details, to get organized support, and if following this meeting will you open more space to have more facilitated dialogue and response concerning the specific event rather than just a general statement form.”
In response, Carmichael fumbled.
“..I’ll accept that critique in the spirit that is offered and I guess I’ll say we’re doing the best we know how to do. If we’re not meeting needs it’s like.. I want to know more about what that space would look like to you because I do think we’re trying to find ways to create space for some of the things that you’re naming. If the space we’re creating isn’t the right space, I think we just need to understand better what the right space looks like, so thank you for the critique.”
——
The forum as it occurred was a request made by students starting in week 4 of last quarter. This request was delivered through Dr. Gordon to Executive Leadership throughout the meetings with students in winter. Many students, staff, and faculty cannot envision the 10 weeks of stalling and poor publicity for the student forum as wholly unintentional.
Specifically, an anonymous group of students and staff submitted a selection of their observations on Evergreen Leadership’s engagement of the campus. They named the lack of care towards the student forum as an ongoing pattern from the President’s Office that minimizes community engagement, awareness, and deprioritizes internal concerns, turning top resources instead towards outward facing initiatives (such as external media relations, fundraising, and enrollment). Many of these observations came from an understanding of the student worker, staff and faculty sides, but translate well into the student context.
First, they noted how the announcement of the student forum once during the week before and once day of, despite 10 weeks of potential planning, significantly lowered participation. They wrote:
“This is something the President’s Office (specifically Carmichael and Gordon) have done a few times to staff as well. Sometimes they’ve been better, but often it’s announced day of, and they usually remove the hybrid/remote option. We don’t know if this is intentional, or just them not knowing how to be organized, or if these only come about as a reactive response to rising complaints.”
From various positions within the college, the group wrote of their experience on the morning of December 12th, prior to the announcement of Jonathan Rodriguez’s death:
“There was a pre-scheduled pancake party, and they actively withheld releasing the Evergreen email until 2 hours later [at 11am] when we were all back in our offices. Which was also awful since we have student-workers and staff that work front-desk/phone settings, and [they] could’ve gotten community calls about it since it was released in the press.”
To close, they attached an overview of what they recognize as an early instance of Evergreen Leadership dropping the ball for ongoing dialogue sessions, at the cost of important information being circulated.
“‘Conversations in Leadership: A Series’ was a one-time event that was advertised by Jadon Berry and Senior Leadership/the president’s office as a continuing conversation about how to handle concerns raised by staff and faculty managers about the lack of assistance, order, and training for managers to help Evergreen run better. They said it’d be a 50/50 dialogue where they wanted to hear from us. Instead, it was like a stand-up comedy routine/lecture by Carmichael and Gordon (they literally sat on stools with a microphone). They said ‘we don’t want to focus on the past’ and talked about their grandmothers and the Admissions Director as being ‘great examples of leadership’ for about 50 minutes. Didn’t offer a single solution or point of contact for following up. The last 10 minutes was Q&A where they dodged questions like politicians and ended the session early. The whole idea was dropped immediately after, despite people emailing to ask for at least a follow up to the promise.”
—–
Regardless of intention, Leadership has consistently employed evasive strategies and avoided providing information and dialogue to its staff, faculty, and students. The affirmation of critique should be viewed as a dangerous strategy, one that quickly leads to inaction. Immediate action is possible, we have seen this used on the student tours to protect student workers, tourists, and protesters. The student body at large has not experienced this level of immediate action and prioritization since the Community Gathering on December 13th, critiqued for its news outlet presence. It is frankly insulting that it has taken this long for Executive Leadership to return to a public forum and address the concerns of its community directly.
Even despite this, the civility demonstrated in the questions from the forum’s crowd of nearly 50 able to attend this last-minute advertised event communicates a profoundly strong commitment from the student body towards collaboration. Leadership acknowledged that as they move forward, “they must build in student voice, and be responsive to it.” Beyond voice, power must be seized and guaranteed.
Let this be a first step towards successful dialogue. And let the student forums not be the only space students look to leverage change in the institution.
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP WERE REQUESTED TO HOLD A SECOND STUDENT FORUM, SUGGESTED FOR WEEK 5 IN THE QUARTER. THE CPJ WILL UPDATE OUR SOCIAL MEDIA AND WEBSITE WITH MORE INFORMATION.
