Few Layoffs at College of Siskiyous

Trustees for the College of Siskiyous have chosen to cut the budget for the college by eliminating four positions, which will lead to layoffs of four separate employees, even though a number of students and other staff members asked for those employees to be able to keep their job during a meeting that was held on the 1^st of May. The meeting took place in one of the bigger classrooms in the building so that the large number of attendants could fit into the spacious room, especially since the board room would not have been big enough to hold all of the people who attended. With so many people attending the meeting, many different statements were made, in which many people asked the trustees to reconsider and avoid laying-off the four employees. The trustees for the college, which includes Carol Cupp, Bob Rice, Alan Dyar, and several others, sat at the meeting and heard a number of students and staff who were there to support the four employees who have lost their positions.

The trustees also listened to what some of the athletes at the school had to say, as they are concerned about the possibility that the athletic trainer position would be eliminated at this time next year. The student athletes know that they need an athletic trainer and eliminating the position would simply do them no justice at all.

Sharon Swingle was one of the individuals who attended the meeting, hoping to get trustees to change their opinion on laying-off those employees. Swingle made it clear that they have not received any sort of raise in over five years and asked on the behalf of the trustees, that they allow these employees to keep their jobs, instead of taking jobs away from these hard working employees. Swingle also pointed out that by laying-off employees, their wages are being taken away, which can ultimately cause them to lose their homes.

In the meantime, the Association President for the COS Faculty, Chris Vancil, spoke out and said that cuts needed to be made to make up for the shortfalls from the budget but he also pointed out that within the past few years there has actually been a large decline in the number of students who are enrolling with the college, which has ultimately made things worse. Vancil said that the reason enrollment has likely declined is because some of the courses that were once offered are no longer available anymore, which is a vicious cycle that only makes the budget tougher to deal with. Vancil said that the cuts often have a negative impact on the students attending COS, which is, of course, never a good thing at all.