Dr. Sherrill Amador, President, Palomar College making a mess of Palomar College, closes campus facilities without warning etc. San Marcos CA

Dr. Sherrill Amador, who has been the president of Palomar College for at least 2 years, is a business criminal who cuts essential educational and student-support programs, plans to inflate tuition to $25 per unit by 2005, further plans to increase class size from an average 40 students to an unreasonable, overcrowded level-- approximately 64-78 students (in classes where 40 is already pushing the limits). She has also been rumored to be planning to lay off at least some of the Tutoring Center staff, who the students NEED to help them survive difficult classes.

For the past year, both faculty and college staff have voted in excess of 70% no confidence against Dr. Amador. The teachers are currently trying to get Dr. Amador recalled, but it will take some time. Dr. Amador's response to the votes against her amounts to, "This is not a popularity contest-- I'm staying." (Dr. Amador receives $170,000 per year in salary-- $100K of this could easily be cut and returned to support school programs, and her remaining $70K would still make her more financially comfortable than almost anyone else on campus.)

In the meantime, her latest attack on the students is a series of signs on the temporary dining rooms, to wit: "This building will be closed on Saturday, May 10th," but the signs give no alternatives for lunch between 5/10 and 5/23 (the last day of the Spring semester). This attack affects most of the disabled students at the college; those in large wheelchairs or large scooters (like mine) cannot enter the "snack shack" (small cafeteria/store) because the ramp leading up to it is very narrow and has extremely tight angles, allowing scooter and chair users insufficient room to enter the building. In addition, the larger cafeteria near the bookstore is so crowded at lunchtime that wheelchair and scooter users have a very hard time negotiating lines. The end result, unfortunately, is a risk of bronchitis, pneumonia or worse (from the recent, frequent rains) and a risk of having one's valuables stolen (one student had a $100 deck of collectible game cards stolen earlier this semester, and Campus Security refused to give her any help.)

I recently posted a few signs of my own, asking if the planned closure of the temp dining rooms would leave us with other accessible eating facilities. I also asked if we would be guaranteed safe and weatherproof places to eat, so that the spring rains and the rare-but-possible theft of personal belongings would not be an issue. Unfortunately, and to my surprise, the signs were speedily removed from the doors as soon as I left for class. (Luckily, I have access to more signs and will be posting them again tomorrow.)

I sincerely hope that the problems thrust upon the students, teachers and staff by the unfair and corrupt actions of Dr. Sherrill Amador will result in her recall as quickly as possible.

Henrik
San Marcos, California
U.S.A.