Divisions deepen at Lane Community College, DPLC

Presenter: A house divided against itself cannot stand. At Lane Community College Nov. 5,  the divisions were in clear view, with students against students, faculty against administration, and the board against the administration, the foundation, and itself. Public comments even spoke of a deep division within the Democratic Party of Lane County. SGA Vice President Amanda Fallon:

Amanda Fallon: As members of the Student Government Association, representing the Associated Students of Lane Community College, we want to begin by acknowledging and respecting the right of faculty and staff to advocate for fair working conditions. We recognize the important role that collective expressions play in fostering dialogue and advance shared values across our campus community.

[00:00:44] However, we are writing to express a concern regarding the ongoing presence of protest signs that have been placed around campus for an extended period of time. While we understand and appreciate the intent behind the message, many of these signs now exceed a standard time and place and manner expectation applied to all other student and community postings.

[00:01:05] In several areas, the signage has become weathered, detached, or misplaced, creating visual clutter and detracting from shared student spaces.  

[00:01:12] Under the current procedures, postings and displays are expected to be time limited to maintain freshness and relevance; be approved through appropriate channels, i.e., Student Life and Leadership or site supervisors; comply with safety, accessibility and nondiscrimination standards and be removed promptly after the event or the campaign period ends.

[00:01:31] Unfortunately, there are presently no clear collegewide guidelines governing yard signs, banners or extended displays, which has led to an inconsistent practice and confusion among students, employees, and external partners.

[00:01:42] We respectfully request that the college address this gap by (1.) Coordinating with the faculty union to remove 80% to 100% of existing yard signs that have exceeded their intended display period or that no longer meet current posting standards. (2.) Develop a clear viewpoint neutral posting and signage policy, including rules for yard signs, banners, A-frames…for all groups who wish to share messages on campus.

[00:02:06] Presenter: Casey Beasley-Bennett:

[00:02:08] Casey Beasley-Bennett: The following letter was signed by 38 students of Lane Community College.

[00:02:12] Dear members of the LCC Board of Education: We are responding to the letter from the LCC’s Student Government association calling for a policy to control, restrict, and take down lawn signs placed around campus, calling attention specifically to the teachers union ‘Fair Contract Now’ signs.

[00:02:27] The letter claimed that the signs were ‘weathered, detached, or misplaced, and create visual clutter and detract from student spaces.’ The SGA’s letter also implies that the signs are irrelevant to students, and the union contract negotiations should be relegated to spaces primarily meant for faculty. We do not believe that the SGAs perspective adequately respects the true opinions and interests of the associated students of LCC.

[00:02:51] The claim about the signs’ visual impact is untrue. The state of the signs is with very few exceptions near pristine, and the signs do little to detract from student spaces.

[00:03:01] We believe that the SGAs claim that the signs are irrelevant to students to be wildly inaccurate. The union’s negotiations with the administration have deeply involved the interests of the student body, and the union has been fighting to make the campus a better, safer place for us to learn.

[00:03:15] The administration’s contract proposals include many provisions that would negatively impact the lives of students that attend this school, such as increasing class sizes up to 50 % with the possibility for more increases in the future at the sole discretion of administration.

[00:03:28] Mandatory overload classes, further increasing instructor workload and severely impacting their ability to give students the attention they deserve. Removing protections for the on-campus health clinic, which would allow the administration to severely interfere with and possibly defund the health clinic altogether.

[00:03:43] Cutting funding and requirements for DEI curriculum and training effectively removing one of the strongest ways for our college to fight against systemic oppression in the day to day.

[00:03:52] And eliminating the requirement for the Native American Student Association Association coordinator and the longhouse steward to be two separate positions significantly impacting the voice of our indigenous community members.

[00:04:04] Presenter: From the Student Government Association, Marketing Officer Jess Farrell:

[00:04:09] Jess Farrell: There have been concerns that the Student Government Association has not acted in the best interest regarding LCCEA distribution of literature.

[00:04:16] While we as an organization still believes that there needs to be policy or procedure regarding how long and to what extent individuals and groups are able to distribute speech, this would be a different conversation if it was hate speech.

[00:04:28] There is an undeniable alliance between students and faculty. We need to protect teachers and make sure that students are able to thrive on campus. Our intention was not to censor our wonderful faculty, but instead raise awareness to the productivity of excessive, unclear signage.

[00:04:43] The magnitude of yard signs on our beautiful campus does contribute to message fatigue, it lacks any information about LCCEA cause or calls to any sort of action but that of a vague demand of a fair contract. I ask you to consider these questions when drafting a procedure as described in our letter.

[00:04:59] What do you want us to hear? What is the main concern? What do you want us to know? What do you want us to do?

[00:05:05] Students should be rallying with teachers such as the rally downtown by Titan Court, a student space, where students can participate in free speech and advocate for the issues arising for fair contracts for faculty.

[00:05:15] It is disheartening that the message of these signs were up during commencement and weeks of welcome, taking away spotlight from students, and turning the attention to the fact that compromise and negotiations cannot be made.

[00:05:25] We are trying to encourage thoughtful, clear, productive language and union movements from our educators. It is clear that the cluttering of signs in student spaces is not a way to reach students and is in the interest of annoying higher education.

[00:05:37] I ask you to consider how many students have asked ‘what are those fair contract signs around campus?’ And how many times you are able to provide actionable items for those students. Students please continue to ask questions and raise concerns and if your student representatives are not accurately representing your voice, I encourage you to come to our public senate meetings Tuesdays four to six or senator office hours.

[00:05:57] To our educators, I beg of you to lead by example on how to plant a seed of a union in a way that allows an abundance of growth so that we can all thrive and change.

[00:06:06] Presenter: LCC faculty unions are continuing to rally against the administration. Margaret Bayless:

[00:06:12] Margaret Bayless:  I am past president of the Lane Faculty Union and past English instructor, retired after 22 years, and now I’m a concerned community member. While at Lane, I was on bargaining teams engaged in interest base and in adversarial bargaining.

[00:06:32] This is the worst adversarial bargaining I’ve seen in 40 years in education. The college administration is engaged in this kind of bargaining led by an attorney who clearly has been hired for that express purpose, at great financial expense to the college and great expense of the morale of the faculty.

[00:06:58] The elected board’s integrity is at stake when you fail to instruct the college president, your sole employee, to reach a fair contract with the faculty union. The instructors at Lane are the employees hired expressly to create and ensure Lane students have transformative paths to achieve academic and technical excellence.

[00:07:23] Lane Community College continues to be a beloved institution because of the quality of education provided by these instructors as the elected lane board show Lane instructors the respect and support they deserve by insisting on a fair faculty contract. 

[00:07:43] Steve Gladfelter: I’m Steve Gladfelter, and I’m an LCCEA (Lane Community College Education Association) member, and I’m reading a statement written by Lisa Kolbuss, part-time psychology instructor who couldn’t be here tonight.

[00:07:52] I truly wish none of us were here today but sadly we are. In four months I will hopefully be celebrating my 28th anniversary at LCC. For the past 28 years, LCC has relied on people like me, part-timers, to balance the budget. So far no one has been able to explain to me how the financial saviors of LCC are now the castaways.

[00:08:13] You’ve seen all the numbers provided to you by the union: Part-time faculty generate net income for the college. We are why the college can offer diverse and rigorous class selections. Hand me a classroom with a computer and an overhead projector and I will make the college money. I have done so joyfully for 28 years.

[00:08:29] But let’s be honest. I believe the college admin wants to cut long-term part-time faculty like me out of the college so you can dismantle full-time positions. If part-timers like me remain at the college, eliminating full-time positions and transitioning them to part-time positions becomes very, very difficult.

[00:08:45] After all, as a part-timer with 28 years of seniority, I would receive class assignments before many of the full-time part-time faculty members would. You don’t want to eliminate much of the current part-time faculty pool, you want to dismantle full-time faculty positions until LCC looks something like the University of Phoenix.

[00:09:01] The bargaining proposals made by the college administration are disheartening. I feel more disrespected than I ever have these past few weeks. Not once in 28 years has a full-time faculty colleague ever treated me as a lesser educator. President Bulger, you and the LCC administration have. These current proposals have cut me to the core as an educator.

[00:09:20] What is most hurtful is that you are destroying jobs and opportunities for students when you don’t have the budget completed. Eliminating classes is not a solution for our budgetary issues. There is no reason to eliminate part-time jobs. Until the budget numbers are completely known, any cuts to benefits is premature. Thank you.

[00:09:36] Presenter: The divide extends to the Democratic Party of Lane County, split between support for the unions and its support for a Black woman in a vital leadership role in our community. 

[00:09:48] Wendy Simmons: I’m Wendy Simmons, and I’m reading this statement in solidarity with my faculty colleagues. Earlier this week, the Platform Committee of the Democratic Party of Lane County passed a resolution calling for supporting and restoring democracy on the Lane Community College Board of Education.

[00:10:03] Titled, ‘A Resolution of the Democratic Party of Lane County, Support Representational Democracy on the Lane Community College Board of Education,’ the resolution passed with a do-pass recommendation for the next step in the process.

[00:10:16] The resolution recognizes that the Lane Community College Board was excluded from decision-making about the hiatus of the licensed practical nurse program for the 25-26 academic year and that the students and the public received no notice or no opportunity to provide public comment at any open meeting of the Lane Community College Board of Education prior to the suspension of the program.

[00:10:37] It recognizes that the LCC Board of Education voted on Sept. 30, 2025 to exclude a reference to $3 million in cuts each year for the next three years, yet the LCC administration continues to promote these cuts as accepted or approved by the board.

[00:10:54] This claim persists, even though the budget development process has not yet begun, and even though the LCC board has longstanding policy practice and precedent with decades of voting history on agenda-setting, program and service cuts, reductions, and suspensions.

[00:11:09] It recognizes that the DPLC endorses local candidates to school boards and other local offices and believes in representational democracy and that limiting the role of the elected board of education members contravenes the public interest.

[00:11:23] Therefore, be it resolved that the Democratic Party of Lane County leadership will reach out to the Lane Community College Board to uphold representational democracy, to ensure the board conforms to open meeting law, and that it does not limit community input through public comment.

[00:11:37] In addition, the Democratic Party of Lane County Leadership asks the board to continue to uphold the existing board policy, practice, and precedent of making decisions on agendas and voting on program and service cuts, reductions and suspensions. Thank you. 

[00:11:51] Jim Rice: Jim Rice. I’ve served on a number of boards… and many years ago, the chair of the Democratic Party of Lane County. I was disturbed to hear the board is getting involved in curriculum. This is, in my opinion, beyond the scope of the board and belongs with the faculty and the president. Trump was engaged in this with the East Coast schools, and I completely disapproved of that, and I disapprove of that here.

[00:12:17] And I think that you should take a step back and look at: What is everyone’s role? Because just listening to this, this is one of the most divisive pieces of back and forth I’ve heard in a long time. It’s discouraging. If everyone assumed their own role, let people do their jobs, it probably would be good for everybody.

[00:12:38] Tiffany Edwards: My name is Tiffany Edwards, and I address you tonight as a PCP (Precinct Committee Person) for the Democratic Party of Lane County, a concerned community member, a donor to LCC’s foundation and a parent of a recent LCC graduate. I’m here to caution you about the damage being done both by politicizing the college and its students and with the disregard for the fiscal stability of this institution.

[00:13:03] And while I speak for nobody but myself, I can’t help but to notice the many thousands of students, parents, and community members who are not here tonight to speak, but share deep concerns for what we’ve witnessed. All of us who are hardworking and dedicated to our jobs deserve to make a fair living to be able to provide for ourselves and for our families.

[00:13:22] But things aren’t exactly stable at the moment. Every level of government is experiencing severe budget deficits and making cuts as the need to do more with less continues to worsen. The explosion of costs and depletion of resources creates a dire need to make tough decisions, sacrifices, and adjust priorities as we all write out the storm.

[00:13:44] I’m here to plead with you to preserve the operational decision-making in the capable hands of your president, Dr. Bulger. She’s highly qualified to act in the full capacity as your chief executive.

[00:13:56] Lastly, I’d like to share that I’m a proud parent of an LCC graduate. Our son, Simon, who experiences autism, graduated high school in 2020, and began at Lane after in-person classes resumed. It truly changed his life. LCC gave him a place to connect, build confidence, and discover his passions. He explored aviation and culinary arts before finding his true passion in multimedia and video production.

[00:14:23] Today, he’s wrapping up his third season working as a cameraman for the Eugene Emeralds. And he’s now preparing to pursue his career in Portland. Lane made that possible. Please don’t politicize or jeopardize this opportunity for future students like Simon. 

[00:14:41] Brittany Quick-Warner: My name is Brittany Quick-Warner and I’m here tonight as a community member and donor who cares deeply about Lane Community College and what it represents: opportunity, progress, and the belief that education is the foundation for a stronger future.

[00:14:52] I want to focus tonight on governance.

[00:14:55] Strong, high functioning boards are critical to successful organizations and have a very specific role: to set policy; to steward resources; and to hold leadership accountable for achieving the mission of the institution. They don’t run day-to-day operations or intervene in management decisions. Instead, they empower the president to lead effectively and to keep their focus on long-term strategy and student success.

[00:15:19] Recently, we’ve seen accusations that President Bulger violated public meeting laws simply by meeting individually or in small groups with board members about the budget. That claim is unfounded, and it’s not only legal, but it’s common practice for public administrators, from city managers to superintendents to meet with board members, and it’s how they educate their leaders, build understanding of complex issues, and ensure informed decisions.

[00:15:43] We also need to recognize the financial reality the college faces. When an institution finds itself in a budget deficit, as many employers are across this community right now, in this challenging economy, tough decisions have to be made.

[00:15:55] There are no perfect budget decisions that avoid hard choices. No leader enjoys being in that position. But responsible leadership means making those decisions transparently and with courage. President Bulger has done, is doing her job, an incredibly difficult one that we are lucky to have her in our community willing to do.

[00:16:15] As a lifelong Democrat, I’m disappointed to see our own party considering resolutions that politicize the governance of our community college. Our education institutions had never become the battleground for partisan agendas. They exist to serve everyone: students, families, employers across every sector.

[00:16:33] Lane Community College is too important to be destabilized by political infighting or blurred lines of authority. I urge this board and our broader community to refocus on governance, empowering leadership, and keeping the college at the center of every decision.

[00:16:45] John Wolf: I’m John Wolf. I’ve lived in this community for 77 years. I was around when Lane Committee College was created. My uncle worked here, my cousin worked here as faculty people. To hear the faculty get up here and say that laws were broken by the president is galling to me, galling. And I hope you guys don’t listen to that or let that influence you in the slightest.

[00:17:12] This board is really divided. We all know that. When the president tries to get small groups together to tell them what’s going on and keep them informed and she’s attacked as breaking the law, that’s ridiculous.

[00:17:28] And Jerry Rust has been a Lane County commissioner for 20 years, and you were out there saying that you thought that you were worried about this could be a serial violation of the Open Meetings Law. Surely you know better than that. Surely you would have looked into it a little bit before you made that statement.

[00:17:47] And (Chair Austin) Fölnagy, putting a complaint with the Oregon Ethics Commission without doing a little tiny bit of research to figure out that Stephanie Bulger is not even subject to that commission’s jurisdiction, is to me a sad state, a sad comment on your tenure here.

[00:18:15] I’m sorry I’m so mad, but I am really irate at the faculty for coming up here and lying to you basically and repeating themselves and making you stay here for hours and hours to listen to that information that is incorrect. Now, I agree with, they’re entitled to a fair contract and that’s what you should give them. 

[00:18:39] Presenter: During the meeting, the chair issued a statement on behalf of the entire LCC Board of Education. Austin Fölnagy:

[00:18:47] Austin Fölnagy (LCC, chair): The board is issuing this statement to provide clear—clear clarification regarding the meetings conducted by Dr. Bulger in August concerning the implementation of the 25-26 budget approved in June. As Dr. Bulger is an administrator and not a member of the college governing body, she’s not legally subject to Oregon open meeting statutes.

[00:19:05] It is not legally possible for her to violate Oregon open meeting laws.

[00:19:11] Presenter: Divisions widen at Lane Community College as the board is compared to Donald Trump.