We Get Letters: Regarding PCC

Dear Pasadena Now,

As a faculty member at Pasadena City College, I was quite surprised by PCC President Dr. Endrijonas’s current op-ed (published on 2/3/22) that stated the school has “focused on our people” and “integrated and gone beyond” public health guidelines. She conveniently failed to mention that the school had no intention of going beyond public health guidelines and that the measures she noted–daily symptom surveys, vaccinations, and weekly testing–were hard won gains made by the faculty union.

She bragged about pushing for a full reopening during the height of the Omicron surge and that “From Jan. 17 through Jan. 30, the latest date that results are available, we tested 8,341 students and employees” but somehow failed to mention why so few members of the PCC community were tested compared to the 21,332 verified students and employees she bragged about being vaccinated. “Our results speak for themselves,” she said. Indeed, they do. The truth is so few tested because so few are on campus and that’s only because many faculty–who prioritized community and student safety over bragging rights for a full reopening–encouraged their students to stay home and instead taught (and continue to teach) on Zoom rather than expose students and their families to unnecessary risk. The results do, indeed, speak for themselves.

She noted that the LA County positivity rate is 12.5 percent. Yes, maybe this week, but not on Jan. 24 when it was well over 16% and she pushed for the full reopening. What’s even more curious is that when the school made the announcement for the “brief pause,” the numbers were even higher than they are now. If the focus is on “our people,” why was she so intent that students and staff be exposed to unnecessary risk? Why did she ignore the student-created Change.org petition with over 2500 students requesting remote instruction be extended until the surge was over? Why, instead of extending remote instruction, were instructors required to cancel their classes when the testing system put in place failed to provide results in a timely manner? And why, when the head of HR sent out a notice that testing was being relaxed, did she respond “Good!” and then delete her response from the PCC server?

Dr. Endrijonas claims that “At PCC, our COVID-19 response has become the full-time job of a few people, and a part-time responsibility for everyone.” She then lists the few people who “never stopped coming to campus” as those who had the full-time job for the school’s COVID-19 response. If faculty and other staff have been working nonstop since the beginning of the pandemic to teach and support students, why are they not included in that list? To insinuate that our work to support students is “part-time” and therefore lesser than because it’s not taking place on the PCC campus undermines all of the work the campus community has done to continue serving students over the past two years.

I think it’s fitting that she compared herself to a gardener and the PCC community to the corner of a flower bed. It just goes to show how little regard she has given to “our people” and how much regard has been given to presenting a pretty picture of the garden to the outside, untrained eye.

Akilah Brown
Assistant Professor
Pasadena CIty College

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