COM's desperate measure
Will measure C save COM's crumbling campuses?
Katie Von Tellrop and Christie Sullivan
Issue date: 11/2/04 Section: News
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Ron Gaiz recalls the day that he was teaching in Harlan Center Room 129. "A ceiling tile fell," said Gaiz, who teaches speech. "Students were scared to sit in the classroom. (They were afraid) that the ceiling was going to fall on them."
Gaiz had encountered one example of why College of Marin trustees say the campus needs to spend $249.5 million on substantial renovations. On Nov. 2, Marin County voters will be asked to pony up the money by passing Measure C.
According to Andrew Carothers, COM's marketing director, a failure for Measure C would mean that many buildings, especially at the Indian Valley Campus, will be shut-down and boarded up because there isn't enough money in the maintenance budget to bring them up to code.
If voters sign off on Measure C-a bond measure-school officials intend to spend the money on the repair, renovation, and reconstruction of both COM campuses. Some modifications on the drawing board include upgrading classrooms and laboratories; replacing outmoded teaching equipment and improving educational technology; fixing unsafe piping, deteriorating roofs and walls and failed building systems like heating and ventilation; installing modern fire alarms and protection systems throughout the campus and improving walkways, stairs, ramps, building entrances and safety lighting to comply with the American's with Disabilities Act.
In an interview with the Echo Times, COM President Frances White predicted what will happen if the measure fails to pass. "We would be spending precious fund dollars for buildings that need to be torn down, which are not up to par with the American Disabilities Act for wheelchair accessibility," said White. "The bond needs to be passed."
Carothers warned that failure of Measure C would force administrators to cut programs in order to pay for the maintenance of those buildings that can remain open, "It will be like pouring water into a bucket with holes in it," he said.
Aside from buildings in disrepair, the bond will allow school officials to update the far-outdated technologies at COM. Students and instructors in the science department have been using computers and microscopes that are nearly 30 years old. For instructors like Gaiz, new technology would be beneficial. "I'm trying to teach to the current standard out in the business world....but it's hard when the technology in the classroom doesn't match that out in the business world," said Gaiz. "We're way behind and it doesn't always work and so it's frustrating."