Carla Labto / The SWC Sun
We are happy to hear that Southwestern College has a new Director of Facilities, Operations and Planning. We wish Mr. Martin Morozowsky all the best in a job we know is enormous. We hope he is smart, energetic and will question the Goldilocks rhetoric he must be swimming in as the college shows off its new buildings. We are counting on him to look at the campus in a clear-eyed, professional manner.
Students, staff and taxpayers have every reason to be proud about new buildings on the South County’s beloved center of higher education. Southwestern College is expanding and evolving to meet the needs of the uniquely diverse community it serves. It is reframing to adapt to the realities of the 21st century with vision and creativity. Don Dumas was correct when he said “We are the model for the region, the state and the nation in higher education and career preparation.”
We also hope the college takes better care of these new buildings than it has its older ones.
Southwestern College is guilty of pleasing “la suegra” (the nosy mother-in-law) at the expense of a consistent, holistic cleaning and repair program for its more venerable buildings. Like a family straightening up the house but sweeping dirt under the carpet to fool la suegra at Thanksgiving, Southwestern leaders are chronically guilty of superficiality and deception. “Look over here at these lovely new buildings, but ignore the filthy bathrooms, uncleaned classrooms and broken disability equipment. Nothing to see over there.”
Our college leaders literally will not talk about rats in the library, FTMA facilities, Performing Arts Center and other areas of campus. Believe us, we’ve tried. There seems to be a belief that if they do not engage there is no problem. Administrators will not tell us what they are doing about invasive rodents, even though we have found evidence that there is some effort to mitigate the problem.
Questions in the recent past about empty or broken soap dispensers, sinks in need of repair, empty feminine hygiene dispensers, restrooms with no toilet paper, disability doors that do not work and dirty classrooms have gone unanswered. That makes us suspicious. Why the stonewall? Why the Trumpy attitude toward student journalists?
Our community has the right to know about leaking, outdated air conditioners that apparently spawned an outbreak of white mold in some of our older buildings. Taxpayers have the right to know about doors, sinks and sidewalks that are out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Students want to know why many custodians dump the trash then leave behind dirty floors, surfaces and furniture? Why are so many faculty spending their Sundays cleaning labs, classrooms and buildings?
No reasonable person expects 17-acre Southwestern College to be spotless and perfect all the time, but we are not even close. Worse, we are not even trying. There are health and aesthetic considerations, but let’s get real for a moment. Navigating a dirty, poorly-maintained campus kind of hurts our feelings. Are college leaders saying that low-income students of color from challenged communities do not deserve the same level of care and cleanliness that other colleges and universities have? Are there lower standards for us? Are there lower expectations for administrators, maintenance staff and custodians because we are located in the South Bay rather than North County? Is mediocrity the “good enough” low bar we step over?
We certainly hope not, but the questions are fair and logical. Comparisons are fair. Appearances matter. Some colleges have clipboards hanging on restroom doors that log visits by custodial staff. They usually rotate through and check on things every 2-4 hours. Southwestern College restrooms could use stone Mayan calendars. Some situations take months or years to address.
We wonder if the restroom in Dr. Sanchez’s office is dirty like our restrooms. We have noticed that the restrooms and buildings used by senior administrators and governing board members are considerably cleaner and in much better repair that the “outlier” facilities used by most students and staff.
Maybe we need a blue ribbon community task force to study the problem or a County Grand Jury investigation or an act of Congress, but probably not. We just need the right people to pay attention and steer a few more resources back into the older parts of our campus that still serve the bulk of our students.
Like paving streets and clearing drainage ditches, cleaning and repairing old buildings is not sexy. We get that. We would like to think, though, that Southwestern College students and frontline employees deserve clean, well maintained facilities. We do not expect Mar a Lago or the Taj Mahal, just a clean place to study and take care of biological needs.
We know sometimes a talented new leader can turn things around like Chief Marco Bareno has with the Campus Police. Sending all positive vibes to Mr. Morozowsky. We will check back soon to see how things are going.
