Email sent 12/12/2018

Hello Classified Staff,

We write to you today to request some help supporting Food Services, the Titan Store and the Center for Meeting and Learning (CML).  The Board of Ed meets tomorrow evening at 6:30pm in the boardroom in building 3.  One of the hot topics of this meeting are the outsourcing and/or restructuring of three important departments at Lane.  Not only do these departments provide necessary services, but they also provide important learning opportunities and jobs for our students, (student employees and work study students).

Center for Meeting and Learning (CML)

If FTE in the CML is reduced will they be able to continue to see revenue over expenses as they recently achieved due to restructuring efforts by Chef Tim and the CML staff?  The CML has 11 contracted staff, and 1 manager. The CML supports students by employing 6 work study students, 20-50 classified timesheet employees (a combination of students and off campus employees) and a number of lab students from the Culinary and Hotel/Restaurant/Tourism Management program (CAHRTM) every term as well as offering Co-op Ed opportunities for students interested in a hospitality career.

Reducing FTE in the CML would have a negative impact on our ability to manage the work that makes the CML such a positive environment for our students and the community at large.

What the CML provides

• Tuition waivers for students who work in the CML. It is the tuition waiver that sometimes determines if a student can stay at Lane.
• We employ not only students in the CAHRTM program but from business, media arts and international programs.
• Hands on experience for students.  This has helped hundreds of students go on to be business owners and executive chefs.
• We support LCC foundation scholarships with the Harvest Dinner fundraiser, the largest fundraiser of the year.
• We support the Whiteaker Thanksgiving dinner by volunteering and providing facilities.
• The CML is a key event space in the Eugene/Springfield area.
• The CML hosts Gift of Literacy each year
• Student orientations, welcome lunches, proms, graduations, weddings, celebrations of life, holiday parties, conferences, awards dinners…
• Every winter the CML serves hot meals to our LCC Warming Center guests.
• The CML is a great recruitment tool for Lane.

The CML team has worked very hard to earn a top reputation for Lane Community College and reducing FTE would make it impossible to continue the same level of commitment and amount of student involvement.  There just aren’t enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done with less FTE. 

Food Services

If Food Services is outsourced we will displace 5 contracted staff, 1 manager, and approximately 60 classified timesheet employees (a combination of students and off campus employees).  If we bring in vendors we will no longer have control over what food we provide to our students or the quality of that food. In addition:

• Food Services donates food to the Mission, helping those in need in our community.
• Food Services mentors and trains students to help them be employable outside of Lane.
• Food Services supports The Renaissance Room (the student restaurant) and the baking and pastry classes giving students real world experience in both front and back of house operations.
• Food Services employs our International Students who have few opportunities for employment because of their student VISAs.  The international program is thriving.  Do we want to damage that?

Alternative ideas:

• Perhaps we merge Food Services with Titan Store and P&G and share management and administrative employees.
• Perhaps Titan Store contracts again with Food Services for their fresh foods (sandwiches, wraps, etc.)
• Perhaps we increase the cost to customers by a small amount.
• Perhaps we accept this is a service the college must support.

Questions:

• Many years ago Taco time was at Lane.  What was the reason they left or were no longer allowed here?  What wasn’t working then?
• We have a brand new Food Services facilities at great expense to the college.  Will vendors be expected to maintain or replace equipment?
• Will vendors have to pay for custodial services and Facilities support?
• How will it work for vendors to share the kitchen with the Culinary students?

Titan Store

If the Titan Store is run by Barnes and Noble (B&N), we risk losing the ability to support OER (Open Education Resources) that help our students afford the education they need. OER materials are, by definition, free or very inexpensive resources.  B&N is a for profit organization, so they have no incentive to offer free or “open” materials to our students.  The Titan Store  supports OER’s (to its detriment) because it is in the best interest of the students.  Will B&N do the same? 

As a college we have stated we need to focus our energy on what will benefit our students.   One source has told us that B&N managers receive incentives based on profit.  This could mean staggering book purchases to not have unsold books sitting on the shelves, but that could mean students are without books at the start of term.  Our Titan Store employs 12-15 Work Study students per year.  These students gain valuable work experience to help them get a retail job elsewhere while working on their certifications or degrees.  This will not be available through B&N. 

Other possibilities & questions:

• B&N may choose not to use our Printing and Graphics service, causing a reduction in income in yet another service department.
• B&N may choose to not purchase the entire Titan Store inventory causing Lane to sell it off at pennies on the dollar creating loss for the college.
• Will the college expect B&N to pay for custodial services and Facilities support?  
• Will B&N maintain or replace equipment damaged or depreciated over time?  
• Will B&N use local vendors and businesses that Lane has built relationships with over the years or will they purchase from businesses elsewhere that may not pay a living wage to employees?  That would not be in line with Lane’s values. 

Alternative ideas:

• Every year the Titan Store returns $500,000 to the General Fund. We don’t ask this of other necessary services at Lane such as Facilities and IT.  Perhaps during this historic low enrollment period we remove that requirement to help the store be more profitable.  We can always reinstate that in lucrative times.   
• Perhaps we shift a few of the Titan Store employees to other areas of the campus. Example:  The IT Tech in Titan Store could be moved to the IT department but be dedicated for the Titan Store while also serving other campus IT needs.
• Perhaps we merge Food Services with Titan Store and P&G and share management and administrative employees.
• Perhaps we should wait and watch for the next year to see how it goes for Clackamas before we jump in the deep water with them. Clackamas has contracted with B&N for just 6 months and there are already grumblings.   

There are always unknown ramifications when huge changes occur such as the recommendations the college will propose to the Board tomorrow night.  We know that when the College’s Laundry service was eliminated it cost the CML additional expenses of about 16,000 for 2018 over what they paid when we had our own laundry.  The new service is not as good or as fast.  We know that this elimination also caused athletics some difficulty with laundering athletic uniforms and we were told the coaches were actually laundering the uniforms themselves.  What other negative impacts might have occurred with the elimination of the laundry?  Has the college assessed this?  What other negative impacts might occur with elimination of Food Services and Titan Store, and reduction to CML that we haven’t considered yet?   

Please consider going to the Board of Ed meeting and giving your opinion in support of these departments.  If you aren’t comfortable with that, or can’t make the meeting, at the very least please show your support here: https://lccef.org/2018/12/support-for-titan-store-cml-and-food-services/

Leave your comments, or just your name.  The more support we can show, the more weight our support has!  The list will be printed and given to the board, so please take a moment to show your support!