Once a year, the Academic Senate holds a meeting at the Vallejo and Vacaville campuses to discuss the wellbeing of that campus’ students, academics, and goals. The Academic Senate initiates their first meeting on the different campuses, in Vallejo.
The Vallejo campus meeting was held on March 10th, although it was an unusual meeting because there weren’t enough senators present to move on any action items. After some brief updates on events from that day, and the land acknowledgement, Vallejo Campus Supervisor Brandon Carrera gives a presentation on the Vallejo Campus.
Carrera starts with the history of the college, which actually started in Vallejo, and tells the Senators the good news that they’ve sustained increasing enrollment on campus.
He then jumped into the statistics of the campus. The gender difference is almost equal with the students being 47% men, 50% women, and 3% not reported. The ethnicity of the students is 38% Hispanic, 27% Asian-Pacific Islander, 19% is Black, 13% White, 1% Native American, and 2% other.
Carrera goes through some student suggestions and feedback from a Student Survey they emailed to all Vallejo Campus students. One prominent problem the students brought up is that the lights in the parking lot don’t work, which is hazardous for students who take night classes, or even for students in the winter who take early classes. This is because someone stole all of the copper wiring for the lights. Replacing the wiring will be expensive, so according to Carrera, it will be a while until that is fixed.
Some positive feedback is that students love the snack station on campus. Carrera brought up how the station is by far the most used service on campus. When you first walk into the Vallejo Campus, there’s a snack table set up with coffee and a variety of snacks for free. All you have to do is write your student ID number on the clipboard.
Despite the success, the Vallejo campus still faces certain issues. One of the most consistent problems facing the Vallejo Campus is the Vallejo population being able to get to class. The campus is very far from the center of town, and a lot of the students that attend the Vallejo campus have to rely on public transportation.
The bus system itself is flawed and sometimes only runs once an hour, or even farther in between. People who rely on the bus sometimes have to catch the bus an hour plus before their class starts just to make it. And if they miss the bus then they can sometimes miss the whole class.
The Senate asked the students in the room their opinions and suggestions on the things discussed, or the Vallejo Campus itself. There were five students in the room, and I was the one of the only ones who had taken classes at the Vallejo Campus. I suggested scheduling classes roughly around the bus schedule so it would be easier on students taking the bus, since the college can’t change the bus system.
Overall, the main goal of the Vallejo Campus is to ensure students who want to attend classes in Vallejo can, as well as getting student numbers back up to pre-pandemic numbers.
