The Board of Trustees of St. Louis Community College wouldn't let anything deter them last night — not faculty urging them to consider other cost-cutting measures, not students taking to the floor in protest, not even chanting so loud, it made discussion virtually impossible.Huddling at the front of the meeting room after protests halted any action for a full hour, the board still managed to voted in big cuts that could include up to 95 job losses, 70 of them faculty.
The room was so noisy even the Post-Dispatch reporter in attendance, Ashley Jost, had no idea what the board voted on until long after the fact.
At 10:07 p.m., a new release from the college confirmed that the board had voted in the Budget Response Team's recommendations without major amendments: "a second voluntary separation incentive plan; an increase in cost-sharing of employee insurance premiums; audits and possible reduction of programs and courses that are inactive or have low completion; reducing up to 70 faculty, and reducing non-faculty positions by as many as 25."
The board plans to give notice to affected staff members by March. They would keep their jobs through May, the college said, noting, "Employees who choose to participate in the voluntary separation incentive program will minimize the need for a reduction in force.…