At the Gavilan College Board of Trustees meeting Feb. 9 at the Gilroy campus, the ongoing topic of possible plans for an educational center in Hollister was a discussion item. During the meeting, some board members expressed concern over perceived misinformation from the recent meeting held at the Briggs Building college annex in downtown Hollister, where officials addressed possible long-term campus options for San Benito County, including building at the former Leatherback location in Hollister or near the Ridgemark Golf and Country Club outside of town.
Board Vice President Mark Dover opened the discussion by noting that a third party had approached the college about building a new Gavilan educational facility at the site of the former Leatherback property on the corner of Hillcrest Road and McCray Street in Hollister.
Kent Child, a Gavilan Board trustee representing San Benito County, said he felt disheartened after residents expressed their anger at the Jan. 26 meeting in Hollister. He noted how some people strongly opposed the campus being built near Ridgemark — where the college has purchased land for such a purpose, adding that some of them “don’t really know what’s going on.” He gave the example from the previous meeting of someone saying “it would be an insult to the Latino community to go across a gated community to get to their classes.”
Child went on to say that the college would work with the city of Hollister to increase educational opportunites for local students, many of whom he believes have not been represented in discussions about the college’s facility plans. He mentioned that citizens he has spoken to envisioned a campus much like the main campus in Gilroy.
“The Briggs Building was never meant to be more than five years,” Child said. “We can provide something that for-profits can’t. We need and owe it to the community.”
Tom Breen, a Gavilan Trustee from San Benito County, expressed support for the third-party offer to build an educational center closer to downtown saying, “we can do that.”
“There’s no upfront money and this is the first time that something has come up to us,” he said.
Dover continued the discussion by saying that he wants to hear the perspective of students at upocming meetings because the board typically only hears “from non-students.”
Students are the ones that are being directly affected, he said, but “it’s only adults coming to complain.”
Breen provided a personal example of the need for expanded class offerings locally, saying that his daughter-in-law will have to graduate a semester late because of a class that wasn’t available to her at the Briggs Building and that she could have benefited from having more classes available in Hollister, particularly because she also works full-time.
“We haven’t been able to do anything. We have the opportunity now,” he added.
Adrian Lopez, a Gavilan student trustee, said that the plans for a new educational center in San Benito County this was an opportunity and “the Briggs Building is not meeting their students’ needs.”
Walt Glines, a Gavilan Trustee from Gilroy, brought up the notion that the board needed to go to faculty members and ask them if this is something they even wanted. He said, “When Leatherback came up, the faculty did not want it.”
He said the faculty described the Briggs Building as dark and dank. “We need to check back with faculty to see if it meets their needs,” Glines said.
Child agreed, saying it is “a scroungy area that it is not flourishing.”
In an effort to close the discussion, Dover again emphasized that it is vital for students to speak up at meetings because the decisions made there directly affect them.
The next Gavilan College Board of Trustees meeting is set for March 8 at 7 p.m in the Gavilan College Student Center, North/South Lounge, on the Gilroy campus.