For the past two weeks, the Highline Executive Committee has been hosting “listening sessions” around campus to gather data from the staff, faculty, and students.

Full breakdowns of each session are available on Discord.

I made it my mission to attend as many of these as possible (I was unable to attend the sessions with Maribel Jimenez or Rolita Ezeonu, as they conflicted with other sessions on the list).

By and large, these sessions have included sharp criticism from employees while the EC member sits in stony silence with an expression ranging from boredom to annoyance, or doing a “Mosby Special”: using all the therapy phrases we’re familiar with by now with that same “Why do I have to be here?” expression.

Few faculty and no students attended. The majority of attendees were classified staff.

The top three themes from all of these sessions were:

• 1. Concerns regarding transparency and accountability of campus leadership, including lack of documentation and lack of on-campus presence by leadership, and lack of visibility when they are on campus.
• 2. Pay disparity and treatment of classified staff in particular but non-EC employees in general, including having our voices ignored or suffering reprisals for voicing negative opinions of college leadership or superiors.
• 3. Lack of accessibility to on-campus meetings, including a noted lack of zoom options for the past year, and the inability of some employees to attend without those options.

Next week I’ll share a wider look at the Listening Sessions, so be sure to check that out next week.