MJC: The Crisis Begins - The Riffed - Ep 01 of 08

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• published: 09 Jun 2012
• views: 166

In the Spring of 2011 one thousand people came to an emergency board meeting in an overwhelming majority to oppose an announcement to gut the schools Media Department (Journalism, Television, Film, Radio), foreign language (every language except Spanish), ART, Communication Graphics, Industrial Technology, Dental Assisting, Engineering, Child Care, among others in a mad dash to save 8 million dollars in expected deficit handed down from the California governor Jerry Brown. Given three minutes (and often less) the instructors and students plead their case only to be ignored by their board of trustees who had already decided that these cuts were the only option they were willing to consider. Long loved programs, both successful and inexpensive were eliminated and the community of Modesto got a voice to finally question the decisions in this 7 Part series created by former students and supported by concerned citizens of MJC. The documentary premiered on Vimeo to well over one thousand cumulative views and was reported in the local Modesto Bee newspaper and on local ABC news. The doc also explores the circumstances around Gaither Lowenstein's resignation from the office of President of MJC, shortly after coming up with what some considered a personal agenda hit list in an effort to turn the public funded community college into something more resembling a private university. Inconclusive evidence suggests that there was more than meets the eye to these decisions, a topic the series explores in great detail. Following episodes take a slower approach and show each individual program on their last days before getting axed, many to no fault of their own.