By Martin Paredes/south news editor
South Campus students voiced their concerns and had their questions answered during Pizza with the Prez April 7.
The town hall-style meeting allowed students to interact with South president Peter Jordan in a personal environment with some added taste.
Jordan began by playfully teasing a faculty member for bringing his own lunch to the event.
Photo by Bogdan Sierra Miranda/The Collegian
“Apparently, this guy didn’t like the fact that I was serving up pizza, so he had to go to Subway,” he said. “What’s that about? I’m hurt … I’m hurt!”
Jordan said he likes to hold this event once a semester so students can learn more about him and he can hear students suggest ways the campus can be improved.
Jordan grew up in Harlem, New York, and his immigrant parents did not have higher than a ninth-grade education, he said. Despite attending what he called “one of the worst New York public school districts,” he attained three degrees with the help of others, loans and scholarships.
Spectrum secretary David May Jr. asked if the president planned on adding a “safe space” on campus where LGBT students could meet.
Jordan said the campus diversity and inclusion council advises him on how to have a more comfortable and welcoming campus. The council recently suggested creating a safe space.
“My response to that was that I did not want to create a single safe space on this campus, but I wanted to make sure that we had a campus environment where everyone felt safe,” he said. “I do, however, want to make sure that faculty, staff and students go through the safe space training so that we become, not just tolerant of each other, but appreciative of each other no matter what the differences between us are.”
One student asked if South would expand online education to include nursing and dental hygienic classes among others. Jordan said though he could not predict the future, online education is always being assessed.
“Well, I don’t have a crystal ball, and I’m not psychic … If I were, I’d be really wealthy,” he said. “What I do know is that we have faculty who will help us push the envelope, which is important. We also want to make sure that we are expanding opportunities for folks in terms of a quality of education.”
Student Tera Prowell said the president gave great and well-thought-out answers, but she felt that some of the students’ concerns brought up were a bit petty.
“I think some of the questions were relevant to possible contributions that could be made at TCC, but others were kind of irrelevant and self-centered,” she said. “People should have thought more about what they were going to ask beforehand in my opinion.”
SGA, Cornerstone, LASSO and Gaming Club member Delia Morales said she advertised the event to her clubmates.
“I brought the whole Gaming Club to this meeting because I wanted to try and get the student body more involved with everything that’s going on,” she said. “I was actually taking notes so I could get feedback from the president so I could pass it along to my club.”
