MPFA letter on behalf of the scholarship committee about the new "process" for selecting recipients.

By Neil Bell

Neill wrote the following letter on behalf of the scholarship committee. The administration's response to this letter was essentially: Like our proposal or lump it! See update in Neill's Weekly.

From: Mendocino College Part-time Faculty Association MPFA 1000 Hensley Creek Road Ukiah, CA 95482 September 23, 1998

To: Katie Wojcieszak Scholarship Coordinator Mendocino College Scholarship Office

Dear Katie:

The MPFA scholarship committee has reviewed your proposed changes for a new the scholarship application process. We have a few thoughts and suggestions we would like to pass on to you.

We think you have done a good job of streamlining the application process for students, and hope that having only one application to complete will encourage more students to apply. The cover sheet you have provided gives students clear directions concerning eligibility and "what happens" once they apply.

Likewise, the forms themselves are clear and easy to understand, and the faculty recommendation sheets as well. You and other scholarship staff have done good work improving the application process for those who count the most--students.

The last form is the only one that raised serious concerns for us. Although it provides space for donor organizations to specify the type of scholarship(s) they are awarding and some specific criteria for recipients, the form makes clear that the selection of individual recipients will be the responsibility of the Mendocino College Foundation scholarship committee. The only choices available are to have this committee decide on recipients, or for this committee--plus one representative from the donor organization"to chose recipients. This is not acceptable to MPFA.

Last year, MPFA awarded five scholarships. In every case, the students selected for awards were applicants that had already been rejected by the Foundation committee. We feel that the criteria we have used in past years to select our scholarship recipients are quite different from those used by the Foundation. Having a single representative on the selection committee (the others being members of the Foundation scholarship committee) in no way addresses our desire to use our own experience as part-time instructors and our informal consensus consultative process to determine who should receive MPFA scholarships.

Our selection committee most often consists of a half-dozen MPFA members who work together to interview and select recipients from among the finalists we have pre-screened. Turning this responsibility over to the Foundation committee would certainly save us a great deal of work, but it would not achieve our goal of awarding scholarships to those students we think should receive MPFA awards. Our membership has been made especially aware of our responsibility in awarding scholarships by the recent death of part-time colleague and founding MPFA scholarship committee member Erica Enzer. In fact, our organization has named the principal scholarship the Erica Enzer Scholarship to honor her memory.

We hope that you and your coworkers will consider our position in refining scholarship selection procedures. Since the college still retains sponsorship of the scholarship program, we would like to work with you in making sure that donor organizations like MPFA don't get lost in the shuffle as the Foundation expands its awards.

Again, thanks for your work on behalf of MC students.

Sincerely, Neill Bell Secretary, MPFA

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Note regarding the above letter (from Neill):

Regarding the new scholarship packet. The very title and headings on every page indicate that the scholarship awards process is under the aegis of the Mendocino College Foundation, and not Mendocino College. While the Foundation certainly gives more money and provides more scholarships than organizations like ours, does this imply or make explicit that all scholarships awarded at Mendocino College are sponsored by the Foundation? This new packet and process still indicates to me that the college itself is the principal sponsor of the scholarship program, although the Foundation is the principal donor. Is the college turning over all scholarship responsibilities to the Foundation? If so, how was this decision made, and by whom?

Email: Mendocino College Part-time Faculty
Last Update: 8/23/98