Aloha Kauaʻi Community College ʻOhana
April 15, 2020
It is my hope that you are all doing well, as well as can be expected and that you are staying safe!
Together, we have faced previously unimaginable challenges and so far we have risen to new heights to meet them. I appreciate the many sacrifices that have been made by our college community in order to ensure our students can continue to be successful, and as we work through the many restrictions implemented to ensure our continued health and safety.
As we know and have experienced, individually and collectively this coronavirus pandemic has touched our lives in many ways. There are so many compelling stories of great social, emotional, and fiscal challenges faced by members of our community, state, nation, and globally as well. Unfortunately, as many of us anticipated and have discussed, the University of Hawai’i and our Kaua'i Community College campus are now facing critically serious fiscal challenges that require us to act now in order to prepare for what will be an uncertain future.
To that end, President David Lassner and Vice President for Community Colleges (VPCC) Erika Lacro, have implemented the following steps effective immediately to end the year with cash reserves to carry us into the next fiscal year. In this memo, we are directed to generate savings this fiscal period for the upcoming year(s) by freezing positions, travel, and other major expenses. We are informed of the magnitude of the reductions while the availability of other sources like a federal stimulus and the impact of COVID-19 will have on enrollment is still unknown. The Cabinet has been meeting to discuss these restrictions and actions to implement them.
Additionally, in response to her memo, VPCC Lacro is meeting with each campus to learn about our staffing plan. The Cabinet and I have been tasked with developing exemption requests to present to President Lassner, which we will be doing this week. We have been advised that exemptions will be rare and granted only for positions needed to prevent critical risk to campus. The campus community will be kept apprised of these meetings and subsequent decisions.
The necessity of these steps is unfortunate. It is sincerely hoped that if we act now, we will be able to preserve more of who we are and what we have, and be in a better position to plan for the fiscal implications we will face in the future. As we navigate these many challenges, we will have opportunities as a college community to come together, to share our ideas on how we can anticipate, respond, and best meet the challenges we will no doubt face. Additionally, two all-campus Zoom meetings are scheduled to provide an opportunity for folks to participate, ask questions, and share ideas. The first all-campus Zoom meeting is scheduled on Thursday, April 23 from 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. The second all-campus Zoom meeting is scheduled on Friday, April 24 from 12:15 p.m. -1:15 p.m. The link to join these all-campus Zoom meetings will be sent out on Wednesday, April 22.
Please know that I continue to be impressed by the continued level of understanding, cooperation, collaboration, and optimism demonstrated by the members of our college community. Together, we will continue to face the challenges we know and the challenges yet to be known. In the measure of a day and in the many days to come, I continue to trust that we will get through this and we will emerge stronger because of our shared experience. You have demonstrated your tenacity, innovation, and creativity.
It is a privilege for me to serve you as your chancellor.
E mālama pono,
Joe