Rob Watts

Rob Watts, GPC interim president, spoke to faculty and staff today about the school’s $16 million budget shortfall.

“The college is spending more money than it has … The college is spending at a rate that is $16 million above its available resources,” said Watts.

Watts was told that the former administration believed that it could reduce its deficit by taking one-time actions such as “canceling purchase orders or removing encumbrances of about $7 million.”

However, these actions would only address the shortfall in the current fiscal year. “These one-time actions really don’t reduce the continual deficit,” said Watts. “The college will then have to borrow $9 million from another institution to balance its books on June 30.”

This temporary solution still solve address the issue of the $16 million shortfall and adds an extra $9 million in debt. “We cannot wait until all the audit investigations are complete before taking action. Every day we are out of balance puts us further in the hole. We have to reduce the $16 million deficit as much as possible,” said Watts.

Watts said that he does not know how this happened but stated, “A team of internal auditors from the Board of Regents has been on campus reviewing our books and conducting interviews. A team from the state audit office will conduct their own full audit in the coming months,” and that all “allegations of fraud” have been referred to the attorney general.

Watts said he shares the frustration of everyone to not know how this happened, “We want the [auditors] to get to the bottom of it so we know how it really happened and how we can make sure it never happens again … I will not be in a position to comment until the audit reports are complete.”

According to Watts, the school’s departments were given inaccurate budget information. The deficit was caused by a wide range of expenditures “made in good faith” all across the college. “The left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing. I don’t comprehend how this could’ve happened … I do not understand how departments would be given incorrect budgets,” said Watts. “I have also heard anecdotally from some employees here at the college that people were afraid to speak up to their supervisors and their managers were reluctant to speak up to their senior college leaders about problems at the college out of fear or intimidation.”

The next step will be a major culture shift at GPC as what to cut out of the budget is considered by the new administration. In an effort to continue to provide access “to students whose futures depend” on GPC, no campuses will be closed. “We should minimize impact on faculty and staff. I said minimize because there will be an impact. More than 90% of running the college is represented right in this room … I have made absolutely no decisions at this point about what will make up the $25 million reduction, but we will indeed have to consider a wide range of actions,” said Watts.

These “wide range of actions” include the considerations of a hiring freeze, a change in faculty workload, class sizes, operating expenses, furloughs, and reduction in force.

Collegian reporters approached several dozen faculty and staff members for comments after Watts’s speech, but no one would discuss their opinions or concerns on the record.

“The traditional universities are not designed for our students … GPC is the Hartsfield Jackson of the university system. It is a departure point for students, a final destination and an enormous transfer hub. It keeps the university system fluid,” said Watts. “No decisions have been made at this point. I hope to have an outlined plan to you a week from today.”

AJC story

The Board of Regents approval to change the name of Georgia Perimeter College to Georgia Perimeter State College has been rejected by a majority of faculty and staff.

Rob Watts, interim president for GPC, sent out an email yesterday asking the faculty and staff, “Do you prefer GPC or GPSC as the college’s name?” Watts wrote that besides not having the funds to change signage, or the fact that the GPC name is well established, he wanted faculty/staff to “contemplate whether we want to retain the name GPC.”

Within four minutes of his message, Watts received “264 responses.” Only two people suggested to use state in the name.

“I will be contacting the staff at the Board to Regents to discuss the possibility of our retaining the GPC name,” Watts wrote. “Do not mind my clogging up of your inbox on a daily basis this week. I do want to share what I know with you, when I know it.”

Rob Watts sent the following email to GPC faculty and staff today:

Mr. Ron Carruth, Executive Vice President for Fiscal Affairs, and Ms. Sheletha Champion, Associate Vice President for Fiscal Affairs, have both left the College.  Effective tomorrow, they are no longer employees of GPC.

 

On a different topic, I would like the college to revisit the college name matter.  As you probably know, at the recommendation of the former administration here, the Board of Regents approved a change in name for the college from Georgia Perimeter College to Georgia Perimeter State College at its meeting last week.

 

Apart from not having the funds to change signage, stationery, etc., I want us to contemplate whether we want to retain the name GPC.

 

The name GPC is well established in the communities we serve.  The college has done a very effective job in promoting that name over the last fifteen years, when it was changed to GPC from DeKalb College.

 

Speaking only personally, adding the word “state” just sounds clunkier to my ear.   GPC has a cleaner, better ring, to me, than GPSC.

 

If we stick with GPC, it does not mean that we won’t be a state college.  Of the eight original state colleges, only three had the word “state” in their names: Macon State College, Dalton State College, and Gainesville State College.  The other five original state colleges did not: ABAC, Georgia Gwinnett College, Gordon College, College of Coastal Georgia, and Middle Georgia College.

 

We could incorporate the state college notion in a tag line: For example, Georgia Perimeter College—a state college of the University System of Georgia.

 

So the question on which I would appreciate your feedback: Do you prefer GPC or GPSC as the college’s name?  I welcome any comments you have.

Rob Watts, GPC’s interim president, announced today that Dr. Alan Jackson, the vice president for academic affairs, and Dr. Beth Jensen, the dean of English, would be returning to their faculty roles as “professor of English.”

Watts wrote in a email to GPC employees that he “deeply appreciates the work that Dr. Alan Jackson has done,” and would like to,”thank Dr. Beth Jensen for the work she has done as Dean of English,” but didn’t specify why the changes were made.

“Effective tomorrow, Mr. Phil Smith will become Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs … I have worked closely with him over a number of years,” wrote Watts. “Phil will do an excellent job in guiding the academic program through the difficult year ahead.”

Watts also named Dr. Stuart Noel as the interim dean of English. “Stuart has served in this position before and has also worked as a department chair. Stuart will do an outstanding job of leading the English faculty through next year,” Watts wrote.

Watts plans to address the faculty at Clarkston campus on Friday, May 18.

The following email was sent this afternoon by the new interim president of GPC, Rob Watts, to the faculty:

GPC Faculty and Staff Colleagues:

It is a personal honor and professional privilege to be back at GPC.  Some of you may know that I spent the earlier half of my career here.  I care deeply about the institution, its access mission, and the people here who work hard to achieve that mission.

We have a challenging year to face together.  We must bring the budget back into balance, while simultaneously meeting the educational needs of our students.  Edward Albee titled one of his plays “A Delicate Balance.”   It will be a very delicate balance indeed.

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Mr. Ron Stark has agreed to serve as Vice President for Fiscal Affairs.  I worked with Ron for a decade at the University System Office.  Ron served three chancellors as Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Audit Officer.  Ron has the exact qualities that the college needs at this time: extraordinary competence in finance and accounting, a career’s worth of experience in solving financial problems, and, perhaps most important, unshakable integrity.

Ron is a Georgia native from Dalton. He obtained a BS in Mathematics and Business Administration from Berry College, an MBA from Wright State University, and obtained his CPA in Ohio. Ron spent the first 15 years of his career in the private sector working for General Electric, Celanese Corporation and as the Chief Financial Officer for a division of NCR Corporation.  Since entering the higher education sector, Ron has worked for Cornell University,  University of Alabama at Birmingham,  University of California-Irvine, the University System of Georgia, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, Georgia State University, and most recently as the Vice President of Business and Finance at Fort Valley State University.

I know you will join me in welcoming Ron to GPC.

As I understand it, staff employees were holding next Friday, May 18^th, for a staff development day on the Clarkston Campus.  I have asked the staff council to go ahead with a half day of activities.  I will speak to the group at 9 am.  Any faculty members who are in town and would like to attend are very welcome to do so.   I hope faculty members will consider attending, if their schedules permit.  I would prefer not to wait until Fall Convocation to speak to the college community about the challenges ahead and the next steps going forward.

I welcome your suggestions about the college in general and about getting the budget in balance in particular.  My e-mail address is rob.watts@gpc.edu.  No one else has access to this account.

Thank you for all that you do to serve students.  I look forward to being your colleague this year.

Rob

Keep checking back with the Collegian for more updates.

In the wake of a $16 million budget shortfall and Dr. Anthony Tricoli’s decision to “step down,” Chancellor Henry Huckaby of the USG Board of Regents appointed Rob Watts as the “Interim President” of GPC.

In an email to all GPC employees, Huckaby wrote, “Rob, currently Interim President of Georgia Highlands College, knows Georgia Perimeter well having first joined the institution in 1986 …  Rob genuinely loves Georgia Perimeter and is devoted to its mission and program, but most of all its faculty, staff and students.  I am pleased he is willing to serve.”

The chancellor’s message went on to say that Watts is the “ideal person” for the job because of his extensive experience in the university system and his understanding of “policy and budget management.”

Watt’s appointment will begin on Monday May 14, 2012, but the chancellor’s email stated that he expects  him to “spend some time on campus before then.”

After the news of Dr. Anthony Tricoli’s resignation from GPC Monday afternoon, the Collegian spoke with him in a brief cell phone interview.

Tricoli stated that he was busy and was being bombarded with questions from all angles, but he said, “I think everything’s going to work out.”

He told the Collegian that he needed time to come up with responses and requested that we call him back tomorrow afternoon.

Currently, the cell phone number is no longer in service.

Two weeks ago a general email was sent out to all GPC employees from the Office of Financial and Administrative Affairs stating that a restriction of spending “in the areas of travel, purchasing, contracts, consultants, and other expenditures,” as well as “a hiring freeze of new employees is effective immediately.”

The email stated that GPC “must take action to reduce costs and bring expenditures in line with available funds.” Since April 27, not a single penny has been allowed to be spent due to an apparent lack of funds.

Today at 3:39 p.m., all GPC employee’s received a message from Chancellor Huckaby of the USG Board of Regents which said, “Immediately upon learning of the shortfall, system fiscal and audit staff began working with GPC staff to determine the scope of the shortfall. After several days of analysis, staff determined that the shortfall is around $16 million … In light of the need for a fresh approach, President Anthony Tricoli has stepped down.”

During the transition, Dr. Alan Jackson, vice president of academic affairs, will serve as GPC’s acting president.

Chancellor Huckaby’s message also said that the USG “will reallocate funds internally and ensure that GPC will finish FY12 with a balanced budget.”

There is still the issue with damage control, since the financial shortfall will roll over into the next fiscal year. “We do not know at this time precisely the impact in every budget area, but it will be significant and will likely impact personnel,” said Huckaby’s message.

However, students need not worry because the tuition “will not be increased” beyond what the BOR has already approved.

Chancellor Huckaby thanked Dr. Tricoli for his dedication to GPC’s students and said, “He will join the system office to assist with initiatives in distance education, adult degree completion, and learning support programs.”

AJC story

Disclaimer: The GPC student interviewed for this article is real, however, we changed the name to Betsy Stafford to protect her identity.

3:00 pm

Walking into the strip club at 3:00 p.m. is like walking into a different world. Light is replaced with darkness, crisp air replaced by cigarette smoke and sweat, and rap music plays loudly as men sit at tables by themselves sipping cold drinks.

Betsy Stafford stands in tall heels on stage, twisting her body along with the music. It’s her first dance of the night and her garter begins filling up with ones.

Betsy Stafford is not your average student.

Stafford maintains a 3.6 GPA as a STEM student with plans to major in chemical engineering. To afford her living and school expenses Stafford works as a stripper.

Stafford’s father and step mother got a divorce in the fall of her senior year of high school and they moved to an apartment in Birmingham, Al.

Stafford’s relationship with her father grew more stressful as her senior year went on and fights became worse. One night an argument broke out about her FASFA form and it ended with her leaving the house with no where to go.

“It was the Thursday before spring break, I called my teachers and said that I wouldn’t be able to make it to class because I was busy not having a place to live,” recalls Stafford.

After the fallout with her father, Stafford asked a friend if she could move in.

She took a job at a local outback. As a lead hostess she was making almost no money, “we were supposed to get paid more than the other hostesses, but they didn’t do that, and they worked me overtime, I was working 5 or six days a week from open to close,” said Stafford.

“I figured I might as well try to get a job at Hooters.”

Stafford walked out to the patio wearing bright orange shorts and a small white hooters shirt. Stafford had her hair styled in a very short, chic pixie cut.

There were eight guys sitting out on the patio smiling as she walked up to greet them and take their drink order.

All of the guys loved her except for one of them. “I don’t come to hooters to get waited on by a boy,” one of them said. This sparked conversation which lead to the other seven guys jeering and laughing at the rude one.

“He got so frustrated that he spit on me.”

 After she begins her job at Hooters, Stafford also began taking shifts at a Journeys shoe store. She was now working close to seven days a week, sometimes 12 hour days, making about $700 a week, until she met a customer from Atlanta who told her about stripping.

“He told me I would make a good stripper.”

Stafford called the club her customer suggested. The manager told her she had to have an outfit, and be able to dance 3 songs on stage.

Stafford takes down directions from her roommate over the phone while driving in her car. After an hour of being lost in Atlanta, she finally finds the club.

The “house mom,” who looks after the girls, took one look at Stafford and told her she could not work nights and to come back the next morning to try out for day shift. The house mom also told Stafford to buy another outfit because the one she had was no good.

The next morning she came for try outs.

“I got up on stage and I was basically just flopping around, and they hired me! I’m glad that they did, because the first day that I worked I made 500 dollars, the second day and third day I made 500 dollars as well,” exclaimed Stafford.

She was amazed that she could work for three days and make more than than she could working every day for two weeks at her other jobs.

5:00 p.m.

Betsy Stafford sits in a black and white stripped, tight fitting BeBe dress while talking to a patron. The patron, a man with salt and pepper and brown hair, sits in the dark next to Stafford with his belly hanging over his pressed khaki pants. He smiles as she flirts with him and strokes his ego. Apparently, he has asked Stafford for a dance because she stands up and pulls the clingy dress over her head. She unsnaps the small clasps on her thong and struggles slightly to pull it off over her heels. As the song plays she moves along with the music. Strangely, the man guiltily begins looking around the club as though he is looking to see who is watching him rob the cradle.

Stafford’s Apartment

For Stafford, work does not always stay at the club, sometimes fantasy becomes reality.

Sitting on Stafford’s tan sectional couch is a grey haired man holding a screwdriver, wearing a white oxford shirt and red tie. Stafford sits on the floor struggling to fit together two pieces of a outdoor patio table. They are talking about her ex-boyfriend.

Stafford met him at the club when she first started. After awhile they would sit down and have long conversations at the tables by the stage. They started frequenting the VIP rooms to sit and talk together. “It was never sexual, I mean he liked seeing me naked … He doesn’t have kids or grand-kids … so he calls me his granddaughter if anybody asks and I know his wife really well. People come into strip clubs because they’re lonely and need someone to take care of. To him, I’m the grand-kid that he never had,” explains Stafford.

Stafford quit her first job at the club she worked at and didn’t work in the strip club scene again for about a year. When she started stripping again her work relationship with this man had changed.

He had not seen her naked for about a year at this point. When he tried to visit her at her new club, Stafford started feeling uncomfortable with the situation. “We were sitting there and he was like ‘do you want to dance?’ I said ‘no, I’m good’ so we made a rule that he is no longer allowed to come see me at work,” said Stafford.

Stafford’s relationship with the man is no longer one of financial responsibility, except for Christmas and birthday presents, he is not obligated to pay Stafford for spending time together.

9:00 pm

There are three stages at the club: a large slick wooden stage for the featured dancers by the entrance, another near the back is a slightly smaller stage next to a heavy mahogany door leading to the VIP rooms, and the third is an even smaller stage on the side of the club.

Each of the stages has a girl dancing. Two are topless, but the third is wearing a bright yellow tank top and a black thong. Her facial expression shows she is enjoying her dance, but her clothed body implies that she has received no tips yet.

The man with the large belly and khakis is now sitting alone admiring one of the dancers. Stafford is no where to be found.

Stafford appears coming out of the door to the VIP rooms. She quickly runs over to a table to greet some friends, a younger man and his date. They both exchange a hug with Stafford and she tells the couple that she will be busy for the rest of the night with a regular patron in the VIP room.

Stafford walks back to the door and disappears, the couple seems to understand the situation and they leave through the side exit of the club.

“I stopped doing VIPs for several months, because one time…”

Stafford sat down to talk to a man, he seemed nice enough, so she invited him back to the VIP lounge.

Once they were secluded, the man’s personality changed. He became forceful and started putting his hands all over her. Stafford told the man “No,” but she was unprepared for what happened next.

The man physically crossed the line when he forced his fingers into her vagina.

She screamed and pushed the man off. He got angry and yelled at Stafford accusing her of false advertising. The man then ripped the money he had paid her out of her garter and ran out of the back, leaving the club. Stafford stood in a daze for a minute, scared and unsure of what to do next.

She then made her way to the DJ booth and was so upset the DJ asked her what was wrong. “I didn’t want to tell them what happened. Then he told the bouncer, but by the time the bouncer got outside the man was already gone,” said Stafford.

This was the only experience Stafford has had like this at the clubs, she has never had anyone follow her home or wait for her to leave. “I’ve actually had more scary experiences when I was working at Hooters, than when I was working at the strip clubs,” said Stafford.

12:00 am

Stafford reappears from the back of the club, walking out with the man she was with for the last three hours. She hugs the man and tells him goodbye.

After tipping the DJ, house mom, and manager, she is free to go.

She walks out of the club for the first time in nine hours, the sun has long since set and she is now $1,000 richer.