Bittersweet

When you work in education, graduation day is always happy but with a slight tinge of sadness. It's great to see students cap their career on our campus and to move on to new stages of life and new goals. It's great to see them relish in their achievements, sharing the relief and joy of the moment with friends and family. But it's also a bit sad to know that after a few years of developing relationships and watching them grow, most will leave and never be heard from again.

This year included an additional challenge as an air of great uncertainty hangs over our campus, and over many throughout the state. The down economy combined with California's byzantine and moronic governance and budget process has created fear and doubt throughout the world of education. Massive cuts in funding look to knock hundreds of thousands of students out of college in the coming year, while others will need more time to graduate while paying much higher fees (and thus graduating with more debt). And today as I wished our graduates well, I struggled to avoid saying that I might not be back in the fall either. Layoffs are on the horizon - perhaps tens of thousands statewide - and there are few of us who feel truly secure. On top of it all, many of us have worked very hard throughout several years of rapid growth, building new programs and creating new opportunities for students, only to see our work and our dreams crushed as the funding dries up, not only for new initiatives but even for maintaining the core resources needed to serve only half as many students as we actually have.

It is a deeply demoralizing time, yet a sense of family endures. I love where I work and the people I work with, and I know that those who make it through these cuts will come out stronger, smarter, and closer.

I just hope I'm there to see that day.