LCC Faculty Colleagues,

I’m writing to share some public information impacting our beloved LCC.

The crisis of democracy at LCC’s Board of Education is more serious than previously known. 

Public record emails show Board members, who are elected by voters to represent the people of Lane County and provide public oversight to our community’s college, have been unable to add action items to their own September 3 agenda after LCC President Bulger blocked their efforts to do so. President Bulger also did not follow the will of the Board to bring forward an item on October 15 based on a vote they did pass at their September 30 meeting when they voted to remove reference to $3M in cuts each year for the next three years with a request for a full review of budget assumptions at their next meeting.

In addition, Vice Chair Jerry Rust — the most experienced in public office of all Board members as a former Lane County Commissioner with two decades of experience and who is most highly regarded across our region — reported feeling “disrespected,” citing a “hostile workplace situation” created by President Bulger. 

These public records reveal a deeply concerning dynamic at the level of the Board of Education whose authority has been effectively sidelined by the LCC Administration. While this information may be alarming, it is important for faculty and our broader community to take heart and take action to join the call to restore democracy at our community’s LCC Board of Education.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Click here to sign our petition to restore democracy to the Board of Education: https://bit.ly/LCCDemocracy 
2. Join together at our rally on Wednesday November 5 at 4:30pm! RSVP here: https://bit.ly/Nov5RallyMeeting

More background information:

New public record emails show publicly elected Lane Community College Board of Education members advocating with the LCC President to allow them to return to performing the most basic functions of their roles – including voting on budget cuts and putting together their own agendas for meetings. 

LCC Board of Education Vice Chair Jerry Rust is an elder public official and experienced LCC Board of Education member, with a lifetime of public service, including 20 years as Lane County Commissioner. 

On October 9, Vice Chair Rust wrote to LCC’s President: “As you know, the last time we attempted to meet, I felt totally disrespected and surprised at your insistence that another board member accompany you… I don’t know how to explain it to you except to say it was a very hostile workplace situation and I’m still feeling hurt by your not treating me as an elected board member worthy of respect.”

Boards of Education in Oregon are responsible for creating their own agenda: setting that agenda is a core function of the independent governing body which cannot be handed away to the same college Administration that the Board is elected to oversee. Voting on budget cuts is consistent with existing Board policy at LCC, as well as past practice at LCC. 

Despite this, emails show LCC Board of Education Chair Austin Folnagy repeatedly asked the LCC President to add an agenda item requested by three Board members — Jesse Maldonado, Zach Mulholland, and Vice Chair Rust — that would reaffirm the right of the Board to vote on program cuts. Voting on cuts is a core tenet of their oversight role, done by every previous LCC Board, and critical for allowing a forum for community input during public comment at open meetings. Discussion around the need for this agenda item included the suspension of the highly successful LPN program, done with neither notice to students and community, nor public comment, nor Board vote.

The LCC Board of Education has always had a policy and authority to vote on program and service cuts, reductions, and suspensions and has done so for decades . However, after the LPN program was suspended suddenly without a Board vote or notice to the public, a number of Board members have been calling for their right to vote on cuts be recognized per normal operating procedure of the board – and their own elected responsibilities and duty to the people and voters of Lane County. 

The emails reveal that LCC’s current President has defied the majority of the Board. This effectively silences their voices, and the public’s. 

In one instance, Pres. Bulger refused  to add the motion item to the September 3 agenda to reaffirm the Board’s voting rights on cuts consistent with their own policy. Instead of adding the item at the Chair’s request, per operating agreements, Pres. Bulger instead added all 7 board members to the email chain and engaged in extensive back and forths attempting to get them to drop the agenda item. After pushback from Pres. Bulger and Board member Kevin Alltucker, Board members arrived at the meeting with their motion to restore voting rights still not added. Instead, President Bulger posted only a memo written by Kevin Alltucker in support of her own position to usurp authority from the publicly elected Board. Kevin Alltucker has stated publicly in Board meetings that he does not believe it is his job to represent the people who elected him. The voices of the majority of the Board were effectively silenced when their action item motion was not added to their own agenda.

On October 20, Vice Chair Rust wrote to LCC’s President: “… The board passed a Motion (‘President‘s goals 2025–2026 Request for Approval’) mandating you to come back to the board with a discussion on the assumptions used in the budget preparation which has led your preliminary findings to conclude that we have a $3.1 million deficit. You were to come back with that discussion item on October 15. I was very disappointed to find that you had neither put it on the agenda for discussion, nor did you raise the issue or speak to that issue on October 15. Was there a reason that you did not follow up with this item as requested by the LCC board? I believe the board in its oversight capacity and doing its fiduciary due diligence should review the assumptions made about the budget at the beginning phase, which is now. Could you tell me when and if you plan to discuss this with the board?”

Last week, news broke about multiple LCC Board of Education open meeting violations at the behest of President Bulger, when she called two meetings in late August to privately discuss budget cuts with Board members despite the concerns raised by multiple Board members – including the Chair and Vice Chair – that the meetings would violate open meeting law. 

It is time for our community to call to restore democracy at the LCC Board of Education.

In solidarity,

Adrienne