School adminstrators welcomed guests to the second annual State of the College Address earlier today in the Long Beach City College gymnasium, with President Eloy Oakley providing a summary of the challenges and successes of 2008 while looking ahead to the future.
“I am pleased to report to all of you that the state of Long Beach City College – your city college – is good,” said Oakley during his half-hour speech. The president and superintendent spoke at length about planned expansions, and the Long Beach College Promise – which was signed earlier this year to provide local students with greater opportunity to pursue higher education.
Oakley also addressed the issues of serving nearly 30,000 students in the middle of a budget crunch.
“The continuing inaction on the budget will make cuts this year more difficult and next year’s reductions even larger,” Oakley said. “We are facing real financial challenges in the next few years that will test us as an institution and force us to make significant changes so that we can continue serving this community as we have done for more then 80 years.”
The gymnasium-converted-auditorium was loaded with guests ranging from Vice Mayor Val Lerch to Police Chief Anthony Batts and hundreds more.
More information coming…
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor
Disclosure: lbpost.com co-founder Robert Garcia is an employee of LBCC.