Board wants to help BMCC but not play politics

By Terry Murry on Friday, June 10th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

UMATILLA COUNTY – Umatilla County wants to help Blue Mountain Community College which is experiencing a critical drop in enrollment. Commissioner George Murdock said the county has workforce development money from the federal government. The question is how to best use it without getting involved in college politics.

“The county is not going to tell BMCC how to manage the budget,” he said. “We’re not going to get between the faculty union and the BMCC administration. We have no place there.”

The college has an approved budget that includes laying off five teachers. President Mark Browning has said that if money becomes available before the fall term it could be possible to save some or even all of those positions. Meanwhile, Murdock said that fewer people are looking for a two-year path to a four-year college while more are looking at technical training, and it may serve BMCC to be responsive to that trend.

“There’s absolutely no value in just artificially sustaining the college,” he said. “If we suddenly rode in on a white horse and saved the day and solved this year’s budget problem, maybe it would exacerbate next year’s problem.”