ROCCC meeting slated for Monday

The impact of budget issues and future leadership for the Western Nevada College Fallon Campus will be key topics Monday when the next Restore Our College Campus Committee (ROCCC) meeting is held at 7 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, 55 W. Williams Ave.

Committee members are looking to continue their work to minimize the impact of budget cuts on the Fallon campus and work toward getting a “rural factor” or other fix to the funding formula through the legislative study committee created by the passage of SB 391, according to Ginny Dugan, ROCCC recorder.

The group will also discuss strategies on how Fallon can be represented in the process to select WNC’s next president after the recent announcement that Dr. Carol Lucey has decided to step down.

Ron Knecht, District 9 representative on the Board of Regents (an area that includes Churchill County), has also provided information that will be reviewed, according to ROCCC Chairman Bob Clifford.

“As time allows we also want to discuss how to build support for resurrection of the rural factor,” Clifford said. “Going in to the meetings of the committee to study rural higher education created by SB391, we need a strategy to build public, local government and Nevada System of Higher Education support for a rural factor. Without this, full implementation of the formula based cuts without short term mitigation will be devastating to rural higher education.”

ROCCC organized in early 2012 with the objective of finding solutions to help restore the Western Nevada College Fallon Campus “to be a vibrant, contributing member of our economic development team by providing occupational and academic courses, degrees and programs needed by our community.”

Western Nevada Community College (renamed Western Nevada College in 2007) established the Fallon Campus when its first building (Sage Hall) was constructed.