We Hoped For Better - Associate Roxbury Community College Employee Review

The professors are really invested in supporting the students and the students are proud RCC students. As someone who did not know the previous president, this current president actually does appear to make things a lot easier for the students and there are many resources that were not always available. He puts the students experience ahead of the faculty which may be unfavorable for some who do not want to go the extra step to be of service to the students. I am giving a high rating to encourage people with professional experience to apply. They are headed in the right direction but they need people with professional expertise who have worked in other settings in the world outside of school. There are an abundance of resources for students, even more than what is seen in other community college especially to address student hardships.

It appears that many of the people that they hire are unable to bring real life application of educational experience. A lot of the faculty have never worked outside of a school setting and it shows in the unprofessionalism with lack of basic/standard workplace etiquette/ethics. They have gone to college but outside of that have no additional experience aside positions within a school setting. Although students can be professional, to expect that of the students who are currently learning their profession shouldn’t be an expectation. However, as faculty - never being in a setting to exercise what had been taught or to be a professional means that there’s a lot of people who are just winging it. They have skipped entry level positions which which fosters a lack of workmanship maturity. Basic knowledge of how an office setting runs is missing in some places. How to call out of work, how to request items/work orders, how to train others and what it actually looks like to work in a team seems to be a struggle. A team isn’t one person doing the minimum while delegating others to do everything, regardless of your position. You are never too good to be hands on. Especially in a setting where there is clearly a lot of work that needs to be done which is a known issue, even in the media. There are no celebrities but by the way people in certain positions operate - even while lacking experience, you would think you were amongst celebrities. A lot of those same people seem to lead with their ego and emotions first and will put their desire for fame/popularity before their jobs. They would rather be in positions where they can appear to be doing a lot, while doing nothing at all. There are many faculty members who do have great experience beyond being in school and you can tell that they are rewarded. They may not look the part in the eyes of those who are surface level but they carry experience and also wisdom that the students appreciate. They are usually behind the scenes making magic happen by helping the students address challenges that are not surface level. There is a culture of retaliation for simple things. When they make a mistake they retaliate against the person who noticed the mistake and maybe simply fixed it. Or if you directly tell the person that they made a mistake, they start to make you feel like your job is on the line. They may also try to sabotage your job if they can’t find a way to have you terminated.

Dedicated staff and faculty are doing strong student-centered work, but the environment is more strained than it appears. RCC is still standing, so that is a pro, but its history has been wiped clean.

Workloads are consistently unmanageable, with increasing expectations that are not matched by staffing, structure, support or pay. Over time, the loss of key roles and institutional knowledge in the Jefferson era has impacted consistency and day-to-day operations. Meaningful education has been tossed to the side, as staff struggle to assist an excessive number of students and inexperienced new staff.