IF NOT FOR THE FAB FOUR, TSC ANNIVERSARY WOULD BE A WAKE

By Juan Montoya

More than a year ago today (in fact a year last October), the scheme by UTB-TSC President Juliet Garcia, her minions and the UT System to dissolve the community college, hand over more than $200 million of its assets (real estate, buildings, and bank deposits) and anoint her lordship as queen over the unwashed masses of the district was thwarted by the board's majority.

If not for Adela Garza, Rene Torres, Kiko Rendon, and Trey Mendez, instead of celebrating the 85th Anniversary fo the TSC district, we would be having a wake for the dearly departed disstrict.

And in return fro giving away the store, the long-suffering residents f the college district would have been saddled with the remaining $100 million in bond debt, swallow the $10 million of rent arrears owed TSC by the UT system, and have absolutely nothing to show in return aside from the burnt orange cowhead affixed to the buildings paid by the residents who have been supporting the community college for the past 85 years with their blood, sweat and tears.

The residents of this district owe these four a mountain of gratitude for facing up to the intense pressure of the powers that be supporting Garcia and her underlings, an unsavory task while others (like David Oliveira, Robert Robles and Robert Lozano) were content to sit back and facilitate the rape.

One, a self-effacing young attorney with the quaint common name of Juan (Trey), even had a protest at his door led by the Torquemada of the Rio Grande (Armand Matthew) who read him the riot act an vowed before man and God that he would personally destroy him professionally and politically unless he toed the Garcia line.

To his credit, Trey did not knuckle under and neither did the other three on the majority.

Instead, today from 5:30 to 7:30, the residents of the district are invited to attend the 85th Anniversary Celebration of Texas Southmost College at the Arts Center, 80 Ft. Brown, behind the Jacob Brown Auditorium.

Had everything goes the way the Juliet Garcia administration wanted it, TSC today may have been owned lock stock and barrel by the UT System, its president picked by the UT Regents, and all its resident would retain would be a cash-cow taxing entity known as TSC for the UT honchos to continue milking.

The agenda for that first special meeting called for "a discussion item where legal counsel would analyze the new partnership agreement between UTB and TSC which was meant to establish the basis for the future relationship between the institutions."

Then, a week later, same place, same station, an action item after executive session would have called for the adoption of the new and improved partnership.

And what a partnership it was to be. No longer would there be the pretense of local control of our community college. In fact, only three trustees (a minority) would have any say so in the selection of its president, with the final decision to be made by the bosses at Austin.

The administration fervently wanted to keep the details of the agreement under wraps until its was a done deal. TSC legal counsel Daniel Rentfro had been overheard warning anyone about releasing any detail of the partnership. Why?

The wording on the draft agreement included language that should raise red flags at every home in the district that has paid taxes to maintain the college operations.

"The new entity, UTB/TSC, is established by the Texas legislature as a new component of the University of Texas System," the partnership read.

"The partners contribute resources, including land, buildings, equipment, bank deposits, investments, and other assets to set up UTB/TSC, for the use and benefit of the new entity. UTB/TSC assumes the outstanding liabilities associated with these assets and the previous operations of UTB and TSC, except that UT System and TSC remain liable for its bond debt."

Between the lines, the $10 million in rent arrears that the UT System has incurred and has refused to pay the local taxpayer would be "a wash."

Then, there follow bombshell after bombshell.

* "Authority: The UT Board of Regents, as the managing partner will manage the business and affairs of UTB/TSC on behalf of the Partnership, except for (1) major organizational divisions which require consent of both partners, and (2) day to day operational decisions, which are vested in the administration of UTB/TSC.

"President: Selection and appointment of the President of UTB/TSC will be subject to and governed by state law, the UT Board of Regents and the Rules and Regulations, with a formal process that solicits the advice of members of the Board of Trustees, including discussions of the final candidates in a joint executive session. The formal process requires that the Presidential Selection Committee will include three members of the Board of Trustees. The president will be an employee of UTB/TSC and may be removed by the Board of Regents...

"Other Officers of UTB/TSC: The President may designate and remove other officers and assign them duties and powers as needed for the management of UTB/TSC.

Then, a few more goodies for Juliet.

Funding and Resources: "UTB/TSC will receive maintenance and operations tax revenue collected by the TSC District and not required for debt service. A portion of the tax revenue will be used for the TSC Board of Trustees Scholarships for students living in the TSC District."

We don't know how close we came to losing our beloved community college. Go to the Arts Center today and celebrate the fact that our trustees protected this invaluable community asset that has provided our poor people a step up in their personal and educational development and – thanks to them – will continue to do so for generations to come.