| Orange County, CA | November 4, 2008 Election |
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Speech Delivered at Orange Coast College Candidate Forum (Excerpt)By Joseph DovinhCandidate for Trustee; Coast Community College District; Trustee Area 2 |
This information is provided by the candidate | |
My Three P's: Pragmatic Policy PlanningHello, my name is Joseph Dovinh. I could have asked an endorser or supporter to come introduce me here today, but I chose not too because in these difficult economic times, I understand that everyone needs to be at work almost every day of the week just to make ends meet and it would be unconscionable to ask my friends to take time off their busy schedules just to introduce me. In fact, I was raised by my parents: "Never ask someone else to do something that you can do for yourself." So I come here today "in my own skin" so to speak, as one of you. It wasn't that long ago that I had put myself through college, graduating with a Political Science degree from the University of Washington. My goal in the study of Politics was not to become a career politician, but to understand how to utilize politics as a mean to an end. In this election, the means is the Governing Board of Trustees, and the end is to service the students with quality educational programs. To me, it's not all about the "education". To me, it's all about the students. It is the students that make the school, not the school that makes the students. I have discovered that in some colleges, the drive to build up "education" as the goal, have resulted in the treatment of students as a "necessary evil". Sometimes, the interests of administrators, staff and faculty are placed ahead of the students'. I am here to change that. Let me give you my three P's: Pragmatic Policy Planning. Here, headline news: 100-Plus Classes Slashed (Coast Reporter article). Where was the pragmatism? What were the Policies that led up to this demise? How did the Governing Board of Trustees' Planning fail the students? I want to know, and I think everyone here also want to know. Together we can fix the problems, with Pragmatic Policy Planning. It's not good enough to ask voters to give Trustees "more time to deal with unfinished business". Time is of the essence. We cannot afford another four years of "long-term" revenue planning. We need revenues NOW. We need to develop alternative sources of funding, we need to mobilize the resources of all our communities in support of our students, and we need to tighten our belts, implement pragmatic policy planning in order to live within our means and to meet the needs of continued student population growth and academic expansion even as we face economic downturn and recession. This will take vision and leadership, activism and ambition. I am here to work with all of you as one of you. Together, we can rise above the challenges. Vote for me, Joseph Dovinh. |
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