Brian Fay:

Board of Trustees Area 4 candidate, Brian Fay, is a 34-year-old Philadelphia native.

Fay is the younger of the two candidates, running for Area 4, also known as “Noleata,” the district in between Goleta and Santa Barbara.

Fay is well kempt, wearing a brown haired side part , clad with glasses and full stubble. He graduated from UCSB in 2007 and hopes to bring with him an understanding of the student condition to the board if elected.

“I think there’s a lot of people already on the board with financial backgrounds and business backgrounds,” Fay said, “And there has to be that person that is more of a community member…I think the board needs a fresh set of eyes.”

When asked about how he will make time in his schedule for the board, Fay said that it would not be that difficult.

“When I went and signed up for the candidacy,” Fay said, “I rearranged some of my work schedule so I will have more time to read up and participate, obviously, in the board meetings and all the background stuff…I’ll be able to put it in my schedule.”

“My day job is working as an administrator,” Fay added, “Then I have a second job working as direct support with a person with a disability, and then I have the other board that I’m on.”

The other board position is for Angels Bringing Gifts, a non-profit organization that provides gifts for people with developmental disabilities on their birthdays, winter holidays, and Valentine’s Day.

Fay attended his first board meeting this Thursday night where the board voted to restructure Continuing Education and blend credit and non-credit classes. Prior to the meeting, Fay commented on Continuing Education and provided his opinion on Proposition 30, a tax increase that will provide more funding to schools included in the ballot to be voted on Nov. 6.

“Obviously I was a recent student,” Fay said, “So my background is in credit education. However, I think we do need to protect continuing education even though the model it is under is not sustainable.”

Fay also commented on the Center for Lifelong Learning and indicated that the center is a way towards making Continuing Education more sustainable. Regardless of his connection to credit classes, he still wants to protect people that are in Continuing Education.

Regarding Proposition 30, Fay stands in full support and voiced its importance.

“It’s huge,” Fay said, “It’ll be a three to five million dollar swing in revenue for the school. It’s not that substantial of a tax increase. It’s not too much to ask.”

Fay’s main campaign points are primarily about communication between the students and the board and increasing transparency on behalf of the trustees. When asked about how to view his website and how the students should access him for information, Fay responded.

“I don’t have a website,” Fay said, “Since we kind of did this all last minute we didn’t do anything technology wise.”

Craig Nielsen:

Santa Barbara local, Craig Nielsen, is running as Area 4 candidate for the City College Board of Trustees.

Nielsen, a self-professed “old guy” wears a silver haired side part and comes from the Vietnam era. The 64-year-old went to San Marcos High School, spent some time at City College, and then went on to Cal Poly and UCSB. He worked in communications and sales, specifically at Motorola as a “hatchet man” before leaving to create his own company in Santa Maria. Nielsen is retired.

“I do read the newspapers,” Nielsen said, “And I saw things that upset me at SBCC.”

After reading about the college facing funding problems, along with a warning issued by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges based partially on the fact the college was not upholding its mission statement, Nielsen responded.

“[The board members] don’t communicate to each other,” Nielsen said, “[They] acted like [the mission statement] didn’t exist until a little while ago. I want to promote this statement. I want the accreditation warning to be removed…I don’t know how [the board] got so off track.”

Nielsen also voiced reservations about how the elections were handled. With only one candidate being presented for Area Four, he narrowly made the candidate cutoff by one day.

“I think it’s terrible,” Nielsen said, “It’s not providing proper public information…this college can do better than it’s doing.”

Nielsen attended his first Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday night, where the board voted to restructure Continuing Education and blend credit and non-credit classes. Before attending, he was asked about his association with Luis Villegas, following a statement issued in The Independent indicating Villegas had offered specific council to Nielsen instead of Area 4 candidate Brian Fay.

“I haven’t had a chance to read that yet,” Nielsen said, “[Villegas and I] have not talked about anything [regarding] the policies of the board and he has not divulged any info what so ever…I told him after I registered to run for the position. He didn’t even know I was interested in the position prior to that.”

Even though the board affirmed the restructuring, Nielsen holds an opinion about Continuing Education and non-credit classes.

“We need to focus on core credit classes,” Nielsen said, “Because that is the mission statement as written by the state of California.”

When Nielsen was asked about Proposition 30, a tax increase that will provide more funding to schools included in the ballot to be voted on Nov. 6, and if he would like to see it succeed, he provided indirect support.

“Yeah,” Nielsen said, “Would I like to see more funding for the college? Yes. Am I promoting Prop. 30? No, but am I going to vote? Yes.”

Nielsen is going to be on City College campus over the next few weeks attending orientation meetings for new board members on Fridays, along with attending Thursday board meetings. If any student wants to contact him with specific questions, they can do so via e-mail found on his website craignielsen.doodlekit.com.  He said he will do his best to respond.