Faculty and students walkout in protest at Green River College

More than 150 Green River College faculty and students walked out of class mid-morning, April 22, in protest of GRC President Eileen Ely and the school’s recent priority ranking of its college programs.

Participants gathered on campus, with some calling on the Green River College Board of Trustees to fire the president in order to begin rebuilding trust and confidence among students and faculty. College employees have repeatedly passed votes of no confidence in Ely’s leadership.

“We’re indebted and inspired by the students who helped organize this,” Early Childhood Education student Jamie Wyatt says. “They’re about to cut my program and I am in my last year here. They are doing away with programs, like early childhood education, that really impact our community.”

Sociology student Victoria Pacho says she feels it is her duty to stand up with potential cuts to programs on the line. “It’s outrageous that avenues to success are the lifelines being cutoff,” Pacho says.

Another student organizer, Amanda Bentz, says students were walking out because, “we need to raise awareness of the corruption and undisclosed intent of these actions.”

Students and faculty were joined by several representatives from other unions and labor councils all over the Puget Sound area. There were also early morning commuter picketing at two locations (one in Kent and one in Auburn) to raise awareness in the Green River College communities.