SWC, faculty score highest in survey of the community

Members of the community hold Southwestern College and its faculty in high regard, according to a survey conducted this month by the staff of the Southwestern College Sun. School administrators scored lower and very few members of the community could name the college superintendent, though most people surveyed were aware of one or more of the controversies surrounding him.

Surveys were conducted in all parts of the Southwestern Community College District, which includes National City, Bonita, Sunnyside, Chula Vista, Coronado, San Ysidro and parts of southern San Diego. Surveys were not conducted on campuses in any community.

SWC itself scored well among the 300 persons interviewed. Of those, 165 (55 percent) said they had taken a class at SWC. More than half (51 percent) of community members described the college as above average or excellent. 43 percent said the college was average, and only five percent said SWC was below average or poor.

Faculty also scored well with 54 percent of the community describing it as excellent or above average. 42 percent rated the faculty as average and 4 percent said it was below average.

Administrators scored lower than faculty, but fared well with 3 percent calling the leadership excellent, 18 percent above average, 57 percent average, 15 percent below average and 4 percent poor.

Only 8 percent said they could name the superintendent, Dr. Raj K. Chopra, while 92 percent said they could not. Many respondents reported hearing of various SWC controversies, led by 37 percent who said they knew about lay offs. 20 percent indicated they had heard about the no confidence votes in Chopra and his run-ins with the student newspaper. 16 percent said they had heard about Chopra's $15,000 raise accepted shortly before the layoffs and 11 percent said they knew about Chopra's problems with plagiarism. Seven percent indicated they were aware of the issue with faculty reassigned time.