Blackwater In Soutwestern College
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Latest News
July 8th, Board of Governors' meeting
Please attend the meeting at the SouthwesternCollege main campus, 900 Otay Lakes Rd, Chula Vista, 6:30p meet for protest outside and 7pm inside for public comment. They will have the SHOOTING RANGE TASK FORCE on the agenda. 1. We must get them on board to complete the research for other facilities. 2. The Sheriff's range is available at NO COST to students. We must push for the Blackwater-Xe agreement to be terminated!
June 10th Board of Governors' meeting
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME TO SPEAK. June 10 at the NationalCityHigherEducationCenter 880 National City Boulevard, National City , CA 91950
Meet at 6:30p outside the meeting room and speak at public comment at 7pm.
At the prior meeting, we made great progress, eliminating the most egregious overstepping by Blackwater-Xe to get on campus, use their conference rooms for recruiting, etc. Unfortunately, we need to remind the board that we need to go one step further and terminate the agreement with this mercenary firm and instead use OTHER FACILITIES that are actually very much available.
Protest/Comment at the Board of Governors' Meeting -- May 13
The Board of Trustees voted to renegotiate the contract with Blackwater, removing most of the ridiculous provisions of the prior agreement on March 11. This topic came back before the Governing Board on May 13 at the SouthwesternCollege Board Room. Thank you to everyone who attended and spoke their mind on this issue. Here is the video of the meeting:
M786 2009-05-13 Southwestern College Board, 2009-05-13, Blackwater-Xe Item -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight 
M781 2009-05-13 Memorandum of Understanding between Xe Services, LLC and Southwestern Community College District -- SouthwesternCollege - M783 2009-05-12 Letter from CitizensOversight to SouthwesternCollege Governing Board regarding renegotiated XeBlackwater Agreement. -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
Protest/Comment at the Board of Governor's Meeting -- April 15
Thank you for the healthy turn-out at this meeting, and truly great comments. Congressman BobFilner also spoke a the meeting.
- M782 2009-04-15 Southwestern College Board Meeting, 2009-04-15, Blackwater Comments -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
Protest/Comment at the Board of Governor's Meeting -- October 14
Thank you for the healthy turn-out at this meeting, esp. to Noel Willcockson who took some fantastic photos (see below). The Governing Board voted to cancel the agreement with Blackwater-Xe
- M818 2009-10-14 Southwestern College Board Meeting, 2009-10-14 - Cancels Blackwater Contract -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
SouthwesternCollege "stonewalls"
After making a request for information under the California Pubic Records Act (see in the document list below), SouthwesternCollege acted like there was tons of information to disclose, and that it would take more than 10 days to provide. However, their final response was provided on April 3 (just prior to Spring Break) and consisted of a letter that stated that nothing much would be provided (except for documents we have already accessed electronically) because of an "on-going negotiation" with Blackwater-Xe. The document read by Dr. Domingeuz during the meeting that was specifically requested was not provided as well, despite clear requirements that anything distributed in a meeting (like reading, for example) would be available to the public. (They said it would be available "for inspection" but that is a bit difficult over Spring Break.) They also made crummy paper copies of the documents instead of providing it in electronic form, which we asked for, and they are supposed to provide under Calif. Code. 6253.9.
(a) Unless otherwise prohibited by law, any agency that has information that constitutes an identifiable public record not exempt from disclosure pursuant to this chapter that is in an electronic format shall make that information available in an electronic format when requested by any person...
BLACKWATER TEACH IN occurred on April 2, 2009 in Room 214 at the SouthwesternCollege campus.
Presenter: Raymond Lutz, founder of Citizens' Oversight Projects Committee (COPs) and former candidate, 77th State Assembly District. Ray runs the web site
Place: Room 214, Southwestern College, 900 Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista, CA 91910
Time: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Invitation at Southwestern College by Christopher Martinez
A. video of this presentation is available here:
Background
Southwestern College signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Blackwater Lodge and Training Center (Now Xe, Inc.) to use the Blackwater shooting range and warfare training center in Otay Mesa (see BlackwaterOtay), compensating Blackwater for their cost of operating the range, and in trade, using on-campus conference rooms without limitation.
First, read the proposed "Memorandum of Understanding":
- M741 2009-01-28 Southwestern College / Blackwater MOU -- Southwestern College
- M748 2009-03-03 Letter to Southwestern College Governing Board requesting that the MOU with Blackwater be reconsidered and revoked. -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M755 2009-03-16 CPRA Request of Southwestern College & Blackwater -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
Click for more info about the Southwestern College Governing Board. District policy states: "Regular meetings of the Governing Board shall generally be held on the second Wednesday of each month. Regular meetings of the Governing Board shall normally be held at 900 Otay Lakes Road, Room 214, Chula Vista, California. A notice identifying the location, date, and time of each regular meeting of the Governing Board shall be posted at least ten (10) days prior to the meeting and shall remain posted until the day and time of the meeting." More info on meetings here: http://www.swccd.edu/CrPdfs/2310RegularMeetings.pdf
Images
Timeline
- 2009-01-28 - MOU Included in Board of Trustees Packet.
- 2009-02-09 - UnionTribune publishes brief article about the agreement.
- 2009-03-03 - Lutz sends letter to SWC regarding MOU.
- 2009-03-09 - Suarez sends Bonfiglio a revised MOU.
- 2009-03-11 - MOU approval "reconsidered" by the Board of Trustees. However, the motion to reconsider was never made, and a motion instead was put forward to renegotiate the MOU.
- 2009-03-16 - Submitted CPRA Request by hand delivery.
- 2009-04-03 - SWC mails response to CPRA request just before Spring Break.
- 2009-04-08 - Lutz receives hardcopy response. SWC violates law by not sending electronic version when requested.
- 2009-04-13 - Lutz goes to SWC to review email between Suarez and Bonfiglio. Attachment to the email not provided.
- 2009-04-13 - Lutz sends email to Mary Ganio asking disposition of MOU and request attachment, among other questions.
- 2009-08-12 - Activists speak at Governing Board meeting and are successful in getting the board to agree to place an item to cancel the agreement on the October agenda.
- 2009-10-14 - Board votes to cancel the contract with Blackwater-Xe
Recent Articles and Media: (Add | All Media)
This is the most recently published articles, most recent first.
M939 2010-01-30 Activist a common sight recording local meetings -- Ray Lutz is government watchdog -- AnneKrueger UnionTribune - M923 2010-01-21 Police academy suspends classes -- Kristina Davis UnionTribune
- M884 2009-11-03 FIRE Letter to Southwestern College Superintendent-President Raj K. Chopra -- Adam Kissel Foundation For Individual Rights In Education
- M870 2009-10-16 Blackwater-Xe Contract Canceled by Southwestern College -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M818 2009-10-14 Southwestern College Board Meeting, 2009-10-14 - Cancels Blackwater Contract -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M883 2009-10-14 Board cancels divisive contract -- Unanimous vote reverses pact with controversial Blackwater/Xe -- John Carter SouthwesternCollegeSun
- M811 2009-08-12 Southwestern College Board Meeting, 2009-08-12 -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M812 2009-08-07 US security firm faces fresh allegations - 07 Aug 09 -- AlJazeera
- M802 2009-07-08 Southwestern College Board Meeting, 2009-07-08 -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M798 2009-06-10 Southwestern College Governing Board meeting, 2009-06-10 -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M785 2009-05-14 Forum Held Over Southwestern College's Contract With Military Security Firm XE -- Kfmb Radio
- M781 2009-05-13 Memorandum of Understanding between Xe Services, LLC and Southwestern Community College District -- SouthwesternCollege
- M786 2009-05-13 Southwestern College Board, 2009-05-13, Blackwater-Xe Item -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M783 2009-05-12 Letter from CitizensOversight to SouthwesternCollege Governing Board regarding renegotiated XeBlackwater Agreement. -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M767 2009-04-15 Congressman Bob Filner to address Southwestern College Governing Board to Oppose Blackwater Agreement -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M782 2009-04-15 Southwestern College Board Meeting, 2009-04-15, Blackwater Comments -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M768 2009-04-02 Stop Blackwater Presentation, April 2009 -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M764 2009-04-01 Minutes of Southwestern College March 11 Meeting Regarding Blackwater -- SouthwesternCollege
- M755 2009-03-16 CPRA Request of Southwestern College & Blackwater -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M752 2009-03-12 Southwestern to rework training contract with Xe -- Chris Moran UnionTribune
- M754 2009-03-11 Blackwater (Xe) at Southwestern College -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M748 2009-03-03 Letter to Southwestern College Governing Board requesting that the MOU with Blackwater be reconsidered and revoked. -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M749 2009-03-03 Citizens' Oversight Group wants Blackwater Agreement with Southwestern College Pulled. -- RaymondLutz CitizensOversight
- M745 2009-03-02 Email: From the guy with a bag on his head -- Mark Pentilescu
- M750 2009-03-02 Congressman Hopes to Break Blackwater Deal with School -- SanDiego6
- M736 2009-02-25 Governing board sets deal with Blackwater -- Filner, faculty rip SWC pact with "mercenaries" -- Esmeralda F. Ramirez SouthwesternCollegeSun
- M728 2009-02-09 Students to use firing range at Blackwater site -- (Unknown) UnionTribune
- M741 2009-01-28 Southwestern College / Blackwater MOU -- Southwestern College
Discussion List
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Take Action
Please address your letters, emails, phone calls to the following information:
Governing Board
Southwestern College
900. Otay Lakes Rd.
Chula Vista, CA 91910-7299Raj K. Chopra, Ph.D.
Superintendent/President
president@swccd.edu
619-482-6301Mary Ganio
Assistant to the President
mganio@swccd.edu
(619) 482-6301Angelica Suarez
Vice President for Student Affairs
Southwestern College
900. Otay Lakes Road
Chula Vista, CA 91910
(619) 482-6315
Dr. Suarez handled the negotiations with Blackwater and used to be in charge of the Otay Mesa SWC facility.