4 NEWS
SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2015
REDUCED / Rancho Santiago Community College District Chancellor Raul Rodriguez has been one of the most vocal defenders of the Saudi Deal / LIZ MONROY / el Don
SAUDI DEAL
SCALED BACK
Despite protests and legal action,
district foundation leaders and
chancellor approves partnership
STORY BY JOSE SERVIN / el Don
O
ver the summer, the
RSCCD Foundation
approved a scaled-back
version of its controversial deal with a company
based in Saudi Arabia that earlier
this year sparked legal action
from faculty members and raised
questions regarding the legality
and purpose of the foundation.
The revised contract includes
an escape clause, meaning the
foundation can terminate the
agreement if at anytime they are
required to violate any U.S law.
The potential profit from the
deal has also been reduced from
$8 million to $2 million after
negotiations with Saudi Arabian
officials finished, RSCCD Chancellor said.
A joint venture agreement
was created between the district
foundation and two technical
schools in Saudi Arabia to carry
out the contract.
The joint venture was created
to represent the interests of the
foundation in Saudi Arabia without involving the school district,
Rodriguez said. Contractors or
faculty employed to work in
Saudi Arabia will report only to
the joint venture, not directly to
foundation officials.
Santiago Canyon College’s Academic Senate passed a resolution
opposing the agreement earlier
this year. Santa Ana College’s
Academic Senate passed a resolution agreeing with SCC.
Rodriguez and Vice Chancellor Enrique Perez have been
the most vocal defenders of the
Saudi deal. Both are on the board
of directors for the International
Consortium for Educational and
Economic Development, a group
of leaders from Canada, the United States and Mexico focused
on international education and
economic development.
ICEED’s website lists its offices
as being on the fourth floor of
the RSCCD Building.
Centennial College in Toronto
has served as a role model for the
foundation, Rodriguez said.
“We had them come in and do a
training with our staff in how to
work with international students
and how to recruit them,” Rodri-
guez said.
Virginia Macchiavello serves
as the president of ICEED and
is also the executive director of
international education for Centennial College.
“This Saudi thing opened a big
can of worms and it’s the worms
that are almost as bad as the can,”
criminal justice professor George
Wright said at a SAC Academic
Senate meeting.
Similar deals between Canadian community colleges and Saudi
Arabia have all failed.
In its deal with Saudi Arabia,
Algonquin College of Ottawa,
Ontario, faces an investment loss
of $730,000 according to their
2014 consolidated spending report. The foundation had applied
for this same deal in 2013.
The district has been involved
in other international agreements
with China and Mexico. Like
Saudi Arabia, China has been
criticized for its track record on
human rights, according to the
U.S. State Department.