The final candidate, Dr. Christopher M. Reber, spoke at the president forum to inform voters about his qualifications to be the next president of Diablo Valley College. 

Reber is the current president at the Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) in Pennsylvania, but wants to become president of DVC for his “own professional growth” and to help another community college reach the standards that he feels CCBC has reached.

Reber discussed a few achievements while being president of CCBC that he hopes to bring with him if elected as the DVC president.

Dual registration is one focal point discussed by Reber. He wants programs for high school juniors and seniors that would “install a passion for learning” and get them into the college system with greater ease.

Another focus that Reber emphasized was forming relations with companies in the area, for students to get jobs after their time in college.

Reber said that a “president’s job is to be able to develop trust,” and that it is a “trust which leads to receiving gifts.”

The gifts Reber discussed were money donations from companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, who had their HR manager, Brian Gelb, appointed as a CCBC trustee. Reber said that some donations received to the school, even reached up to two million dollars.

Reber believes that these donations from companies not only benefit the school with more funding, but also benefit students by giving them a quicker way out of community college.

“Students struggle with time and expense,” said Reber.

He made it clear that the major issue of students in community college for far too long could be fixed with more trust and planning with outside companies.

This plan is not universally accepted however, with one student who attended the forum against the idea of making companies big donors to the college.

A DVC student, who asked to not be named, was concerned with making DVC more focused on moving students into corporations and not into four-year colleges.

The student said that the plan would be an “exploitation of students’ economic precariousness” and an “insult to DVC because of how funneling students to corporations is seen as ‘social justice.’”

Other attendee’s were not as displeased with the forum with DVC’s executive foundation director, Cindy Goga, saying “We have some really accomplished candidates.” Goga also said that everyone running is very “progressive.”

Reber ended the forum with a wrap up statement where he said he will focus on getting more communication between DVC and the community of Pleasant Hill in order to grow a stronger relationship with the community as a whole.

“I enjoy people. I enjoy supporting people,” said Reber.