College of the Desert shares updates for Palm Springs Campus during City Council Meeting

Palms Springs Mayor, Lisa Middleton, asked College of the Desert board members, “How do we make sure that the commitments have strong timelines, and that the campus that gets built is the campus that was talked about in 2016.” 

College of the Desert officials answered questions from council members.

Geoff Kors asked a question he's heard repeatedly from the community, "How was the decision made to stop the design work? What was happening on the West Valley campus in Palm Springs? Who made it? Where was it made? I get that a lot.”

President and Superintendent, Dr. Martha Garcia says the pause was partially because of COVID, under the previous administration.

However Dr. Garcia also wanted to add, "But it is important that I communicate to the community that the recommendation for additional analysis on the planning came from me.”

Citizens that joined the council meeting had thoughts on the proposed curriculum.

Some support a campus that is set to equip students to learn more about the hospitality industry.

“I implore whomever is in charge to stay the course with the hotel. It's really important that our kids, here that I grew up with, who now have their kids that are growing up here have abundant opportunity. And there's abundant opportunity here in the tourism industry," says Palm Springs community member.

While others requested a curriculum that offered more variety, "We want classes that are not just about hospitality, that serve low wage labor. But we also want classes that are about innovation, technology. And promising careers that our younger generation can look forward to."

As for the progress of the campus, the vice president of the construction company working on the project, says they are planning to do more studies before finalizing the plans.

The City of Palm Springs is planning to have more community forums in the future, but there is no set date as of now.