The Santa Rosa Junior College Board of Trustees discussed the allocation of Wal-Mart’s $250,000 donation while simultaneously allocating the newest $1 million donation from the same donor who contributed $5 million last year.

Wal-Mart’s attempt to look like they are concerned about healthcare appeared in the form of a $250,000 donation to the Hope Center, which focuses on educating students in the healthcare industry.

The anonymous $5 million donor from last year is at it again as SRJC President Dr. Chong announced another donation of $1 million to help students receive scholarships for the 2013 school year at the Jan. 8 Board of Trustee meeting in the Student Activities Center.

“I was inspired by the conversation I had with this donor,” Chong said.

The board also talked about “Beauty and the Beast,” which got a rave review from Trustee Onita Pelligrini. “You have one of the most spectacular, absolutely unbelievable, incredible theatre productions. I took my grandchildren to see ‘Beauty and the Beast’. It was truly an enjoyable evening,” Pelligrini said.

The board reminded everyone the SRJC is a smoke-free environment. Policy 6.8.6 has been upgraded to exclude the use of e-cigarettes on campus as they have been deemed to release carcinogenics.

Robert Ethington announced that SRJC’s Day Under the Oaks is planned for May 5. When he proposed the board show up and put up a table the idea of a “dunk tank” was jokingly suggested, which brought laughter from almost everyone in attendance. Ethington plans on making this year’s DUTO one of the most memorable.

“The rewards and benefits that come back to this community are well worth the stress and energy that goes into it,” Ethington said.

Ethington stated his goal is to bring the community together. “K-12 will want to come back. We have to be transformative. We have to make it sustainable. Fiscally, it has to be sustainable. We haven’t had a DUTO in four years. I’ve never seen this much involvement…this much excitement for DUTO,” Ethington said, “We are going to make this event as green as possible.