Live reporting by
Perry Sylvester
WCCCD Board of Trustees establish task force and procedures to guard against AI-generated “ghost students.”
Hey Detroit! Today 9/18 at 6:30 PM I live tweet WCCCD Board of Trustees for @DetDocumenters #DETdocumenters & media partners: @BridgeDet313 @chalkbeatDET @freep @media_outlier @metrotimes @michigan_public @PlanetDetroit @wdet @wxyzdetroit
01:18 PM Sep 18, 2024 CDT
Wondering about the acronym? Stands for Wayne County Community College District. Founded in 1967, it has 6 campuses: Eastern, Downtown, Downriver, Northwest, Western, and University Square. Meeting will be at Downtown Campus, 801 W Fort St
Apparently this in-person only...no agenda posted online. I dunno...it would seem that an institution of higher learning that places emphasis on occupational and career programs could manage to upload the agenda 🤔
Posting the agenda would also seem to fit with 3, 4 & 5 the district's values: Serving the Common Good Being Accountable Operating with Integrity You can read more about the district's mission & values here ⬇️⬇️⬇️ wcccd.edu/about/mission.…
wcccd.edu/about/mission.…
Should you go to the above page at WCCCD's website, scroll to bottom & read The Importance of WCCCD’s Foundational Statements: "These statements are a declaration of why the District exists...When completed, these statements will appear in all the District’s key documents..."🧐
I haven't even stepped in the building & I am already confused. Could it be the phase of the moon? Hmm. Nope. Just lots of salt & questions (I mean, how long have they been working on these 'Foundational Statements'?)
Their website does have good information...they demonstrate commitment to 'values 4 & 5' by including link for transparency reporting (although I think you kinda sorta have to do that, but still).
Click the image on homepage lower right corner and you get a beautiful bouquet of hyperlinks...and the statement that yes, this information is required by law. But it aligns with the core values, too! 😆
Continuing to explore WCCCD website & surprised at the header: "One Vision, One District, One College" & wonder if anyone has ever questioned the phrasing. Vision, District & College are fine but the "one" before each in this kind of slogan is, well, problematic
The WCCCD homepage has a link to the current Strategic Plan. A quick read shows that the mission page likely needs to be updated as the Foundational Statements appear to be complete (thank goodness). You can access the Strategic Plan here ⬇️⬇️⬇️ wcccd.edu/about/pdfs/202…
wcccd.edu/about/pdfs/202…
True confession--while posting image of WCCCD BoT page, my little 🫀went pitter patter, pitter patter. Know why? Because on right page of screen is a link to the legendary Magic Packet ™️!🧙♂️🎩🐰Oh boy oh boy oh boy!
Sigh...No Magic Packet ™️🧙♂️🎩🐰for me. No soup, either. Might be stopping at Tommy's after this meeting to heal my broken heart.
Not sure what this meeting will cover due to lack of agenda...you can get a sense, however, but checking out previous coverage from our intrepid team of @DetDocumenters #DetDocumenters. Last meeting was July 17, Notes from Shaheda Jenkins ⬇️⬇️⬇️ detroit.documenters.org/documents/wccc…
detroit.documenters.org/documents/wccc…
@DetDocumenters You can also check out the live coverage twitter thread from @NachumDetroit here ⬇️⬇️⬇️ https://x.com/NachumDetroit/status/1813695480271925304
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit They also announce me as guest and have me stand “so they can see me”…which is a good idea!
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Just want to mention how nice it is to have meeting where they are comfortable with parliamentary procedure…and also explain what they are doing in procedural process 👍👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Educational affairs & student services standing committee—-speaker emphasizes everything they do focusing on student success & retention
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Slide references the efforts toward retention/success…this is all under a broad effort called Pathways
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit You can find more info on Pathways in their Strategic Plan, p 5 ⬇️⬇️⬇️
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit As mentioned earlier in thread you can get WCCCD Strategic Plan online ⬇️⬇️⬇️ wcccd.edu/about/pdfs/202…
wcccd.edu/about/pdfs/202…
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Discussion now circles back to earlier slide speaking to use of AI to further financial aid fraud … then this:
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit This should NOT be conflated with cyber attacks…it is a new twist that needs to be addressed in different manner. The community colleges are facing wave of “ghost students” who are not actually students but part of AI/bots employed to gain access to funds
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit In the online/distance learning environment, the AI ghost student is practically identical to a real student…for example they turn in assignments [sic]
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Presenter talking about process of finding fraud patterns using bots/AI
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit They have established task force to protect integrity of institution…a trustee member asks if other schools are experiencing this & if best practices exist yet
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit The chair is impressively honest stating that at first none of the schools wanted to talk about this…they all wondered if their school was uniquely targeted and worried about the bad look
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit But WCCCD took early action on this…also, threat is focused on PELL grant funds
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit I’m not certain exactly where they are in the agenda—I would assume item F still as they have not gone into any financial reports which is topic for item G
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Question from trustee asking if this AI/ghost student threat impacts their insurance coverages…chair says it has not, but same trustee follows up stating he hopes someone from risk management will be on task force. Chair says “yes” & introduces their overall risk mgr
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Another trustee asks if this issue impacts the real students—for example, does it impede their access to FAFSA funding
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Okay…they just agreed to…? 😆😆😆I’m going to have to check transcript at around 7:08🤷🏼♂️
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Okay, on to Finance/Personnel standing committee…item 3, no new legal cases 👍
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit G.4—a review of previous interest rate environment & points to Fed just meeting and planning to lower rates…for background ⬇️⬇️⬇️ cnn.com/2024/09/18/eco…
cnn.com/2024/09/18/eco…
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Agenda G.5&6 are part of that annoying process in which the speaker is referring—very quickly—to a report I don’t have & couldn’t access earlier 🤨. The gist is everything is as it should be 🤷🏼♂️😏
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Talk/presentation about staffing… coming into what sounds like long standing issue, not sure what was going on
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Emergency Preparedness presentation…first there is some form of mapping project continuing on; second, reminder of “sickness season”, statement framing COVID as normalized…trustee asks about naming of thing
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Presenter says “yeah”—looks to “pathogen” or “respiratory illness” more accurate
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit They now move to the Pathway Presentation … this is their “normal presentation” and provides images of their capital projects
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Here is example…the slide deck prefaced by presenter stating none of these infrastructure projects are surprising, all part of normal infrastructure lifecycle
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Agenda I.10, 11, 12—these are all bundled together, no information on costs. One roll call vote passes it. Same for J, Accountability/Transparency Report
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Well…this group seems competent, honest & hard working…but I sure would like to know what items I and J in the agenda were all about
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit They are closing things down…a lot of familiarity and good-will towards one another…no trustee reports, just warm welcome back to Furquan Ahmed, Sr Vice Chancellor for HR who was out with family health issue and some other recognitions
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit Trustee speaks to importance of this institution and support of Boys State and voter education
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit That’s my coverage for the WCCCD Board of Trustees. If you believe anything to be inaccurate email Documenters@media_outlier.org with ‘Correction Request’ in subject line
@DetDocumenters @NachumDetroit As always find more content & coverage at Documenters.org
Documenters.org