Tuesday, April 15, 2008

El Camino College—Compton Center

.....I hate to say it, but the arrogance, recklessness, and incompetence of certain powerful people in our district could finally do us in. Throughout our long Dark Age—starting in late 1996—I never really thought that that could happen. But now I do believe it.
.....As you know, not long ago, our accrediting institution—WASC/ACCJC—got spanked hard by the Department of Ed for not laying down the law. (See The Two Year Rule.) The upshot: things are different now. The Accreds are much more likely than ever to pull a college's accreditation.
.....Don't think so? Well, then you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground. Get a friggin' clue. (See Shasta warning and February Rostrum [the two-year rule].)
.....The ACCJC is under pressure to show that they really do mean business for once. In the meantime, the perennial California poster children for dysfunctional cc districts—two colleges with an eleven-year history of trustee micromanagement, administrative instability, and plagues of despair—have got to solve these problems by October of 2008 (that's when the progress reports are due). No more warnings. This is it. (BTW: an IVC dean announced her retirement today. She was set to replace Reb and my dean, who left the college in December.)
.....There's no one in this district who doesn't know what would turn everything around. —Except, of course, the people with all the power. —The people running our Accred effort. The people who won't fire you-know-who.

* * * * *

.....I recently came upon an article about Compton Community College—the college that got its Accreditation ticket pulled a few years ago (it has been a satellite of El Camino College in Torrance since late 2006). The piece is entitled A short take on the death of an institution, by August Hoffman and Julie Wallach. It appeared a year ago in something called the Community College Enterprise. It's well worth reading.
.....Here are some excerpts:
.....Compton Community College was one of the oldest and most ethnically diverse community colleges in California. … First opening its doors in 1927, the college has served literally tens of thousands of students and has become a vital asset to the community. Within the last three to four years, however, the college has experienced several administrative and fiscal irregularities that gradually led to an independent investigation by outside auditing agencies..., warnings of accreditation problems, probation, and ultimately loss of accreditation all within two years time….
.....The old campus yearbooks during the 1940s and 1950s boast of first place championships in sports such as football and basketball. The campus was ranked among the top five community colleges in the state of California for academic excellence, teaching standards, and student enrollment. Compton Community College was perhaps the "crown jewel" of the state during its heyday of the 1940-1950s era….
.....…Compton Community College now holds the dubious distinction of being the only institution of higher education to have actually lost (de facto) its accreditation. … Certainly other schools have been placed on various lists such as "warning," "probation," or even "show cause"—but heretofore none had actually lost its accreditation. Until now.
…..
.....So it is with a heavy heart that I bear witness to the first closure of a community college in the United States due to "administrative" problems. I feel a tremendous amount of loyalty to an institution that I am still proud of. The faculty has always worked together. When things got bad, really bad, at this campus, it wasn't the administrators that corrected the problem but the faculty. The faculty still consider themselves de facto "family" and this sense of family transcends race, age, religion and gender. It is a powerful and attractive component that fuels my loyalty to the institution and helps faculty remain united in providing the best education possible ... united despite the friction, the frustration, and in spite of the negative publicity we have received in the last 18 months.
.....I am currently a professor at Compton Community College, soon to be referred to as El Camino College—Compton Center. …..
.....Nobody wants to believe that a school could actually close down—there are just too many potentially positive qualities about a school to allow anything like that to happen. That is what we wanted to believe. We were all in a state of numbness and profound denial. … Individuals associated with the school simply didn't want to believe that the school could (or would) eventually close. Concerned family members of mine would assure me and offer their support: "They can't close down a school. ... What are they going to do with it? Turn it into a prison?...." Comments regarding the accreditation problems were strikingly similar to what a patient suffering from a terminal illness might say: "They (i.e., the state accreditation committee) would never close us down" or "It's a scare tactic ... a bluff.”….
.....
.....… We mobilized ourselves to try to save the school. Committees were formed, surveys taken, and politicians consulted—to no avail. Ironically, the committees formed to save the college soon imploded and became divisive themselves. They were not able to gather enough support from the community. We were running out of time.
…..
.....… We negotiated with the ACCJC and WASC...—what, exactly, did they want? Student learning objectives? Done. Revised course curricula? Done. Improving course outlines? Done. Nothing worked. We tried making deals to at least return to "probationary" status—nothing doing. The clock was ticking as we frantically tried to resurrect our accreditation. … Some faculty began looking for other teaching positions. Some just continued to ignore the problem and hoped again that it would just go away.
…..
.....… I do believe that the faculty at Compton College has now accepted the fact that things as they once were can never exist again. That is probably a good thing. We have accepted our fate and are working to create a better institution. The faculty, I believe, will create a stronger institution for our community. We need to shape a new identity for ourselves with the assistance of a school with whom we will partner for the next several years. We are fortunate, I think, that El Camino College has extended its hand for the long run. We will work together as a united faculty in shaping a better educational institution so that some day in the future, we can re-establish Compton College with full accreditation.
……
.....As of Fall Semester 2006, the enrollment of full time equivalency students (FTEs) has plummeted from peaks of approximately 6,500 to 7,000 students just five years ago to less than 2,000 now. The significant drop cannot be surprising—the negative media, the newspaper write-ups about one scandal after another certainly has taken its toll. However, perhaps the biggest factor that has contributed to the loss of FTEs is the misperception that the campus has closed—it has not! We are a vibrant, accredited, and very much alive institution that is a critical element to the community of South Los Angeles. We will survive the challenge to meet the needs of our students and the community. The faculty at ECC-CC remains committed to serve the students. With every crisis brings an opportunity for growth, renewed spirit, and motivation. We have weathered a severe crisis and are regaining momentum to move ahead.
From the college website—“campus history”:
In June, 2005, … Dr. Barbara Beno informed the College of the Commission’s decision to terminate the College’s accreditation. … [Compton Community] College began its appeal to the Commission regarding the termination decision. ¶ … On June 30, 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 318 (D-Dymally) into law giving the College District $30 million loan for recovery and the opportunity to partner with a college of good standing to offer accredited courses…. ¶ On August 22, 2006, at the Board of Trustees meeting, the Special Trustee approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with El Camino College District to solidify the partnerships between the two districts. Under this MOU, the campus became a center of El Camino College. ... At midnight, Compton Community College lost its accreditation. ¶ On August 23, 2006, the Compton Community Educational Center officially became part of El Camino College with Dr. Doris P. Givens serving as the Provost/CEO.
See also Wikipedia on Compton Community College

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Compton in general is a pit of dispair, corruption, and poverty. Crime ridden neighborhoods controlled by the ruthless black street gangs. The least concern of this failed community is accreditation of a junior college that served as a continuence of high school remedial classes. Absolutely no comparison with SOCCCD.

Anonymous said...

hmmm, I don't think the Accreds mentioned any street gangs in their reports. The only "gang" they mentioned was the ruthless administration that mismanged the place.

Anonymous said...

It would be very foolish to believe that what happened to Compton cannot happen here.

Anonymous said...

It's been my experience that many in OC pride themselves on believing that what happens up in LA could never happen here.

Anonymous said...

ANOTHER person resigned?!?

How many now in how many months?

Does this mean yet another hiring committee making it, what, 39 hiring committees district-wide?

Anonymous said...

Yes, Susan Corum's departure is another nail in the "administrative instability" coffin.

Well, the original number of faculty hires was 38, though i think that got whittled down to 36 or so. The administrative hires are another matter. There is already a search for a dean of Fine Arts at IVC, though it remains to be seen whether it will continue its work, given that at least one faculty member has resigned from it. Corum's retirement means that there will be the need for yet another search, but that won't start for a while. Hopefully, by then, this WTC will be over.

Anonymous said...

Are you sure Corum retired? I haven't heard anything....

Anonymous said...

Can someone post a list of folks who have retired, resigned, moved on, or been fired ("let go") just within the last year or so????

Please.

Anonymous said...

Don't you LOVE how we've heard NOTHING from Administration?

Anonymous said...

Well, I'll start the list:

Vice Chancellor Andreea Serban (got a President job in Santa Barbara)

Vice Chancellor Bob King (back to law practice)

ATEP Provost Bob Kopecky (officially "on leave," but essentially canned as administrator)

Dean Susan Corum (IVC)

Dean Karima Feldhus (IVC, left in December)

IVC Chief of Police Owen Kreza (left under mysterious circumstances lastd Spring)

IVC Director of Maintenance Wayne Ward (left for job at UCI, last Spring)

SC President Rich McCullough (to retire starting June; essentially ousted by Mathur)

There are others...

torabora said...

Too bad Dr. Rahgu Mathur isn't one of them.

Anonymous said...

Ask "Dr." R. M to let you read his dissertation. An amusing eye-opener.

torabora said...

Google scholar reveals two documents from the late 70's by our Goo, neither available from ERIC.

"Educate Teenagers to Become People"
and
"Educators as Public Servants"

I wonder if there is any meat on dem bones?

Roy Bauer said...

OK, TB, you sure it's OUR GOO?
If so, I do we get at these documents? Inquiring minds wanna know!

torabora said...

Oh yeah, it's the Goo alright. I have no idea how ERIC works. They have a reference to what appears to be two different publications, "Education" and "Clearing House". These include issue numbers. It looks like someone is going to have to leg this one out to a library that has those rags on the shelf, or microfiched. I can't do it living here. Besides living in nowhere, California, I just hit another deer with my car. No, the deer is NOT OK.

BTW I met Beno today. She seems a genuinely caring and engaged person. She visited our college to give us a pep talk on our accreditation challenges. Her bottom line was don't let up our repair efforts and we'll get through this. For the sake of all our students and employees I hope so. A bad President and Board majority has devastating effects.

Anonymous said...

How do we educate Goo to become a person?

torabora said...

There is a book called Emotional Intelligence. It postulates most of what we are is imprinted before we learn to speak. It doesn't seem that that part of us is easy to modify. Empathy is a critical value that gets messed with early on.

But that leads to:

Q: How do you change a light bulb?
A: First the light bulb has to WANT to change (grasshopper)!

Anonymous said...

Rumor confirmation needed: Did Don Wagner actually tell folks that there will be no personnel changes in the district--meaning that Raghu will continue at the helm of this sinking ship as long as Don's in charge of the Board? What does it take to get those board members to see what Raghu is doing--with their complicity and apparently their blessing?

Anonymous said...

At the IVC Accreditation meeting about three weeks ago, a senate rep referred to the elephant in the room--Mathur. It was then that Wagner said that there would be no personnel changes.

But it's early. Maybe while on this committee, Don will grow a clue.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have a copy of the GREAT MAN's dissertation?
I'd be happy to examine it for, oh, irregularities.
Send to us at Dissent.
(Who are the Dissenters?)

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...