Coach’s Drug Testing Proposal Sparks Heated Debate

Orange Coast College football Coach Bill Workman’s proposal for mandatory drug testing of his athletes produced heated debate Wednesday night among officials and trustees of Coast Community College District.

One trustee was critical of Workman for having gone public with his views.

The five-trustee board, however, took no direct action on the issue. Chancellor David Brownell, the district’s chief executive, said college officials have been asked to study Workman’s suggestion and to report their conclusions to him. Brownell said he would probably have “a mixture of opinions” to present to the trustees within the next month.

The Coast Community College District trustees govern Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa and Golden West College in Huntington Beach as well as Coastline Community College, whose headquarters are in Fountain Valley.

No community college in Orange County currently tests athletes for drugs, and only two of the state’s 106 community colleges--Taft and Antelope Valley--have such programs.

Workman, who became head football coach of the Orange Coast College Pirates in March, expressed support for a drug-testing program in a recent Times interview. Workman had launched a voluntary drug-testing plan at Edison High in Huntington Beach, where he coached for 13 years before coming to Orange Coast College. Edison was the first high school in California to have drug testing.

In commenting on his belief that community colleges should join in drug testing, Workman said in the interview: “We need testing not because it will help us catch the kids but because it will give them an excuse to deal with peer pressure and say no.”

Drug testing has been proposed for places and people ranging from the White House staff to the student bodies of the smallest of high schools, and it has been greeted with controversy nearly everywhere. Workman’s suggestion also sparked sharp differences in viewpoints at the regular district meeting of the trustees.

Trustee Sherry Baum opened the debate by announcing her support for Workman’s idea. She noted that Edison High is in the Huntington Beach Union High School District, where she was formerly a trustee. “It is working there very, very well,” Baum said. “It is very strongly supported by the community and the school. I hope we could formulate a program in our district. But we would have to be careful not to hurt anyone’s civil liberties.”

Trustee Armando Ruiz then announced his displeasure with Workman for making the drug-testing statements in a newspaper interview.

“I have some concern about a person coming out and saying this is what he’d like to do,” Ruiz said. “That’s fine, but he has a broader constituency to consider.”

Trustee Conrad Nordquist disagreed: “To suggest we should limit the ability of staff to comment may be counterproductive. Frankly, I would adamantly oppose this test, but I’m for encouraging communication within an institution.”

Brownell told the board that Workman had given his views on drug testing in the college district only because he had been asked questions by a reporter. “It was an honest expression of opinion,” Brownell said.