Vigor for the Colleges

Community colleges in Los Angeles have wrestled with financial pressures for years, not always in championship form--as indicated by critical reports from the county Grand Jury and the state’s Little Hoover Commission. It will take more vigorous leadership to solve the Los Angeles Community College District’s financial problems without shortchanging the 104,000 students on its nine campuses.

In Tuesday’s election of members of the board of trustees, we recommend two incumbents, who have responded effectively to the changing district, and two newcomers, who we believe will add new energy and vision to the board. They are Wallace Knox for Office 1, Marguerite Archie Hudson for Office 3, Harold W. Garvin for Office 5 and David Lopez-Lee for Office 7.

The board’s challenges are both fiscal and academic. It must persuade the governor to be as generous with the state’s two-year colleges as he has been with the state’s universities and four-year colleges. It must cut deeper into the fixed costs that represent 83% of its budget. And it should try to broaden its financial base by raising money from alumni, businesses and foundations.

At the same time, the district needs to improve academically by raising the number of students who transfer to four-year colleges without reducing the commitment to vocational classes. It must expand counseling, and concentrate on both remedial and bilingual education for students for whom community colleges are the only route to a higher standard of living.

In Office 1, Wallace Knox, an attorney who is knowledgeable about budgets, would bring a fresh outlook and knowledge of the complexities of politics to the office. It seems to us that incumbent Monroe F. Richman, a physician from Sun Valley, has gotten out of step with the changing needs of the district after 16 years in office.

In Office 3, Marguerite Archie Hudson, an administrator at UCLA, has proved to be a capable advocate for the two campuses located in minority communities. That is important, because most minority students who go on to higher education in Los Angeles attend a community college. After nine years, she remains deeply committed to the two-year colleges. She deserves reelection.

In Office 5, Harold W. Garvin, a retired government professor from Harbor College, moved quickly when students complained that they were waiting nine months or more to receive financial aid. His answer was the creation of a new decentralized system, which speeded up the process. That sort of attention to business in all phases of the district’s work commends Garvin for a third term.

In Office 7, an open seat that attracted seven candidates, we recommend David Lopez-Lee, although Carmen Luna, a municipal budget analyst, rated an impressive second with us. Lopez-Lee, a professor of public administration at USC, would bring to the office the benefit of years of administrative, academic, community and political experience. He would be a firm and thoughtful board member.