Southwest College Officially Installs Leader Who Revived School’s Foundering Dreams

A dream moved closer to reality last week as Los Angeles Southwest College celebrated a 20-year struggle to become the intellectual, cultural and social center of the South-Central and South Bay communities that it serves.

High spirits and optimism surrounded the formal inauguration Friday of Southwest’s popular new president, Thomas G. Lakin, who was hailed by speakers as the force behind a dramatic revival at the predominantly black college after years of falling enrollment and poor morale.

During a daylong observance, Lakin formally became president of the college--two years after being called on by trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District to turn the junior college around or preside over its closure.

Lakin met the challenge by introducing an array of new programs and launching an intensive recruitment drive for new students that produced impressive results. Enrollment at the campus, near Imperial Highway and Western Avenue, is now close to 5,000--a gain of about 60% during his short tenure.

“You’re in good hands,” board President Harold W. Garvin told an audience of about 500 in the campus theater. “We’re confident that Southwest will take off. We’re thrilled with what Dr. Lakin is doing.”

In his inaugural speech, the 43-year-old former economics instructor recalled that Southwest’s original dream dates to the 1950s. That dream envisioned better educational opportunities for poor people in predominantly black South-Central Los Angeles.

But the dream of an inner-city college, Lakin said, was deferred for more than 20 years until a group of 37 community activists, led by Odessa Cox, finally overcame barriers of “racism, discrimination and benign neglect” to create the college.

The Watts riots, or what Lakin termed the “Watts Revolt,” provided the added impetus needed to establish the college in 1967. It operated in temporary buildings until 1973, when Southwest’s first--and only--permanent structure was finally completed in 1973.

Lakin said that now he is committed to “building the best” at Southwest, a goal that he tied to a fully completed campus and a variety of new programs. He said he is determined to obtain funding for a technical education center and sports complex in the next two years.

“To those who, through ignorance, deceit, neglect or any other means choose to defer the dream of our founders, I say, ‘Move over or we will move over you.’ ”

Enrollment at the college grew to a peak of 8,000 students in 1981, then plummeted to less than 3,000 by 1985. A variety of economic and organizational factors were blamed, but in his speech, Lakin placed the main fault on the community college district’s failure to complete construction of the campus.

To drive his point home, Lakin referred to the district’s plans to build a new $14-million headquarters when construction of more buildings at Southwest should have higher priority.

After the audience applauded in agreement, Lakin, without turning to the row of district officials seated behind him on the stage, asked if board Garvin and acting Chancellor Thomas M. Fallo were clapping, too.

Fallo and Garvin, who had earlier praised Lakin’s forthright way of demanding more funding and other improvements at Southwest, joined in the laughter. Garvin has pointed out that funding for new construction must come from the state.

Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), whose district covers most of the area served by Southwest, joined in the celebration. “There is no more speculation about whether the college will continue to exist,” Waters said. “It is here to stay. It will fulfill the original dream of the founders.”

In a joking vein, Waters pledged to continue her support for Southwest if Lakin invites her to his next “barbecue and rum cake picnic.”

Barbara Brice, a representative of the college’s non-teaching employees, described Lakin as a “warm, down-to-earth person” whose efforts at improving campus morale have included such things as planting flowers and hosting barbecues for employees.

The observance began with a tree-planting ceremony in a campus cypress grove in honor of Cox and other college founders. Lakin said a new tree will be planted annually to symbolize another year of growth at the college. And besides, he said, “If anybody wants to know how old the college is, all they have to do is count the cypress trees.”

The keynote speaker, Thomas L. Stevens Jr., president of Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, compared Lakin, who runs in marathons, to Pheidippides, the swiftest of ancient Greeks who ran 150 miles to bring help from Sparta in the battle of Marathon near Athens.

Stevens said the race now, as then, requires not only speed, but endurance, patience, discipline and determination to reach the goal.

Those attributes led to the founding of Southwest, he said, and they will enable Lakin to lead the college to its goal.

High spirits and morale at the campus Friday apparently extended to the groundskeepers. Two workers cheerfully greeted visitors heading for their cars after the ceremony, thanked them for coming and wished them a good day.