Mission College President’s Acts Alienate Latino Advisers

A behind-the-scenes dispute between Mission College President Lowell Erickson and leaders of the northeast San Fernando Valley Latino community became public in February when a boycott forced the cancellation of the annual Mission College President’s Club Dinner.

Members of two college advisory boards--the President’s Club, a group of prominent business and political leaders, and the Bilingual-Bicultural Community Advisory Council--accused Erickson of disregarding their roles as counselors and community representatives and of insensitivity to the needs of Mission’s heavily minority community.

Frustrations had grown to the point that the sponsors of the banquet decided that it would be hypocritical of them to attend an event that celebrated the close relationship between the two-year college and the community it serves.

The discord was especially troubling to the Latinos because it appeared to them that Erickson had reversed his position of seeking community advice on college matters.

‘Turned His Back’

“We’ve been hoodwinked,” said Louis Garcia, executive director of the Northeast Valley Health Corp. and a member Mission’s President’s Club. “We all had a lot of faith and confidence in the president, but the president has turned his back on us. His credibility is gone.”

The friction began in December when the college’s executive council--a group made up of Mission administrators, faculty and students--approved a resolution to name one of the first buildings to be constructed on the Sylmar campus after Leslie Koltai, the former chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District.

Koltai was forced to retire last fall after a tumultuous and controversial 15 years in the post. During the good times, Koltai oversaw record enrollments and rapid expansion in the nine-campus district that includes Mission College. But, near the end of his term, Koltai became the target of criticism for his support of proposals to stabilize the district’s financially shaky situation by laying off tenured instructors.

Advisers Not Consulted

Members of the advisory board said they were outraged that they had not been consulted on what they considered an important matter. Those who say that Koltai had hindered the cause of Mission were offended by the idea of naming the building after him.

Soon after that dispute, Erickson announced that the college’s highest honor--the Presidential Medallion--would be awarded to Koltai. Latino leaders again were incensed that Erickson had not consulted them.

But in an interview Erickson said that, in four years of awarding the Presidential Medallion, he never consulted anyone on what was “my decision.”

“I didn’t ask for community help; I really didn’t ask the President’s Club,” he said. “It’s the Presidential Medallion. It’s not the Mission College medallion or the community medallion. It’s the Presidential Medallion. I handled it exactly the same way this time as I did before.”

In protest of what they considered a snub, many community leaders decided to skip the dinner.

“Personally, I wasn’t going to the dinner, but I thought it was just me,” said Juan Rivera, chairman of Mission’s community advisory council. “But, when I asked around, I found that others had the same feelings. None of us could support a dinner when we felt that the president didn’t want our involvement on substantive issues.”

A week before the Feb. 26 dinner, only 70 reservations had been received for an affair that usually attracts 250 people. Erickson decided to cancel the event.

As distasteful as community leaders said they found Erickson’s support for honoring Koltai, they expressed more anger that the lone Latino in Mission’s administration was shuffled out of his job in February and replaced by an Anglo.

For more than two years, Carlos Nava served as Mission’s acting vice president for administrative services. Last year, the college district eliminated the post and replaced it with a business manager.

Latino Didn’t Apply

Nava said he did not apply for the business manager’s job because it was established for someone with a business background. He holds a teaching credential and has been with the college district 18 years.

When Nava returned to his job as one of two Mission deans, the college was left without a Latino in its upper ranks.

“Not having a Chicano administrator at Mission shows insensitivity to the community the college serves,” Eugene Hernandez, a member of the Valley chapter of the Mexican-American Political Assn., told the college district Board of Trustees last month.

“Just because we’re Chicanos doesn’t mean you can walk all over us,” Hernandez added.

Nava said he warned Erickson that the change would be controversial.

“I advised the president that there were going to be some reverberations. I told him that we needed more bilingual, bicultural staff,” Nava said. “I guess I didn’t put it in a strong enough way. He receives so much input that I guess my advice just went by the wayside.”

The recent strife is the kind that Erickson has worked hard to avoid in his six years as Mission’s president.

Acutely aware that he was a white college president at a school serving a heavily minority area, he made an effort to involve the minority community in college policy matters.

He increased the advisory role of the President’s Club and the community bilingual-bicultural council.

He recruited Latino community members in the successful fight to hold the state and the college district to their promise of building a campus for the college. After operating for 17 years, Mission still holds most of its classes in storefronts and makeshift schoolrooms.

Construction is scheduled to start this summer in Sylmar on a permanent campus for Mission.

“Before this, there was never a separation between the college administration and the community,” said Raymond J. Magana, president of the Valley MAPA chapter.

“Lowell Erickson was always very supportive, that’s why all of this comes as such a shock,” Magana continued. “It makes you want to ask, ‘Lowell, are you with us? Were you being real back then? What’s changed?’ ”

Erickson says nothing has changed. He said he still seeks and wants community advice. In his view, the Koltai and Nava controversies stemmed from misunderstandings.

He said he has learned important lessons from the weeks of turmoil and plans to make changes.

The opposition of community leaders spurred him to ask the executive council to reconsider its resolution to name a building after Koltai. The group agreed and has appointed a committee to develop a process for naming buildings on the new campus.

That process “will assure that we have considerable involvement by the community in any recommendation for naming of a building or other manner of recognizing support of the college,” Erickson stated in a letter to community advisory council chairman Rivera.

Erickson said that in the future he will consult members of the President’s Club about awarding of the Presidential Medallion. However, he still plans to honor Koltai.

“Dr. Koltai is the recipient of the Presidential Medallion. I don’t think you can announce an award and then take it away,” he said without hint of anger in his voice. “How and where it will be awarded still hasn’t been settled.

“I think people are sincere and very forthright with their feelings, but from my observation, Dr. Koltai was helpful in getting a permanent campus for Mission,” he continued. “The problem is the kind of support a chancellor gives a college isn’t always the kind of support the public sees.”

Erickson seemingly is not as sure how to settle the controversy surrounding Nava and the lack of a Latino in a top Mission administrative position, although he agrees that there is a need for more Latino administrators at the college and throughout the district.

If there had been a chance to appoint a Latino to the business manager’s job, Erickson said, he probably would have. But his selection had to be made from a pool of candidates provided by the district. There were no Latinos among the five finalists.

“I don’t think people understand what very limited options there were in the selection process,” he said.

Erickson says many of the recent problems were caused by poor communications. A former public information director with the college district, he said he will intensify his efforts to keep community leaders fully informed on district policies and procedures. He also plans to use college advisory boards “more effectively and extensively.”

But some advisory board members say this is too little, too late.

“Patching things up is going to be very hard because it is so hard to believe that all of this wasn’t pre-planned,” said Mary Louise Longoria, a member of the bilingual community advisory board.