Pierce President Criticizes Group’s Tactics on Farm

Pierce College President Dan Means on Tuesday criticized the tactics of a group of animal lovers and conservationists, who have blasted the administration of the college’s struggling agricultural school, for “washing this dirty laundry in public.”

Addressing a meeting of the Friends of Pierce College Farm at Reseda Recreation Center, Means said the citizens group had concentrated on attacking policy decisions and on spreading unfavorable publicity about the school’s farming operation, rather than on ways to improve the program.

“As bickering and washing this dirty laundry in public continues, then none of the problems are going to get solved,” Means said. “The farm is in disarray, and there are lot of things we need to do to make the environment better. But when the administrators are challenged on every little point, nothing gets done.”

He added that the group was not officially recognized by the college, and would be more effective as a support group for fund raising and volunteer work.

However, members of the group, along with representatives from other community organizations, defended their methods, saying they had a right to speak out against what they feel are threats to the program’s survival.

Confronting Means, Sy Spalter, vice president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Assn., said, “As citizens, we have seen the problems at the farm, and we have an obligation to talk about it.”

Margo Murman, secretary of the Friends of Pierce College Farm, said, “When we see this campus falling apart year after year after year, we are being friends by talking about what is going on.”

Group members have long claimed that the agricultural department, its 250 acres of farmland and the herds of horses, sheep, pigs and beef cattle are in jeopardy.

Means has said the agricultural program could be shut down in the spring of 1992 if enrollment does not increase. Enrollment fell this year by 200 to 1,300, continuing a long-term decline.

Friends of Pierce College Farm and college officials have been at odds for several months. The group has complained in the past that infertile soil laden with refuse and debris has been dumped on pastures of the farm with the knowledge of administrators. College officials have denied the claims.

At a hearing last week, college faculty and students pleaded with administrators not to develop the farm and other open space on the 420-acre campus. The college is developing a land-use study to determine the future of the 41-year-old campus.