GLENDALE COLLEGE : Student Group’s Sponsorship of Sign Opposed

A decision to spend $10,000 from a campus student organization’s coffers to help pay for an electronic sign at Verdugo Road and Mountain Street has made some Glendale College students and faculty members unhappy.

Most of the cost of the $76,000 sign is to be covered by $25,000 donations from the Carnation Co., Glendale Federal Bank and the Glendale College Foundation.

But Associated Students, which has an annual budget of nearly $100,000, has decided to kick in a $10,000 year-end surplus to cover the remaining costs.

The purpose of the sign is to promote campus speakers, student theater presentations, new classes, sporting events and other on-campus happenings.

Some have objected not only to the corporate funds but also to plans to display the sponsors’ names prominently on the sign.

Drake Hawkins, who heads the school’s social science division, said he was concerned about how conspicuously the companies’ names will be displayed on the 8-foot by 20-foot sign.

He also questioned the cost of the project.

Students echo his concerns.

Michael Vacca, a 28-year-old nursing major, said he would “much rather see” Associated Students’ money “go back into the school” to cover other campus needs.

But Mercedes Delaney, who is running for president of the student organization, proposed spending money on the sign, which she said will give greater visibility to a variety of student activities and the school in general.

She said many new or specialized classes are canceled soon after they start for lack of enrollment, and the sign will help spread the word.

The sign is to be installed during the summer.