VENTURA : College Sign Seen in a New Light

Like the famed Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, Ventura College has an emblem that attracts the mischievous.

The 50-foot-high “VC” sign on the foothills overlooking Ventura College was changed early Tuesday to an equation involving light. The pranksters changed the sign by adding a fraction in front of the letters and by slightly altering the letters.

“What we have is an equation on the hill showing the relation between the speed of light, the wavelength and the frequency of light,” said Bob Renger, director of the college’s math and science division. “Ain’t physics wonderful?”

“In laymen’s terms,” he said, “it describes how long the light is versus how it happens. It looks like the kind of equation astronomy students would do, and we have concluded that they did a very nice job considering they only had the V and the C to work with.”

Renger declined to name who might have been responsible, but said the school has a teacher who “engenders a certain creative spirit in his students.”

The change appears to have been done with pieces of paper. The actual sign, painted on the hillside in white, is rejuvenated yearly by students.

“The VC sign represents the school and we’re proud of it,” said Ned Mircetic, director of student activities. “It’s a landmark that identifies the school. Once a year we go up there and make sure it’s neat and clean. If it needs painting, we paint it. If it needs weeding, we weed it, but it hasn’t rained in four years so the maintenance is pretty easy.”

The land that the VC is on is owned by Lloyd Properties of Los Angeles, which leases the grazing rights to a local rancher.

Francis Cribbs, Lloyd executive vice president, said he’s not informed about sign changes. “We do not permit anybody on the property without authority,” he said. “If someone at the school wants to rejuvenate it, they have to obtain a permit.”