ELECTIONS / COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT : Challengers Breathe Life Into El Camino Trustee Campaigns

A lot has changed at El Camino College since it was founded after World War II in a sea of bean fields, with returning GIs among the first 1,100 students taught in wooden U.S. Army barracks transformed into classrooms.

Farmlands have given way to suburban sprawl. Enrollment has swelled to more than 25,000 students. And the ethnic mix of those students has broadened dramatically.

But for all of its changes in the past 45 years, one thing has remained constant about El Camino: No incumbent on its Board of Trustees has ever lost an election.

And even when an opponent has been bold enough to take on an incumbent, the campaigns have often been dull, lacking the kind of electric debate that grabs the attention of voters.

But a tenor of excitement underlies this fall’s campaign for three seats on the five-member Board of Trustees, with two longtime incumbents trying to fend off challengers who claim the trustees have lost touch with their communities.

In the most spirited contest, 10-year Inglewood Trustee Patrick Scott is battling a strong challenge from Nathaniel Jackson, a former El Camino dean who contends that the board--four white men and a white woman--does not represent the changing demographics of the South Bay. Community activist Mildred McNair is also seeking Scott’s seat.

In a second contest, 22-year Centinela Valley Trustee Delmer L. Fox faces two opponents: student Mali Currington and engineer John A. Porter.

A third incumbent, William Beverly, is running unopposed for the South Bay Union High School District seat on the board.

The Nov. 5 election comes at a time when El Camino is grappling with budget problems and the challenges of an increasingly diverse student population.

And the Jackson-Scott race may be a bellwether of how much this giant community college has changed over time.

Two years ago, for the first time, white students became a minority on the campus. They now represent only 43% of the college’s 25,872 students, down from 64% a decade ago. Another 14% of the students are Asian, 19% are black, and 17% are Latino.

But while the college is changing, its Board of Trustees is not, Jackson said.

“It does not represent the makeup of the district,” said Jackson, who is black. He describes a campus with an increasingly diverse mix of cultures--Indian, Japanese, German, African and Mexican--that he says is not reflected in the board’s makeup.

“I’m not saying that an African-American can speak for a Lithuanian,” he added. “I’m simply saying that a person who is of a minor group--having worked on the campus with many of these cultures and sub-cultures--can represent another voice.”

But Scott is proud of his record. “In all of the other (previous) elections, I’ve had people run against me, and I’ve been elected. And, I think I’ve represented people fairly,” he said.

Besides, Scott added: “I don’t think the Board of Trustees should necessarily reflect the student body. I think it should reflect the voting constituency.”

Scott, 63, is well-known in the South Bay area after spending 25 years as general director of the Centinela Valley YMCA. Scott, who retired from that job last year, has also been active in the Rotary Club, the Red Cross and the Chamber of Commerce.

Jackson, 61, retired from El Camino last year after 19 years in the school’s administration, most recently as dean of the Division of Vocation/Occupational Education and Special Programs. He also was dean of three other divisions and is now owner of a consulting firm that specializes in helping people start up and maintain small businesses.

Although he speaks fervently about representing Inglewood’s interests, Jackson is not a one-issue candidate. He frequently cites his background as an El Camino administrator and promises to bring a fresh educational vision to the board.

McNair, 49, a longtime Inglewood activist and Los Angeles schoolteacher, has often run for political office. Four years ago, she challenged Scott for the seat representing the Inglewood Unified School District.

She is campaigning again for the seat, she said, because “I’m tired of the back-room politics of El Camino College. . . . (The board) needs fresh ideas. It needs the input of women. Women and minorities need to be on that board.”

McNair wants El Camino to develop a closer relationship with the area’s four-year colleges to ease the transition for students who move on to those schools.

She suggests that one way to ease the college’s budget woes--this summer, some classes were canceled because of state budget cuts--would be to cut the salaries of the higher-paid administrators.

The trustees themselves, who meet twice monthly, are paid $400 a month and receive free medical insurance for themselves and subsidized insurance for dependents.

Each trustee is supposed to represent the high school district in which he or she lives. But trustees are elected at large by voters in an area that encompasses five districts--Centinela Valley, El Segundo, Inglewood, South Bay and Torrance. In short: It is possible for trustees to be elected even if they lose among voters in their own district.

That system of election has itself become a campaign issue.

Some question its equity, contending that white voters in Torrance and the beach cities can dictate who represents Inglewood, with its large minority population.

Jackson said that trustee races have traditionally drawn only a tiny Inglewood turnout. In the last election, Jackson said, Inglewood voters accounted for only 1,100 of the 15,000 ballots cast for trustee.

“Without a vested interest that is clearly seen, the community where I currently live does not come out and vote,” Jackson said.

So Jackson is working to draw out the Inglewood vote while also seeking to build support elsewhere in the South Bay.

Jackson hopes his campaign strategy will highlight his differences with Scott. “He lives in Inglewood, and he’s supposed to represent the interests of Inglewood on the board, and he has not done that,” Jackson said.

Scott rejects the charge that he does not represent Inglewood’s interests.

“There is no issue there. . . . The voters have indicated that,” he said, noting that each time he has been elected, he has won the most votes in the Inglewood district.

Scott also said he has worked closely with Inglewood schools and community groups and noted that he spent 10 years as chairman of the Inglewood Chamber of Commerce education committee.

At the same time, Scott added that he has a responsibility to the El Camino district as a whole: “Although I am living in Inglewood, and I represent Inglewood, the decisions I make must be tempered by the total service area that we serve.

“We’re not here just to service Inglewood, if you will. We’re not here just to service Torrance. . . . We’re here to serve the people.”

Throughout the campaign, the two men have sparred over how well the college serves Inglewood. Jackson contends the college currently is offering outreach programs in other South Bay cities but not Inglewood; Scott counters that it offers as much in Inglewood as elsewhere.

In fact, Scott said, the college hopes to establish two satellite educational and outreach facilities--one in the district’s southern section and one in Inglewood. That plan is on hold until “things straighten out economically” for the financially strapped college, Scott said.

Both Scott and Jackson agree that the college’s budget problems demand that trustees aggressively pursue other sources of financial aid.

Scott’s loyalty to the college is a mainstay of his campaign. One flyer is headlined, “El Camino College is one of the top 10 nationally,” and he claims the school ranks academically as one of the nation’s top two or three community colleges.

While school officials said they were unaware of any such numerical ranking, Scott stood by his statement. “We have one of the best community colleges in America, right here in Torrance,” Scott said.

Like the contentious Inglewood contest, the race for the Centinela Valley district seat pits a longtime incumbent against two challengers who contend the board needs new blood for a fresh perspective.

Challenger Currington claims many trustees have been on the board too long, and he accuses them of being a rubber stamp for the administration.

“They’re very passive,” he said. “When the administration presents something to the board, the only thing they do is come in and approve it. They don’t ask questions. They don’t ask for a review,” said the 21-year-old Hawthorne resident.

Fox, the 69-year-old incumbent, disputes Currington’s claim. The trustees, he said, are not supposed to become embroiled in administrative matters.

“We don’t administer the college at all. We are the governing board,” he said. Fox also defended his quiet style at board meetings. “There are a lot of us that aren’t terribly verbose. . . . (But) I do my homework,” he said. “Generally speaking, I agree with what the administration is proposing, and so I do not challenge them in an open board meeting.”

Fox said the current administration has served the college well, and he praised what he called a “collegial relationship” among the administration, faculty and other employees. “We’re served by a good board, and the public has been well satisfied,” he said.

Porter, the third Centinela Valley candidate, is an El Camino graduate who entered the race because, “I guess I felt I owed something to the school.”

The 63-year-old engineer at Northrop Corp. said he is concerned that a newly imposed student parking fee is forcing a glut of cars to park on quiet residential streets surrounding the campus. He is also concerned about thefts from cars on campus, he said, and thinks campus security should be improved.

Like other challengers, Porter says it’s time for a change on the El Camino board.

“I just would hope that occasionally, new people can get in there so we can get some new ideas,” Porter said. “Sometimes people tend to get stagnant if they’ve been in so long.”

Beverly, the unopposed incumbent, is backing his two colleagues. The 41-year-old attorney from Manhattan Beach was appointed in July to fill a vacancy representing the South Bay Union High School District.

The other two trustee seats are not up for election until 1993.

THE CANDIDATES Mali Currington

Centinela Valley challenger

Age: 21

Occupation: Student, El Camino College.

Quote: “(Trustees) don’t ask questions. They don’t ask for a review. They’re just rubber-stamping everything.”

Delmer L. Fox

Centinela Valley incumbent

Age: 69

Profession: Owner, Del Fox Co., mortuary transportation service. Former manager, Pierce Brothers-Del Fox Mortuary.

Quote: “We’re served by a good board. The public has been well satisfied and seen very little necessity for change.”

John A. Porter

Centinela Valley challenger

Age: 63

Profession: Engineer, Northrop Corp.

Quote: “I just would hope that occasionally new people can get in there so we can get some new ideas.”

Mildred McNair

Inglewood challenger

Age: 49

Profession: Teacher, Los Angeles Unified School District.

Quote: “If you’re going to come from Inglewood, then Inglewood people need to vote on you. Why should Torrance people vote for you?”

Patrick W. Scott

Inglewood incumbent

Age: 63

Retired. Former general manager, Centinela Valley YMCA.

Quote: “I don’t think the (makeup of the) board of trustees should necessarily reflect the student body. I think it should reflect the voting constituency.”

Nathaniel Jackson

Inglewood challenger

Age: 61

Profession: Owner, small-business consulting firm. Former dean of four divisions, El Camino College.

Quote: “The vision is not there. We are doing traditionally what we did 40 years ago. I’m suggesting a vision of the 21st Century.”