VENTURA : College Initials Changed to ‘VOTE’

Ventura College administrators were scratching their heads Monday trying to figure out who changed the traditional “VC” letters carved into the hills above the college to read: “VOTE.”

“It’s very legible,” said John Wooley, the college’s vice president of student services. “Somebody went to some effort to do that.”

No one can say for sure, but administrators believe that the civic-minded message went up sometime over the weekend. The act had not been reported to the Ventura Police Department by late Monday, although several students and college officials noticed it when they arrived on campus in the morning.

Wooley believes that it is the work of Ventura College students, because the letters have been molded into different messages several times since they went up 20 years ago. About two years ago, some science students changed the letters to read e=mc 2, Albert Einstein’s most celebrated equation, he said.

“I think it’s just some students caught up in the positive thing of an election and trying to get people to participate,” Wooley said.

College spokeswoman Jeanette Villanueva agreed. “We had a forum with several candidates last month, and there was a lot of student interest,” Villanueva said.

Students are particularly concerned about the outcome of today’s election, because they are already feeling effects of the recession in the form of higher college fees, she said.

“They are putting blood, sweat and tears into completing their education,” Villanueva said. “They want to make sure they have a job when they get out of college.”