Q&A; : New President Wants to Bring ‘Community’ Back to College

* Byron Skinner took over Nov. 1 as president of Compton Community College.

* Shake-up at the top: Skinner replaces ex-president Warren A. Washington, who was fired after a tumultuous tenure during which auditors found that $500,000 in federal funds had been misspent at the college. State education officials found in June that the school lacked proper fiscal controls, jeopardizing its accreditation status.

* Background: Skinner, 61, had recently been named the vice chancellor of multicultural affairs at the Alamo Community College District in San Antonio. Before that he had been president of two colleges in the district, Palo Alto and St. Phillip’s. He had also been president of San Jose City College and president of University of Maine’s Augusta campus. Skinner earned a Ph.D. in history at UC Berkeley.

* Interviewer: Times Staff Writer Jill Gottesman

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Question: You have mentioned that you experienced very intense racial tensions at your last job in San Antonio. Are you worried about the same kinds of problems here?

Answer: The demographics are similar, but they are in reverse. This is a black-dominated college. But there is a Hispanic contingency out there that is going to have to become part of this operation. I didn’t realize how intense this thing was between blacks and Hispanics until I was in San Antonio. I hired four blacks while I was at the college, and the word was that Dr. Skinner hired ‘niggers’ to run this college. That is common language out there. There is a tremendous amount of racism among minorities, and bringing us all together will be the challenge of the century. I think it is achievable right here at this college. But we first need to get the blacks to accept the fact that the Hispanic areas have to be pulled into the loop.

Q. The local high schools have experienced high levels of racial tension recently. Have you noticed this spilling over into the college?

A. I attended a meeting recently with local leadership in Compton, and the big topic was Hispanic gangs and black gangs and how they are clashing. It was the No. 1 issue, and that is scary. We are in a time when America is out of control. And those of us in the responsible positions of leadership have to come up with an agenda to reclaim this country for the people.

Q. What kind of a role can Compton College play?

A. We need to have strategic planning sessions that involve the college president’s office, the mayor’s office and the superintendent of the public schools. I am high on community literacy, leadership and role models. The community needs to be a caring, surrogate family for its residents. I believe firmly that a society without leadership and structure is heading for doom. I think the college has a responsibility to provide both those things.

Q. How?

A. We have to get away from the tired, traditional ideas, and approach these problems with something new. For example, a kibbutz is a communal approach to living where everyone has a job for the common good. That is what I am talking about for this community. I believe that people want to belong to something. Gangs in our community are the Rotary Clubs of the ghetto, but they have gotten out of hand.

Q. Do you have particular goals for this college? Should it be more academic- or vocation-oriented?

A. The way you phrase that presupposes that the two are mutually exclusive directions. We’re going to accent three major goals: vocation, transfer and developmental remediation. Look at vocation, for example. Isn’t engineering a vocation? There is no program that takes more intellectual rigor than engineering. If we look at it that way, all of education is vocational training. We want to train students for the world of work. People need a job. I say we get them in here, train them for a job, then follow it up with some program of getting a degree.

Q. What about students who are more interested in academia?

A. I want to start an honors program because I think the most neglected minority are the bright students. I’m talking about high achievers, the motivated ones, the ones who want to excel, are interested in hard work and learning how to write a research paper or master a mathematical problem. The Associated Student Body is demanding that we give them more rigor here. There are students out there--they are not the majority, but there are enough of them out there that want academic challenge. They want to be cultivated. The honors program I put together at my last college was built around the Great Books, the Bible and modern books written by minorities. I’d like to do something like that here.

Q. So the goal for graduates of Compton College is?

A. To be a well-rounded student with a trade or a vocation who is prepared to enter the work force.

Q. What other plans do you have?

A. Before I can fully answer that, I need to go on a retreat with student, faculty and administrative leaders. We are all going to talk about what kind of direction we want to go academically. I’ll raise one question to all students: When you graduate from Compton College, what do you want to see in your mental luggage? We are also putting together a citizens’ advisory committee. I want to get people from all over the district: professional and local opinions on how the college can be the best. Their thoughts will filter formally into our planning process. I want to have a five-year-plan finished by February.

Q. The U.S. Department of Education says the college owes $500,000 in funds misspent by the previous administration. Have you looked into this yet?

A. Yes, and the basic question comes down to how much of that $500,000 do they want us to pay? We are in the process of putting into place the checks and balances that will ensure this kind of thing will never happen again and we can get down to the business of educating people.

Q. How will the college repay the debt?

A. We have some reserves, and we probably won’t have to pay it all back in one year. I think the final amount will be substantially less than the $500,000, and that will come from reserves and from the operational budget.

Q. The college is still being monitored by state accreditation officials. What is the status of that?

A. The accrediting team is coming back in December. What they will find on campus is more structure and more controls that will help avoid the problems they outlined in their accreditation study. They probably won’t find the final solution to the problem, but I guarantee they will find that in a final visit in six months.

Q. You’ve done all your academic work in history and literature. What drew you to those subjects?

A. I gravitated toward history because I was concerned with the image of African Americans and how they have been portrayed in history. I wanted to contribute to that portrayal by writing about it. So, when I was the dean at San Bernardino Community College, I wrote a book called “The Black Origins of San Bernardino,” about a San Bernardino city formed by whites from Salt Lake City who brought with them 25 slaves. I have also completed 14 chapters of a book on Mary McLeod Bethune, the first African American woman to be appointed to a presidential post. She ran the Office of Minority Affairs during the (Franklin) Roosevelt Administration. I guess you could call me a history buff.

Q. What is the most important thing you have learned by studying history?

A. That we have never in our history achieved the kind of peoplehood that would allow everyone to live in harmony. The No. 1 issue we are going to be confronted with in this century and on to the next is the issue of learning how to manage diversity and get to a point where we can all live in harmony.