MISSION VIEJO : Multiethnic Studies Idea Gets Board Ear

After a passionate plea from Saddleback Community College Vice President Everett Brewer, district trustees say they will consider hiring a consultant on multiethnic studies recommended by a panel of students, faculty and administrators.

“If ever the college needed a consultant, it’s on this issue,” Brewer told trustees at their Monday board meeting. “We need a multiethnic studies program and, I believe, a department.”

Brewer, the college’s vice president for instruction, addressed the board after a group of students, reacting to recently reported racist incidents on campus, expressed frustration that college administrators had not forwarded the name of the person they want as a multiethnic studies consultant to the board.

The college’s acting president, Calvin L. Nelson, acknowledged the students had been assured that their recommendation would be presented to the board Monday. But Nelson said he put it on hold because the Academic Senate, racial-minority faculty members and administrators had not yet provided their views.

“I wanted a consensus of more than one group to make a recommendation to the board,” Nelson said.

At the same time, some trustees said they were skeptical that an outside consultant is needed, believing college faculty and staff have enough expertise to deal with the issue.

That drew Brewer’s impassioned remarks.

“When we know exactly what we’re doing . . . we don’t need a consultant,” Brewer said. “But I guarantee we need a consultant for this one. Because we are disjointed.”

Sheriff’s Department officers are investigating two racially motivated incidents that occurred on the campus in recent months. An African American woman reported finding a threatening note on her car’s windshield on Nov. 1. A month earlier, two African American candidates for homecoming king and queen announced that flyers had been left in their mailboxes that contained racial slurs.

One of the candidates, Ricc Waddell, president of the campus Black United Students, withdrew from the homecoming contest while revealing he had received a letter with similar threats earlier in the year.

Waddell acted as spokesman for the group of students Monday which demanded that trustees immediately consider their recommendation for the multiethnic studies consultant.

But Nelson and Brewer said they wanted the students, faculty and administrators to meet and agree on a recommendation to be presented to the board on Jan. 24.

Trustee Stephen J. Frogue, who had objected to the idea of a multiethnic studies consultant, said he was “fully persuaded” by Brewer’s comments.

Meanwhile, Associated Student Government president Matt Brady told the board that the ASG had approved providing up to $20,000 to pay for a consultant, contingent on the trustees’ decision. The student government already has offered a $3,000 reward for information regarding the reported hate crimes.