What I’ve Learned : ‘I’m Determined That Others Will Not Be Bullied’

RICHARD MOORE

President, Santa Monica College

Richard Moore spent two decades at Santa Monica, making him the longest-serving community college president in California. He also earned a reputation as an innovator and creator. Moore announced a few weeks ago that he had accepted an offer to become president of the Community College System of Southern Nevada. He talked with Brenda Paik Sunoo about his experience at Santa Monica College.

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When I first arrived at SMC, it had a highly academic faculty and a technical staff that was superb in relating to the immediate post-World War II occupational needs of Los Angeles.

I had never been a college president before, and I found it fascinating to be responsible for all the elements of a college. But I knew it had two problems: The college reported to a (regional) unified school board, and it didn’t have its own voice and autonomy.

My vision was that all adults should have the right and privilege to attend community college, yet we were notably not serving large segments of the adult population such as those over 25 and seniors over 55. We also didn’t have a correct proportion of females, minorities and disabled people attending the college. So I started about 12 programs within my first year, including a women’s center. Now we have finally established a women’s college, the Emeritus college for seniors (between 55 and 90), and we send more blacks and Latinos to UCLA than any other U.S. college.

My vision has been drawn from within myself and from others like Elizabeth Vance--a woman I brought over from Moorpark College--and Ilona Jo Katz, who had two boys who were blind. She taught me how to change this campus for the handicapped. In fact, one of the first things we did was to put the members of the academic senate and administration into wheelchairs for one day. At the end of the day it was clear that our campus had been hostile to (the disabled).

I’m not very strong about things until some moral chord within me feels violated. When it does, I then know what to do. I would guess that somewhere in my youth I was bullied. I’m determined that others will not be bullied in front of me while I’m president.

I was raised in the Presbyterian church and I debated for years if I wanted to become a minister. But through education, I could become a change agent for society. If there were barriers, it was my job to knock them down.

Over the years, a new spirit has been generated on this campus--that it can accomplish whatever it wants to do. One of the best projects has been KCRW. General manager Ruth Seymour has done much to change the intellect of people in cars, and the station is one of the most intellectual voices for this region. It’s about ideas, and ideas don’t occur just in a classroom.

Everyone has hopes and dreams of changing the world. All they need is to share it with someone with a few coins in the pocket and a little guts. And the world starts to change.