Vietnamese Student Growth Sparks Change in Class Needs : Education: Numbers have almost tripled in four years at Golden West College, leading to a squeeze in English courses.

Golden West College must take steps to accommodate the growing needs of its rapidly increasing Vietnamese population, said students, staff and faculty members at a campus meeting Friday.

As the number of Vietnamese-speaking students has gone up, the demand for classes in English as a Second Language has overwhelmed the college’s ability to provide them, administrators said.

The number of Vietnamese students at Golden West has nearly tripled within four years from 1,319 students in 1991--8.5% of the population--to 3,127 students last fall, or 23.9% of the enrollment, officials said.

“We have not been able to serve the students,” said Wes Bryan, president of Golden West’s Academic Senate. “The students’ frustration has mounted.”

About 50 Golden West College students, teachers and others met Thursday to discuss problems on campus. On Friday, they gathered to suggest solutions.

Some participants said they need admissions, transfer and registration information in languages other than English. Others said that students of various ethnic groups do not interact on campus and that the college does not have enough multilingual counselors and teachers.

They brainstormed possible changes, including starting multicultural clubs, giving out information in different languages over the campus public address system and producing videos in Vietnamese to help students through registration.

In the coming weeks, they will release recommendations for providing better service and a friendlier campus climate for those students.

This semester, Golden West offers 32 sections of its series of five basic ESL classes as well as eight sections of its four advanced ESL classes. It is still not enough, administrators said. Students may repeat each of the basic ESL classes four times, which means the courses often remain clogged to new students who want them.

“I do not want to take that type of class, but I have to do it,” said Ken Nguyen, a student. “Then it (is) so hard to get those classes and it makes it worse.”

As waiting lists get longer for ESL classes, some Vietnamese speakers sign up for unrelated courses such as typing, physical education or history, campus spokeswoman Wendy Weber said. Students registered during a semester get priority in registration the next semester, so many students stay enrolled even if they cannot get ESL courses.

Administrators said they cannot offer more ESL courses because they would come at the expense of cutting core parts of the community college curriculum. Many courses such as Italian, graphic design and some vocational classes have already been eliminated, Golden West College President Philip Westin said.

Limited state budgets also impede adding courses--the college must cut $700,000 from its next budget just to break even, he added.

Westin said he expects even more students to compete for classes at Golden West in the next few years, as increasing numbers of teen-agers reach college age. In a move that may heighten the problem, California State University trustees are discussing removing remedial education courses from their university system, forcing more students to community colleges, he said.

Bryan said the concerns raise an argument that has been touchy within the higher education community. “Should there be an academic floor in community colleges?” Bryan asked. “Should there be a level of English at which we start, and we won’t accept anything less?”

On Friday, some students said they disagreed with excluding people from community college because of poor English skills. Under California’s Master Plan for Higher Education, community colleges must be open to anyone.

Setting standards would “turn students away, and they don’t have a place to go to,” student Van Tran said. “You’re preventing people from coming to college.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Increasing Presesnce The number of Vietnamese- speaking students enrolled at Golden West College continues to grow, as does their percentage of the student body, increasing demand for Englishas as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Vietnamese presence on campus , fall semesters: *

% of Student Body 1994: 23.9% *

Total Enrollment 1994: 3,127 *

Cutting Classes While the number of Vietnamese- speaking students has increased, ESL classes offered and places in them have fluctuated slightly: *

Sections Offered 1994: 114 *

Total Seats 1994: 3,276 Source: Golden West College; Researched by APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times