Taking Charge : Schools: New Santa Monica College president is already working to re-energize campus.

In the three weeks since Piedad F. Robertson took over as the president of Santa Monica College, the campus has learned an important lesson about its new leader: She doesn’t mince words.

Robertson, the former Secretary of Education in Massachusetts, told trustees last week that the college was woefully behind in computer technology, that its organizational structure was a mess and that 18 months after the Northridge earthquake the school’s demolished science building has not been replaced and even minor building repairs have gone undone.

A further problem is campus maintenance, especially in restrooms, which had deteriorated to a point of being an embarrassment to the college, she said.

Robertson said she has made it her goal to rouse the well-regarded campus from its crisis-induced inertia. While praising the previous administration for maintaining student services and academic programs, the new president said the campus, hobbled by earthquake damage and four years of severe budget cuts, has operated “everything else” at a bare minimum.

“This college has been operating on temporary solutions and those temporary solutions have become standards of operation,” she said. “But somewhere along the line you need to begin to create something more.”

The college’s 850-person faculty--which only a month ago was bitterly divided over the trustee’s decision to appoint Robertson over the in-house candidate, Vice President Darroch (Rocky) Young--said they welcomed her frankness.

“I, for one, appreciate her directness,” said Annette Shamey, vice president of the Board of Trustees. “That is something people will have to get used to.”

Robertson has also surprised the college with her collaborative management style, a way of doing business that differs dramatically from that of her predecessor. Former President Richard Moore was known, especially in recent years, for making decisions without consulting faculty and senior administrators.

“We have met more times in the past two weeks with [Robertson] than we did with Moore in his 20 years,” said Jim Prickett, president of the Faculty Assn., the teachers’ union. Robertson joins the campus at a time when it is so financially strapped that it is spending its reserves to sustain services. More than $50 million worth of earthquake reconstruction is bogged down in red tape and disputes between various state and federal agencies over the cost of repairs.

Faculty, students and trustees are counting on Robertson’s energy, political connections and experience to tap outside sources of revenue for the campus.

“Clearly she does have national prominence and she does know the right people and we are hoping she will be able to produce something from that,” said Tom Donner, the college’s chief business officer.

Though Moore was credited with building the school’s academic reputation--more of its students go on to attend University of California schools than from any other institution of higher education--fund raising was not his strength. Moore departed last fall to head a community college in Las Vegas.

“We had a president who involved himself in such things as choosing the colors of the liberal arts building and I don’t think he did as much on the state and federal level as could be done,” Prickett said.

Robertson established a strong fund-raising record as president of Bunker Hill Community College in Boston from 1988 to 1991, before being appointed the state’s Secretary of Education. She said that the key to moving Santa Monica College forward is aggressive lobbying and forming partnerships in Sacramento and in the community.

Robertson has made reviving the college’s $2.2-million technology plan, which was shelved two years ago during budget cuts, her top priority. Last week, she suggested to the Santa Monica City Council that it donate $250,000 for the plan, which would match a gift it provided to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District last school year to upgrade its technology.

The college has never before asked the city for financial assistance, said Trustee Ilona Katz, adding that the relationship between the school and municipal officials has been too strained.

A frequent complaint from residents near the college is that commuting students fill all the parking spaces on streets next to campus.