Panel to Clarify New Minority Policy : Rules: Community college board seeks to change affirmative action guidelines to benefit historically underrepresented groups.

Holding placards reading “Open Campus, Open Mind” and “Support Diversity Not Racism,” two dozen Ventura College students and faculty members stood before the state community college board Thursday, urging members to stand by their commitment to affirmative action.

The board, holding its meeting in Ventura to honor late Chancellor Thomas Lakin, was considering a proposal to restrict affirmative action policies affecting hiring, business contracts and programs for minority students.

But protests from students, Latino groups and faculty members prompted the board to send the report back to lawyers for clarification before approval. The board plans to vote on the changes in November.

Although the proposal would not affect student admissions because community colleges accept all qualified applicants, students said a diverse staff was just as important as a diverse student population.

“If I have a math class that is taught by a Mexican, I say ‘There is someone who looks like me,’ ” said Daniel Lona, 23, leader of the Ventura College Chicano student group MECHA.

“I say, ‘I want to be like you. I want to be like you because you’re a positive role model.’ ”

Calling the alterations “minor surgery,” Jose L. Peralez, state vice chancellor of equity and diversity, said the new policy would set hiring and contracting goals only for those groups that have been historically underrepresented.

“We’re really making an effort to build an alternative system, one that has similar goals and objectives but maybe doesn’t use the numbers,” Peralez said.

Under the old policy, colleges set hiring goals strictly by racial and ethnic groups. The new policy would give preferential treatment in hiring and contracts only to groups that are deemed “significantly underrepresented.”

The same approach would be used in assessing bidders on business contracts.

But some faculty representatives protested the methods of determining which groups were underrepresented in hiring and contracting. They asked the board to examine representation by discipline as well as in overall hiring, saying that minority numbers are usually lower in math and science.

Helen Galindo, Ventura College matriculation coordinator and a member of the Latino group El Concilio, warned against returning to race-neutral decisions, saying that racism still exists and could keep minorities off of the campus.

“These individuals will be your tax base of the future,” she said. “Our future tax base should be well-educated and well-skilled, and that will benefit everybody.”

The changes are the result of a board request in March to examine the affirmative action policies of the state’s community colleges. Unlike the UC regents, who abolished affirmative action in July, community college officials have taken a more moderate look at their policies, comparing them with recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings and federal law.

But the community college board has been under pressure from Gov. Pete Wilson, who ordered the UC changes and filed a lawsuit against state agencies--including the board--seeking to overturn all affirmative action policies.

Janis Perry, the president of the state’s Academic Senate, urged the board to stand united against the governor. “We cannot allow this lawsuit to intimidate us,” Perry said. “We must fight it.”

The board counsel agreed to research the faculty and student concerns and present an updated report in November.

The policy changes would also affect programs for minority students, requiring the programs to be open and advertised to all students, regardless of race or background. Officials in the Ventura County district said that policy is already in place on the three campuses.