Community Colleges and Golf

Across the Valley, a proposal is in the works for Mission College in Sylmar to purchase and demolish an adjacent golf course to make room for four new classroom buildings, additional parking and 10 acres of open space to accommodate a projected doubling of the student enrollment over the next five to six years, according to the Oct. 3 edition of The Times (“Golfers See No Fair Way to Replace Threatened Course,”).

As Pierce College administrators wrestle over the best direction for the campus to take in the shadow of such irony, perhaps more thought should be given to staking the interests of the college in a fashionable pastime like golf. With the echoes of “Anyone for tennis?” still haunting the grounds of erstwhile racquet clubs of the ‘70s and ‘80s, the realities of a hasty economic decision may prove to be shortsighted.

The increasing enrollment in local colleges such as Mission and Glendale is reportedly attributed to the courses that are being offered, one of the biggest attractions being the addition of multimedia programs catering to those who are pursuing a field in the thriving local entertainment industry. In contrast, Pierce College, with its dwindling enrollment and class offerings stands as an anachronism on the landscape, a testament to who we were some 50 years ago. The most that can be hoped for the near future is a curriculum developed around a golf course.

What is needed is a consensus among administrators, educators, students and community as to what Pierce College wants to be, how it will choose to define itself as a “destination” campus. In the process, Pierce should consider fully the educational needs and desires of the community it serves while reconsidering the implications of creating an environment to be served.

“Build it and they will come” may help to define corporate values, but it seems that content of the classroom is proving to be the definitive value of a successful college campus.

MAX ACKER, Studio City