Colleges prepare for influx

Community colleges are bracing for an arrival of would-be UC and

California State students despite Democrats’ vows in Sacramento last

week to fight Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to redirect students

to junior colleges first.

Under Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget, the UC and California

State systems must turn away nearly 10,000 eligible freshmen, but can

offer them guaranteed admission after completing required courses at

a California community college. Coast Community College District

officials fear the program, called the Guaranteed Transfer Option,

may put additional strain on schools already experiencing budget

problems of their own.

“We are struggling to make as many classes as we can available to

the students we currently serve,” district spokeswoman Erin Cohn

said. “If we have an influx of students redirected from UC, we have

to make sure we have enough services.”

Last week, Assembly Democrats gathered with redirected students

and faculty to denounce the governor’s proposal. They said they would

not pass a budget that contains such provisions.

“We must provide access and opportunity for our children,”

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) said in a press

release. “By denying qualified students the right to attend a

university, particularly after guaranteeing they would be admitted if

qualified, we’re denying access and we’re shattering their dreams.

This is simply unacceptable.”

Two weeks ago, the state Senate budget subcommittee on education

voted to restore $500 million to higher education, which would

restore thousands of student spaces at Cal State and UC campuses. The

full Senate budget committee will consider the recommendation later

this month.

But thousands of qualified prospective students have already

received their redirection letters, leading community colleges to

wonder how to deal with the potential crush.

Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget promises 3% more funds this year

to community colleges to compensate for typical enrollment growth.

But with baby boomers’ children already bringing more freshmen to

college campuses, the redirected students will put a strain on

community colleges that have already been forced to cut the number of

courses offered, Cohn said.

Community colleges are lobbying for more money for the additional

classes, counselors and other services redirected students will need,

said Scott Lay, director of state budget issues for the Community

College League of California. If granted, the increase could help

them accommodate about 7,200 additional students, but that still may

not take up all the extra slack.

“[Next year] is going to be a challenge,” Lay said. “Students may

expect that if they get a [redirect] letter from UCI and have to go

to [Orange Coast College], they’re going to jump to the front of the

line and get all their classes. But they may not get the first class

they want because we have to treat all students the same.”

The governor’s budget projects that 7,000 students will take the

guaranteed transfer option, said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the

state’s department of finance. Between increased student fees and

budget allocations, the state’s community colleges will be able to

accommodate an additional 86,000 students, he said.

But for the 2003-04 school year, about 15,000 students are

unfunded, Lay said. That means local districts have to absorb the

extra costs by laying off faculty. For Coast Community College

District, that may mean ending up back on a state fiscal watch list.

The district is off the list right now, but just voted to give

substantial raises to its chancellor, presidents and vice

chancellors.

Telling students they can finish their general course of study in

two years at a community college may be optimistic, Cohn said.

“That’s easier said than done,” Cohn said. “You have to make sure

you get the classes you need and the counseling you need so you’re

not wasting classes, just taking ones that transfer to your college

of choice.

“There’s not enough counselors to go around [at Coast campuses] as

it is.”

-- Marisa O’Neil

EPA orders cleanup of tanks at oil rupture site

The Environmental Protective Agency has issued a cleanup order to

remove two potentially hazardous tanks that were discovered in the

wake of the oil well rupture on March 17.

The order was issued to Cannery Hamilton LLC, the company charged

with cleaning up the site of the oil spill, near the intersection of

Magnolia Street and Hamilton Avenue. The firm does not own the

mineral rights to the land or the tanks.

The tanks do not pose an immediate threat, EPA spokesman Robert

Wise said, adding that there is “no danger to the public.”

Cannery Hamilton has not been implicated in any wrongdoing, Wise

said.

Cannery Hamilton welcomed the order since the paperwork gives it

the ability to clean tanks it does not technically own, spokeswoman

Mary Urashima said.

The mineral rights on the land belong to the Krik Co., Urashima

said. Cannery-Hamilton does not know if they will be able to recover

the cost of the cleanup.

No one would say what was inside the tanks, though Urashima said

it was not crude oil.

There is no specific timeline yet for the cleanup. Cannery

Hamilton must submit a plan to the EPA, and will have 60 days

afterward to finish the job. Urashima said she expects the firm will

beat the deadline once a plan is sent out.

-- Andrew Edwards

Shipley center has ancient bison fossil on display

A 15,000-year-old fossil of an ancient bison skull is on display

at the Shipley Nature Center in Huntington Central Park.

The fossil is on loan from LSA Associates.

This animal stood 9 feet at the shoulder, and its horns measured 4

feet from tip to tip. They lived in this area up until about 10,000

years ago, apparently migrating through what is now Orange County in

the spring. The ancient bison is thought to be the ancestor of

present-day bison. The skull is presently sitting in the southwest

corner of the center’s lobby waiting for a custom case to be built

for it.