Columnist correct on some concerns

Alan Remington

In the March 17 issue of the Daily Pilot, Humberto Caspa’s Latin

Landscape -- “Minority issues must be addressed at OCC” -- brought

out some excellent points concerning the future of Orange Coast

College.

Caspa correctly assessed the lack of concern top management has

for opinions of faculty -- full or part time. But the reasons OCC has

had an enviable record in transferring students to four-year schools

are directly due to the excellence of its faculty. Not one

administrator can claim credit for that achievement.

Caspa also accurately noted the disparity of salaries between

teachers and administrators. Arguing which is of more value to the

community is a no-brainer, but since administrators create the pay

scales and have more concern with their own well-being than with the

education of the community, a self-serving attitude is

understandable, if not appreciated.

Another telling concern for Caspa was that part-time faculty

outnumber full-timers, and that adjunct faculty are piteously

underpaid and work without fringe benefits or job security of any

kind.

Historically, part-time teachers were used to fill out academic

programs, to provide highly technical, job-oriented specialization

for career-oriented programs and to fill in as substitute teachers

when needed.

But school administrations -- not unlike corporations that ship

jobs overseas to lower labor costs -- began to replace retiring

full-time faculty with part-timers for the same reason, and that

practice continues.

But for the student, a part-time teacher -- no matter how capable

-- presents a problem. Part-time teachers have no office hours, and

are, for the most part, not on campus except for their classes, so

students have limited or no access to them -- before or after class.

But the administration does, indeed, save money. Does it plow

those savings back into the classrooms? Not yet. But it’s only been

doing this for about 20 years.

They obviously need more time.

I don’t agree with Caspa’s concern that not enough Latino teachers

are being hired. First, one of OCC’s problems in hiring faculty stems

from the combined facts that its salaries are comparatively low and

the Newport-Mesa district is not a low-priced area in which to live.

Many very competent teachers cannot afford to live here on the salary

they will earn and don’t usually look forward with much joy to a

daily commute.

OCC loses many of those most competent candidates for teaching

positions to neighboring schools, which pay at least one-third more.

Second, as a former OCC teacher who served on hiring committees

both as a member and as a chairman, I know that our concern was --

except once -- for the quality of the teachers to be hired, not their

ethnic background.

The only time that was not the case was when the committee chair

had his own preferred candidate, and it had nothing to do with

ethnicity.

The hiring procedure at OCC and at other schools, is very

stringent about maintaining a minority-friendly attitude. Our

committee was once told we would have to redo the paper-screen

procedure, because we had insufficient minority representation.

It’s a shame that ethnicity needs to be a consideration for

hiring. I’m well aware that over the years there has been

discrimination in all middle class jobs, and I deplore that obvious

fact. But insisting that an ethnic minority candidate be hired,

sometimes over a more qualified candidate, will merely achieve a

lower standard of education for our children.

We can’t right a wrong by creating another wrong.

I believe that any Latino teacher -- or other minority teacher --

who can demonstrate the background and ability the committee seeks

stands a reasonable chance of being hired.

Unless the hiring is for a top administrative job, the

administration usually defers to the faculty recommendation. For

administrative jobs or for academic direction, faculty concerns and

recommendations are generally ignored.

OCC will hire a new president, and it will make no difference what

that person’s gender or ethnicity is. What will make a great deal of

impact is whether the candidate will place education above politics

and academic excellence over all else.

Such a candidate won’t have a prayer of being chosen -- especially

if he or she is Latino.

* ALAN REMINGTON is professor emeritus at OCC and a resident of

Costa Mesa.