Presiding again

Most community college students, if elected student body president, would list the office prominently on their applications to four-year universities.

For Lynne Riddle, who took office Sept. 22 at Orange Coast College, that won’t be necessary.

Riddle, 68, became OCC’s new student body president after her predecessor got a scholarship to Columbia University. No one on campus has records handy, but it appears a safe bet that Riddle is the oldest person ever to hold the office — and, as a retired judge, lawyer and college instructor, perhaps the wisest.

“You start working really hard and you have to give up things,” Riddle said, referring to the 14 years she spent as a bankruptcy judge in Santa Ana. “So I decided to go back and refresh myself.”

For the last four years, Riddle has taken classes at OCC in art, history, photography and more. She’s hardly in retirement mode, though. When former President Yusuf Abukar resigned his post in early September, Riddle was among seven students who applied to replace him. On the afternoon of Sept. 22, the trustees interviewed all the candidates and settled on Riddle.

Riddle already had a history of involvement with the student government: She covered it for the campus newspaper, the Coast Report, and wrote her own column during spring semester this year. According to trustee Jason Ball, a third-year student, the board liked Riddle for her teaching experience — and also her diligence. When the board of trustees met over the summer, Riddle attended nearly every meeting, even though she wasn’t on assignment for the paper.

“She came in with plans to help get our office in order,” Ball said.

Since her appointment a week ago, Riddle has overseen only one meeting of the student government, but she has her priorities as president already lined up. Along with four of the five student trustees, who were elected this year on a reform platform, Riddle wants to make campus records easier for the general public to access. She’s also proposed extra training for every student appointed to a government job on campus.

“I have a background in education and sort of an interest in fundamental fairness,” Riddle said. “I also have an interest in poking my nose under tents.”

Dean of students Kate Mueller, who noted that many of Riddle’s articles for the Coast Report were critical of the campus government, said she imagined that the new president’s tenacity would pay off.

“I think she’ll be very passionate and committed to the position,” she said.