Leader resigns over pledge

Christine Zoldos, a second-year political science major, cited irreconcilable differences with her colleagues. In a statement to student leaders and college administrators, she criticized student body President Lynne Riddle and accused four of the five elected trustees of being arrogant and failing to represent students’ views.

“I have come to realize that I can no longer attach my name to an organization run by these people,” Zoldos said in the statement. “I apologize to those who I was representing, but our voice is not being heard.”

While Zoldos said she had had other conflicts with the government, it was the spat over the Pledge of Allegiance that finally pushed her to withdraw. After the trustees voted on Nov. 6 to no longer include the pledge on their agendas, Zoldos invited reporters to the board’s next meeting, criticized the trustees’ decision and led a small group in reciting the pledge.

In the ensuing two weeks, the issue turned into a full-blown controversy, to the point that administrators complained to the trustees that OCC’s reputation had suffered nationwide. In a press release distributed at student government meetings, Riddle blamed Zoldos for having brought negative attention on the school.

Zoldos, the president wrote, “never gave advance warning to her fellow student government colleagues that she would lead the Pledge or that the off-campus press had been invited to the event. And neither did she, to my knowledge, ask at the meeting nor at anytime prior that the board reconsider or reopen its discussion about keeping the Pledge on the agenda.”

In her statement of resignation, Zoldos fired back at Riddle, accusing the 68-year-old former judge of taking positions on the campus newspaper and government that should have gone to young students seeking to build their resumes.

“Granted, it has become okay for older students to continue expanding their horizons, but at what cost to those for whom this school is really here?” Zoldos said in the statement. “In my opinion, Lynne Riddle should be ashamed of herself for accepting these positions instead of relegating herself to an advisory role.”

Riddle and trustee Brent Bettes, who chaired the meeting at which the trustees abandoned the pledge, could not be reached.

On Monday, at a packed and passionate meeting, the trustees agreed to reinstate the pledge on their agendas as an “opportunity” for those who wished to recite it, and to conduct a poll to guage students’ feelings.

Zoldos, who is active in several clubs on campus, said she felt vindicated by the decision. “I accomplished my goal in doing all this,” she said. “The fact that I’m resigning, I’m still doing everything I’d be doing. I just don’t have to answer to all of them.”

The vice president of Orange Coast College’s student government, who led opposition to the trustees’ decision to discontinue reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, resigned from office Wednesday afternoon.