OCC gets top new leader

HUMBERTO CASPA

Spring is finally here. For all I know, it indicates the beginning of

a new blossoming season. It also means change, and that’s precisely

what spring brought to Orange Coast College. Bob Dees is its new

president. Although he has worked his way up through different

capacities and inside the school, he represents change.

Those of us who have met Dees knew, from the outset, that he was a

top candidate for the job. Some of my former colleagues at OCC might

disagree with me about his appointment, but he brings experience,

leadership abilities and remarkable understand- ing of students’

concerns and issues. “Students are the most important asset on our

campus,” he told me recently.

I met Dees in the fall of 1989, while I was taking an English

class, and he was the literature and language division dean. I

remember having difficulties in a high-level English composition

course. Since I was moving up from an English as a second language

program, the class itself represented a major challenge to me, and my

professor’s conventional style made the matters even worse.

Thus, I decided to walk into the dean’s office, talk to him, share

my problems and ask for his advice. Dees was an easy person to get in

touch with. He listened carefully to my story, made a few

recommendations and intuitively resolved that it was best to switch

me over to another class. Not only did I find a better environment

for me, including a more understanding professor, but also my

academic performance was much better at the end of the semester.

Years later, I was asked to act as a substitute for professor Ken

Hearlson’s political science courses in the middle of a situation

(well publicized at the time) involving Muslim students. Dees walked

with me into a divisive classroom of about 200 students. Half of them

ardently supported Hearlson’s reinstatement, and the other half

adamantly sought his removal from school. It was not an easy place to

be. Dees was the only person who stayed on my side, supporting me all

the way through that critical time.

Two days ago, I had a brief conversation with Dees in his office

regarding his plans as new president of OCC. Overall, he would like

to improve the academic standards, provide students with more

resources, strengthen the vocational programs and have more students

transferring to four-year schools.

In addition, he brought up the idea of a service-learning program.

This is a revolutionizing idea in which students go out to the

community, utilize their knowledge in concrete cases and, perhaps,

earn some credit for their efforts in return.

Although Dees wasn’t specific about the implication of this

program, his thoughts about involving OCC and the community are worth

mentioning. For instance, students majoring in English, or working on

vocational careers, would share their knowledge -- not necessarily

teaching -- with other people, such as in the Job Center or any place

else, to give them a better chance for success or job opportunities.

Moreover, Dees is a big advocate for fairer distribution of

income, especially for part-time professors. In a previous column, I

mentioned that professors in the part-time bracket undeservedly earn

meager wages compared to full-time professors and administrators. My

analysis received an encouraging support from Alan Remington,

emeritus professor at OCC.

Dees was keen to observe, however, that this is a matter resolved

collectively among the Coast Community College board of trustees,

teachers’ unions and his office. I can only hope that school

administrators and every person involved in this issue work

cohesively toward alleviating the economic condition of those who

give so much and receive so little in return.

Finally, Dees is an ardent believer in pluralism and used an

example to elaborate his views on integration and living in a

multi-ethnic society. He said that Jose Cortez, a music and dance

instructor, brought a Latin flavor to OCC. His classes are very

popular, and his “Fiesta Latina” is perhaps the most flamboyant and

entertaining show organized at school. He would like to see other

minority professors like Cortez in other departments to do the same.

“It is just good,” he said.

In the end, there might have been a number of excellent candidates

to fill the vacancy. But the selection committee seems to have used

experience, knowledge and leadership capacity as its basis for hiring

the right person. Dees fits such criteria. I wish him the best.

* HUMBERTO CASPA is a Costa Mesa resident and bilingual writer. He

can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].