President of Mission College to Step Down

SYLMAR —  Saying he couldn’t resist a financial offer to retire, Jack Fujimoto, who built up Mission College from the days when it floated among temporary storefront classrooms, plans to step down in December after more than 30 years with the Los Angeles Community College District.

“It has been a very positive experience for me,” Fujimoto, president of the college since 1989, said Wednesday. “I haven’t been able to do as much as I wanted to rescue Mission, but in time, that will come,” he added.

Although school administrators said enrollment is on the rebound this year, Mission College suffered after the January, 1994, Northridge earthquake. In December, enrollment was down 19% from its peak of more than 7,400 in 1992. Last week, as Mission’s new fall semester began, officials estimated enrollment at close to 6,000, a slight increase.

“The district offered a 7% buyout to administrators, and the papers are being processed,” he said. “By Dec. 31, I’ll be finished. It had nothing to do with the new position. But when they offered the buyout, I figured I may as well take it.”

He added, however, that he is still free to change his mind, and in either case will continue teaching a Japanese language course at Mission. Before Fujimoto took a special fund-raising post, directing the district’s government relations office, he secured assurances that he would be allowed to return to the presidency if he desired, he said.

But on Wednesday, the college district’s Board of Trustees met at Mission College to discuss finding a successor for Fujimoto. For the last seven months, William E. Norlund, former vice president of academic affairs at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, has served as interim president at Mission, allowing Fujimoto to tackle a special fund-raising assignment for the district.

Norlund said Wednesday that he is a candidate to replace Fujimoto permanently.

Student leaders said Norlund should be considered a front-runner for the post at Mission.

“He’s been very supportive and built up a very good reputation with the students here,” said Daniel R. Cardenas, president of the Associated Student Organization at Mission. “He actually attends student events and participates. He’ll sit down with us and eat tostadas.”

Some Mission faculty members said the district should not let go of Fujimoto.

“A lot of us had hoped that Jack would stay, because he has so many good connections,” said Charles Dirks, a political science professor at Mission and legislative advocate for the American Federation of Teachers union.

Dirks noted that Fujimoto also served as president of Sacramento Community College in 1979, becoming the first Asian American to head a community college in the United States.

Others also praised Fujimoto, noting that he presided over the transition of the school--the youngest and smallest of the nine-campus district--as it metamorphosed from a collection of rented storefront classrooms in San Fernando to its present 22.5-acre site adjacent to El Cariso Park in Sylmar.

“Jack was good for us,” said Dale Newman, president of the faculty Academic Senate at Mission. Newman pointed to the ongoing construction of an $11-million library and communications center, which will include 300 computers and sophisticated multimedia communications equipment. The project was financed with grants Fujimoto helped secure.

Newman, who will represent faculty members on a college president selection committee, said she hopes Mission’s new president will be appointed by January.