Thoughtful Plan for Pierce

For years, the debate over Pierce College came down to one question: What to do about the farm? Trouble was, it was the wrong question.

That might explain why no one was able to come up with a satisfactory answer--until now. A year after taking office, Pierce President Rocky Young is proposing a master plan for the campus that includes not one but dozens of uses for the farm. He got there by asking the right question: What to do about Pierce College?

The short answer to what will happen to the farm under the proposed master plan is that the amount of land dedicated to agriculture now would continue to be used for agriculture. The longer answer is that the farm, and the rest of the campus, would be used in new and imaginative ways.

But first, some history. When Young, a former vice president for planning and development at Santa Monica College, took office in June 1999, farm supporters regarded him with suspicion. They assumed he’d been hired to close the farm down.

Pierce was operating in the red. Its aging facilities needed an overhaul. Enrollment had shrunk by half from its mid-1980s peak of 23,000 students. The school’s agricultural programs, the reason for its founding in 1933, were poorly funded and had not kept paces with changes in the field.

No wonder previous presidents eyed the college’s prime asset--its acres of undeveloped farmland in the middle of the San Fernando Valley--as a potential source of income. But the surrounding community, driven by nostalgia over this reminder of the Valley’s past and protective of one of its largest remaining open spaces, fought every proposed development to a standstill.

Young says he came not to close the farm or to save it. He was hired to find the best way to revitalize the ailing college, period. Chief among his accomplishments over the past year was gaining the community’s trust enough to engage in what he called a “thoughtful discussion” of where Pierce College should be in 20 years.

Young invited community members, business and government leaders and faculty, staff and students to help set goals for the college based on the principals of educational quality, fiscal responsibility and community service.

He also asked agricultural experts for input on whether there was a future for agricultural programs. They said yes.

The goals--improving the campus’ image, increasing enrollment, establishing public-private partnerships and reestablishing Pierce as a center for urban agriculture--in turn guided proposed changes to the campus.

Proposals generated over a year of discussion include a new agricultural education center where youngsters could “tour” the food process from seedling to table by walking through a pizza-shaped garden--then eating a slice of pizza topped by the vegetables they just saw.

There are plans for a veterinarian teaching hospital, an upgraded equestrian center with a covered arena, science labs built in partnership with private research firms, a wood recovery program, a new technology center, student dorms--unusual enough for a two-year college--and apartments for retirees, who would agree to take classes or volunteer on campus.

Once the campus planning committee has gathered public response to the proposals, a final version will go before the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees for approval in December. Funding for the plan hinges on voter approval of a bond measure slated for the April ballot and on the college finding private partners.

The timing is right for bringing Pierce--and its farm--into the future. Enrollment this fall increased dramatically, boosted by better marketing and outreach to high schools. The college’s fiscal crisis has been eased somewhat by additional state funding. Recently elected trustees and a new chancellor are supportive of innovation. And Young has proven himself an inclusive leader with a talent for consensus-building.

His vision for Pierce College is ambitious, and not everyone is going to agree on every proposal. But surely we can agree that someone, at last has asked the right question. Now it deserves a thoughtful and open-minded debate.

To Take Action: The public can see and comment on the proposals, along with sketches of what the campus would look like, by going to the Pierce College Web site (https://www.piercecollege.com) and clicking on the “latest campus news” button. The plan and drawings also are on display in the campus library.