Senate welcomes dean to campus Administrator will focus on comprehensive school success

Jessica Boyer Arts & Entertainment Editor

In between bylaw revisions and debates over he-said-shesaid conversations, a new dean of institutional effectiveness was announced at the Pierce College Academic Senate meeting on Monday.

Pierce College President Kathleen Burke introduced the new dean, Oleg Bespalov, as a member to the Pierce family and outlined his qualifications in a staff email on Monday.

College district leased, sold roughly 55 acres of Pierce farmland since 1987

Tim Toton Roundup Reporter

For nearly three decades, parts of Pierce’s farmland have been declared surplus and sold or leased for millions of dollars with a fraction of profits going back to the agriculture department.

Historically, the college is as immersive as its sprawling, flora- and fauna-filled meadows. It has welcomed the community to experience rodeos and Farm Walks, watch firework shows and hear Civil War cannons, walk corn mazes and hike trails, all while providing a living classroom to thousands of animal science students.

Leland Shapiro, chair of agriculture, has been at Pierce for all but three presidents.

“We used to be self-supporting here. If they take anymore land from us and we have an economic down, [the farm] will have to go,” he said.

Despite its storied campus, the Los Angeles Community College District has used Pierce land as a source of revenue, while school administrations have seen it as both a financial burden and a way to entice the community through their doors.

Pierce faced “financial insecurity,” as president Herb Ravetch stated in the 1982 Master Plan, but he significantly increased

Who: Temple Shir Chadash farm funding and consolidated the agriculture department as a way to save money, Shapiro stated.

Ravetch was replaced by David Wolf in 1985 who saw two LACCD land deals take place by 1987 worth more than $4 million at a loss of nearly 21 acres -- 17.5 acres of farmland and 3.3 acres of arboretum.

“The 17 acres of alfalfa that used to be on the other side of the West Valley Occupational Center was my alfalfa field that I used to feed my cows,” Shapiro said. “When they sold that, the district, the board of trustees, promised us money to make up the lost feed. They broke their promise.”

The other development under Wolf’s administration was on the southwest corner of Oxnard Street and Winnetka Avenue, which razed Pierce’s upper arboretum.

“That was a part of the horticulture unit. They tore those down to build four or five homes – very expensive homes – and the money – the proceeds - was supposed to come back to help our horticulture program,” he said. “We never got a penny for that.”

Pierce is mostly funded on the number of Full-time Equivalent (FTE) students on its 426 acre campus. So if it cost more to educate students on the farm, the agriculture department must bridge that gap with fundraisers or sales of animal products like eggs, dairy and livestock.

“Our allocations are just much too small for

What: 17.5 acres of farm’s alfalfa fields leased then sold

How much: About $3.2 million

When: 1990

Where: Topham Street and Victory Boulevard

Why: Synagogue and tract housing the kind of services we need to provide to our students,” Vice President of Administrative Services Rolf Schleicher said. “I’m looking at the financial and operational component and trying to support that as best I can.”

President Dan Means abruptly shut down the school’s dairy farm in 1990, citing expenses. Students had run the dairy store since the school’s founding. It generated enough income to subsidize the chicken, horse, pig and sheep units, Shapiro stated.

“I said we brought in $100,000 in milk sales. He said, ‘I’m not looking at income right now, I’m just looking at expenses.’ How do you respond to that?” Shapiro said. “When you got rid of the dairy, there was nothing to carry the farm, and from that point we started losing money on a regular basis.”

The Roundup reached out to the administration for comments over a month ago, but President Burke canceled the day before the interview. It’s been rescheduled for May 8. Schleicher said in an email reply they “have not had enough planning sessions to fully envision what a college farm may look like in years to come.”

There have been 15 leaders from when farm acreage started dropping in the late 1980s. Shapiro said he and other faculty would complain that land atrophy worsened the ability to raise animals, grow crop and train students when the talk of developments would start.

Who: Ted Neumann

What: 3.3 acres of horticulture unit’s upper arboretum sold

How much: About $1.15 million

When: 1987

Where: Winnetka Avenue and Oxnard Street

Why: Large residential homes

Protester Gordon Murley, president of the Woodland Hills Homeowner’s Organization, said these deals did not contribute to students’ education stripped away the campus’s beauty and that one deal violated the U.S. Constitution.

Joe Cicero ran a farm stand and worked about 30 acres of land along Victory Boulevard for close to 10 years. Though he wasn’t without controversy, he was “a friend to the farm,” Shapiro said.

The ground lay fallow after Cicero Farms left in 1995 and other deals fell through. Financial woes and community pressure about the open land, produced a major proposal for an 18-hole golf course by entrepreneur Eddie Milligan and golfer Jim Colbert.

First articulated by president Dan Means, approved by Pierce College Council under E. Bing Inocencio, it was abandoned by LACCD just after Darroch “Rocky” Young took the school’s helm in 1999.

The golf course idea was sunk when Young’s 2002 Master Plan -- a detailed document projecting the college’s commitment over a span of years -- changed Pierce’s “unique urban land resources.” A farmer’s market and agricultural education center was part of the plan’s manifest. After two request for proposals in 2002 failed to secure a contractor for Young’s market idea, the land went dormant.

[See FARM, pg. 3]

Who: Los Angeles Metropolitan Authority

What: 4.04 acres of farm’s fields leased

How much: About $200,000 interest, 40 years

When: 2003

Where: Victory Boulevard between Winnetka and De Soto Avenues

Why: Orange line expansion

“Most recently, Oleg was the Associate Vice President for Institutional Research and Assessment at Patten University, and before then served in various research roles at the San JoseEvergreen Community College District, Bridgepoint Education, Temple University, Princeton University, and ETS,” Burke said.

Bespalov was introduced to the Senate by Earic Peters, vice president of Student Services, during Monday’s meeting.

“We’re very, very happy to have him on board,” Peters said.

Bespalov was greeted with an applause from attendees at the meeting after the introduction.

“I do have to say, he started two days ago and got his Pierce College shirt. I started six months ago and still haven’t gotten a shirt,” Peters added with a laugh.

Bespalov is passionate about collaborating with faculty and staff on research and planning, and is excited to be a part of the Pierce community, Burke said.

At a dinner party recently, Bespalov was asked where he was working. When he answered with “Pierce,” he was told the college was called “UC Pierce.”

“So I said ‘No, it’s not a UC,’ and they said, ‘No, no we call it UC Pierce around here because it’s that good,’” Bespalov said.

Bespalov will serve as chair of the College Planning Committee, according to Peters.

“I’ve realized the standards here are very high and I will work very, very hard to meet your high standards,” Bespalov said.