RICHARD DYER: This interview, for
the History of Columbia Junior College tape recorded project, is with Harvey B.
Rhodes, the first president of the college.
TAPE SPLICED HERE
DYER:
Dusty, I’m sure that of all the people involved
in the formation of the college, you’ve probably shed as many tears and perhaps
have had as many joys as anyone else, so it certainly is appropriate to spend
some time and think back on these formative years. Why don’t you identify the
position that you held in the district during the formative years for Columbia
Junior College?
RHODES: Well back at the
time, the first pangs of Columbia Junior College were developed by the board
and community. I was vice president for adult education at the site of Modesto
Junior College. Really early in the operation I became involved with Tuolumne
County. Because having the responsibility for the evening program, and having a
program in Tuolumne County in the evening was seen to be an actual tie. We
started that program – our evening program – in Tuolumne County in 1964. We had
courses offered in the evening in Sonora, as well as Summerville High School.
We also had off-campus programs operated from the adult ??? in Modesto and Los
Banos, Turlock, Ripon, and other areas in the
district. SO it became clearly evident that the real problem the students of
Tuolumne County were having was that disastrous long and uncomfortable bus
ride. So when we – Modesto Junior College district was expanded by a vote of
the people to include all of Stanislaus county, all of Tuolumne County, and
parts of San Joaquin county and Merced county, as well as one elementary
district in Santa Clara county. The Board early in their discussions made a
commitment that there would be a second college in the district, located in
Tuolumne County.
DYER:
Was that an official board meeting?
RHODES: Yes. This was in an
official board meeting as a – when the operational plans were being developed
before the institution of the new district, and the override tax.
DYER:
And that was in 1967, January 17th?
RHODES: No, no, this was
prior to the election in 1966, when the district was approved by the voters. So
this was in the spring of 1966, the winter of 1965. Once the voters of the
expanded district approved an override tax, for 30 cents, plus the formation of
the new district, plans for developing the Tuolumne County campus began soon
after this, that culminated in the Columbia Junior College.
DYER:
Who initiated the idea of a separate campus?
Or was it something that was sort of like the evolution of a master plan at
Modesto Junior College?
RHODES: Well again, there
was a lot of discussion at the board table, and many sessions that involved the
administrative staff of Modesto Junior College, as well as members of the Board
of Trustees in official meetings. Whether or not the campus in Tuolumne County
would be a satellite of the Modesto campus, or whether it would be a separate
distinct and unique campus. The discussions actually covered the entire
spectrum of possible organizations, but due primarily I think to the leadership
of our superintendent Dr. Walter Garcia, was able to convince the board that
Tuolumne County needed a college and a campus as its own unique educational
institution. The board agreed with him, so the plans moved in this direction.
RHODES: Walter Garcia was a
most amazing, interesting and able individual. When it became apparent that the
college would be developed in Tuolumne County, most of the preliminary thinking
and the organizational tone was set by the administrative staff in the Modest oJunior College, at which I was
fortunate to be a part of at the time. At the time, I had absolutely no
interest or no indication that I would ever be responsible for the Tuolumne
campus. But during our discussions, that were focused primarily on “what kind
of a college the Tuolumne Campus be?” Walt, in his wisdom, uirged
in every possible way that let’s have the courage to break fromtradition,
and let’s develop a college that really meets the educational needs of the 60’s
and 70’s. So really because of Walt’s initial thrust, Columbia became pretty
much the type of a college it is.
DYER:
Was he more than a catalyst in this, Dusty or
was he the person who actually began to develop some of the unique features
that eventually were incorporated into the college.
RHODES: Now Walt was the
catalyst. Walt took a more more
active part, other than one of an advisor in the development of the Columbia
program. He was a catalyst, he gave full and complete
support to taking a look at something different. He – buit
he was not actively involved in development of the program because shortly
after the college was esatablished and the direction
set, Walt resigned from Modesto to move to ???. So he was only involved in the formative
stages.
DYER:
And when were you designated the acting
president of the new campus?
RHODES: Well in the fall of
1966, the boardset up some criteria for a person that
they designated to be the director of the Tuolumne County campus. There were
two applicants from Modesto for the position. I was not an applicant. I still
have never filled out an application for this position. I was asked by Walt
whether I would be interested, and at first I told him no, I really wouldn’t be
interested in moving to Tuolumne County, I was happy in Modesto, I was
professionally secure, I had a fine program in the evening and given complete
freedom and I was very happy with Modesto. Around Christmas I believe, November
or December of 1966, Dr. Garcia called me in his office and said that whether I
agreed or disagreed, he was going to recommend to the board that I be
administrator in charge of the Tuolumne County campus, and wanted me to think
it over. I discussed this possibility with my friends and my colleagues, and
decided that I would come up here on a temporary assignment. This was the
Board’s decision. The - and I think it was
January the 17th, 1967 – the board designated me as the director of
the Tuolumne County campus. I did not move to Tuolumne County for about two
years. I commuted from Modesto, because I thought that it would be just a
temporary assignment and I would be going back to Modesto. So – amazing things
happened, Dick.
DYER:
I hope you’ve changed your mind.
RHODES: I have changed my
mind, definitely. I have never been happier in my life. But I think that
Walt was interested in my coming up to Tuolumne County because he saw, I think,
in my philosophy of education a high corollary with what he perceived he wanted
Columbia to be. So it was on this basis, I believe, that I’m here.
DYER:
What about some of the other people, Dusty,
who helped during these formative years?
RHODES: Well, the first
thing that I did after I was named on January the 17th was brought
together by what I think the finest mines that I Could bring together in one
group to discuss in depth where Columbia was going, and what type of a college
this was going to be. It became evident in these early discussions which
hypothetically took place at about 5 to 8 o’clock every morning until 10
o’clock or 1 or 2 o’clock in the evening, because we all had full-time jobs.
And we would meet over at my home for breakfast, and after they got through
with their evening assignments – because most of them were in Adult Division –
and we would talk about what this college would be. And it was these sessions
that determined the philosophy and the principles of the college. People were
involved in these discussions. Dr. Frank Pierce, who was the director of
research at ???
Modesto. At the time he was brought aboard to become the research person
attached to the New Hope project which is the adult retraining project. Frank
came from the University of California Davis. He is now – he left Modesto, went
to San Mateo as a dean of instruction, and is now very ???. He’s gone with Doctor Garcia – at Rio Hunda he’s dean of instruction and mayor of
???. Frank had a really demanding, intellectual,
questioning mind. Frank asked the questions that we had to answer. And it was
answering these questions that really developed this philosophy and principles.
RHODES: Others involved were
Bob Deal, Bill Haskins, who was my director of the district in business
educations and the adult division in Modesto. Bob Deal was a coordinator of
industrial education, industrial and technical education involved with the New
Hope project. John ???,
who was on our staff, was a ??? instructor. Modesto was involved in some of these
discussions. Barbara Painter, who was our counselor at the present time was involved in some of these discussions. Dr. ??? was
very much a part of these discussions, and was primarily responsible for giving
birth to and developing the learning resources center concept and the use of
the learning resources center on a college campus. Bob Davison, a sociologist,
was involved early in these discussions, Walt Garcia
was involved in these discussions. Don Brady, who was the board member from
Tuolumne County, sat in on some of these discussions. Joe ???, who was the student body president at
Modesto Junior College at the time, and was a resident of Sonora, was also
involved in these discussions.
DYER:
Bill’s name has been brought out many times
and certainly he deserves a lot of credit for his part
as a – I guess a kind of public relations man.
RHODES: Bill did an
astounding job for a student during the formation of the new district. He was
actively involved in speaking engagements and the public relations aspect and
gave to us, in the development of our philosophy and guiding principles,
student input that was more ???.
Bill has now just received his master’s degree from Sacramento State, Dick, and
there’s really no one that I would like to bring on to this faculty more than
Bill Swernge, and I think it would be a natural
situation and I hope this is possible.
DYER:
Well, Dusty, I’m sure you had a few obstacles
that you had to overcome in order to convince the Board, convince the community
and some of your colleagues. As you think back are there some that seem to
stand out in your mind?
RHODES: Yes, there are many,
Dick. I think probably the greatest obstacle was the commitment that the
planning team had to break away from tradition. It’s always most difficult when
you break away from tradition, because you open yourself immediately to
comment, to criticism, to questions from the establishment. This commitment was
made. And there are many on the Modesto Junior College faculty and the Ministry
of Staff that felt that we were moving in the wrong direction. They were
convinced that the only logical and reasonable timing that could be done would
be to set up a college in Tuolumne County that was the image of Modesto Junior
College. Realizing Modesto was one of the oldest junior colleges in the state,
with a magnificent history, they felt that we’d be very foolish to break out of
this pattern.
RHODES: Those of us that
were close to Modesto seem to have many questions regarding the Modesto
program. And not only Modesto, but the community colleges in the state. We saw
too many people coming in one quarter and dropping out, and it became almost a
revolving door. We felt that Modesto was too large to be personal and one of
the high-priority items at Columbia was we would develop a college that would
never become a large institution, so that the student would always be supreme.
We felt students had to be the central purpose of this college. Without the
student, nothing else happened. But in order for the student to be a human
being, to be a personality, to have worth and dignity, we felt a college had to
be – have some sort of a limitation on an enrollment. To this end, we planned
this college would peak out at 2,500 full-time base
students. Now how do you develop a plan to hold a college at 2,500? We became
honestly as devious as we could possibly be. We – Because Tuolumne County was
one of the few areas in the state that did not have water, sewage facilities
available, we had to develop our own. So on our specifications for the
development of this campus, our specifications were that the water and sewage
capacity would serve up to 2,500 students. IF we have more than 2,500 students,
we’re going to be under attack from water quality control in Sacramento. So I
don’t think this college will ever be over 2,500. If it ever reaches this point
where we have more students then there’s going to have to be a tremendous
capital investment in the water and sewage system, and I don’t think the
district could afford it. So this was our plan, this was our umbrella, and this
was our hope – that we could always keep this college.
DYER:
So you don’t envision the development of 300
of our 400 and some acres out here into a kind of massive institution with all
the complexities and goals.
RHODES: No, no. We’re very
happy to see the second campus grow in the Valley and west modesto, and we feel that this is fine, that in order
to do the types of things that we’d like to do at Columbia, we think that a
small student body is absolutely necessary.
DYER:
Were there other obstacles in the community
that made it difficult for you to sell the idea of a second campus here?
RHODES: Yes, I think we need
to realize, Dick, that there’s a philosophical difference between flatlanders,
and those that live in the Valley and hill people, those who live in the
mountains. Since 1849, probably before they have never really trusted or
enjoyed each others’ company, generally speaking. So
there was real resistance on the part of people in the Valley on the district
allocating resources to build a campus in Tuolumne County. There was a concern
on part of the significant number of citizens in Tuolumne County that as long
as the district offices were going to be in Modesto, they’d never have a
college up here of their own anyway, that Modesto would control it. So we had a
problem, a real problem of bringing these two groups together. The board of
trustees, both the individual members and collectively, I think have done an
outstanding job on solving this very, very sensitive problem, and one that has
always existing and will probably exist in the future. But the board did a
tremendous job every day, tremendous job on that. They held together, they
voted unanimously on almost every issue, the board members from the Valley
supported completely the concept of the Tuolumne County campus. I just think
the board should be congratulated in so many ways. The leadership and ??? is
done with the insight that they have shown throughout the development of a
second college. But it’s difficult, Dick, for any district that has had one
college for almost 50 years to develop a stepbrother and develop and have a
relationship, a feeling and an interest for this.
DYER:
Does this account for the initial plan to have
a kind of satellite campus here, for retreats or for some of the science
courses.
RHODES: Yes, this is one of
the reasons. Some of this property on which the campus is located, the first 45
acres, was actually discovered by the science department and the agriculture
department in Modesto. And this was purchased somewhat before the major portion
of the land was purchased, from the Bureau of Land Management, for a science
outdoor station. And the science and the forestry and the ag
students from Modesto would come up here and work in this land. This is located
just south of our campus. It’s the segment of our property that juts out
towards Sawmill Flat Road. So actually the initial property was discovered by
these members of the faculty in Modesto. Don Brady was involved in this at that
time, and Don Brady probably more than anyone else is – I think has to be given
the major accolades because he was responsible, really, for the development of
this campus.
DYER:
I would assume that you ran into some problems
in trying to locate a temporary site for the college while the campus was being
built.
RHODES: Yes. When we were
given responsibility for coming up we of course had to find some area that we
could use for a central office, so we found a building, I think it was built in
1882, called the California Hall. It was 77 North Washington Street. And we
were able to rent this building for the sum, I think, of 90 dollars a month.
And this was Columbia Junior College administrative offices for the first two
years of operation. It’s an interesting building. The back area had a dirt
floor, with rocks. This was our storage, we built storage over rocks and out of
dirt, and we had to put in our own bathroom because they did not have bathroom
facilities. But we worked on 77 North Washington Street for two years. It was
very evident to us that it was necessary to start a day educational program as
soon as possible. And we knew the college would not be completed – the
buildings, the first initial buildings would not be completed until probably
late into 68 or early 69. So we worked with the Columbia State Park and rented
from the state, as well as University of the Pacific, some of the buildings.
Eagle Cottage, located in the park, the Oddfellows’ Hall,
that we used as a classroom, the Fallon House, which we used
occasionally as our assembly hall, to collect all of our students together. We
used Angeos Hall in the Columbia House for some of
our programs, and then we used the high school, the county and the elementary
schools for evening classes.
RHODES: We started September
of 1967. 68. Columbia junior college classes.
DYER:
Were most of the instructors and
administrators commuting at the time? Or were you able to draw-
RHODES: No, no, I was still
commuting. Bill Haskins and I would drive up together every morning and go home
every night. Bob Deal was building his own home in Phoenix Lake at the time,
and his family was still in Modesto but he was a worker in the day and then
would go out and work at night on his home. Dick Dodge, who was the dean of
science and natural resources was commuting. Our
original staff and faculty, many – not many, but
some of whom came from Modesto and moved up. John ??? found a place just
south of the campus. Scott Davidson moved into Twain
Harte, Virginia Blackbird found a place in Sonora on Yaney
Street, but the rest of us commuted.
DYER:
Dusty, how did you select the name, or how was
the name “Columbia Junior College” selected?
RHODES: The publicity went
out to the community of Tuolumne County to suggest names. These names were then
pulled together, and the board had made the decision, completely. They asked
for no input from administrative staff. The board made this decision completely.
I recall that names that were suggested were “College of the Pines”, “Tuolumne
County Junior College”, “Sonora College”, “Columbia College”, “College of the
Mother Lode”, “Mother Lode Community College”, because at this particular time
the term community college was just coming into being. As you’re well aware,
Modesto Junior College is one of the few colleges in the state that still used
the term “Junior” in our official title. The direction has been generally
speaking statewide, away from the term “Junior College” to the title and the
name “College”. But because of Modesto Junior College’s tradition and because
of the board’s feeling towards Modesto Junior College, they determined that the
name Junior should be Columbia’s name. So after much discussion, about three
meetings, taking about fifty names and boiling it down to ten and then down to
I think three names, I think the three final names that the Board finally made
a decision from was Tuolumne County Junior College, College of the Mother Lode
and Columbia Junior College. And they chose Columbia Junior College.
DYER:
I’ve often wondered about the use of the word
“Junior”, since it is in vogue today to refer to them as community colleges,
and I’ve often wondered why we’re referred to as a junior college here.
RHODES: Well, it’s just the
fact that the term junior college is the original name of this type of an
institution. I think if there had been input from the administrative staff that
was involved at this particular time, I think that our choice would have been
Columbia Community College.
DYER:
I’ve often wondered about that, too. [BOTH SPEAK AT ONCE]– there
would have been three C’s. But I think that community college, the name
community college, more succinctly and more honestly and truly tells just what
we’re trying to be, because this is a college dedicated to the community. And I
think in time, within our lifetime that all of the two-year colleges in the
state will probably be
END OF TAPE
General
Information:
Interviewer:
Dyer, Richard
Interviewee:
Rhodes, Harvey B. (The
first president of the college).
Name
of Tape: (a section of) History of Columbia Junior College (CC_hist_3_0)
When:
Late 60’s early 70’s
Transcriber:
Alden (3/21/08)
Transcriber’s
Note: n/a