In October 2002, the Coast Community College District was in the midst of its bond campaign, Measure C, which if approved by local voters, would bring the district $370 million. Along with other faculty, staff, administrators and students, I would leave work and report to an office complex to call voters for their support of Measure C from about 6 pm to 9 pm. In November, the bond passed by 67.4%. Later in Spring 2003, the State budget crisis prompted the Board of Trustees to announce a "golden handshake". More than anything else, the above two events sparked the concept of the Orange Coast College Emeritus Institute.
Like many other community colleges, Orange Coast was facing a significant fiscal crisis. The budget was 91% salaries and benefits, 5% other fixed costs and less than 4%of the budget that was truly discretionary. This was a challenge. The steps the college and District took to address the budget included eliminating almost all travel, a mid-year freeze in purchase orders and a reduction of all hourly budgets. After cutting almost everything, the District determined that additional monies could be realized by offering a “golden handshake”/retirement incentive. More than 50 faculty, administrators, and classified staff agreed to accept the package. These retirements will cover about half of the $6 million reduction predicted as necessary for the 2003-2004 budgets. The other $3 million will be achieved by reduction of the class offerings, perhaps by as many as 500 classes sections.
These realities mean that more and more OCC students will become three-year students or more. Freshmen will face difficulties getting the classes they need. Students will be frustrated and there will be fewer support staff available to assist and provide them with needed services. People were, and are, reaching out to help. Many people across campus are making sacrifices and contributions to the cause.
OCC Vice President of Instruction, Bob Dees, and I were discussing the fact that many faculty and staff members would retire in June and most wanted to have something meaningful to do with their lives in the months and years ahead. Many would, no doubt, love to return to this campus to volunteer their time and expertise. I said, "It would have been great to have had retired faculty and staff helping with the phone tree for Measure C." Orange Coast College needed the talents and assistance of those who had built the college and served so well in the past. A blueprint for the program was drafted, and the Emeritus Institute was born.
To test our idea, we decided to host a luncheon and invite retirees to hear our idea and see if there was any interest. To pitch our proposal, we needed a spokesperson. We already had the president, Gene Ferrell, on board with the idea, but we needed someone to appeal to the retirees. Margaret A. Gratton, recently retired OCC president agreed to serve as co-chair. On April 24, 2003 almost 80 people attended the luncheon. Presidents Farrell and Gratton outlined the proposed Emeritus Institute and encouraged retirees to volunteer their services to one of the four Emeritus Institute committees.
The four committees include:
- The Design and Development Committee - responsible for developing the organizational structure of the institute. A formal Emeritus Institute will need structure, perhaps a charter, a constitution, or by-laws—processes for infrastructure and orderly operations. This committee will be charged with researching, developing, and drafting the needed working plans. Members might want to look at other emeritus organizations for ideas or models. Other areas that may be addressed are processes for communications, leadership, campus liaison, and overall governance. All of these are essential for an organization to understand its purpose, its boundaries and its tools for accomplishing goals.
- The Opportunities and Options Committee - charged with identifying retiree projects and programs to support the college, its faculty, staff and students. This committee begins as a very open-ended committee: Tutoring, reading in the Children’s Center, making class presentations in the area of expertise or experience, gardening, maybe even some repair jobs, helping with events such as Senior Day--- the list could go on. We can envision sub-committees to support different areas of interest. This committee could act as a strong liaison with other groups on campus such as Alumni and Friends, Friends of the Children’s Center, Friends of the Robert B. Moore Theatre. An Emeritus Speakers’ Bureau could be formed. Also, members may wish to serve as representatives to some of the standing campus committees when the historical perspective might be helpful.
- The Family and Friends Committee - to undertake the daunting task of building a comprehensive list of everyone who has ever been employed by the college. An Emeritus Institute needs a solid membership. Many persons have retired from OCC over the years. Records are not complete and, over 55 years; some names and addresses have not been tracked. Early records, especially, are incomplete. It is important not to lose contact with those who are part of our history. The work of this committee will be to research, develop, build, and support a “global list” of OCC retirees, interested former employees, friends, and families who wish to lend a helping hand to OCC.
- The History and Heritage Committee – to oversee the college's archives and historical records and collections. Orange Coast College has a rich history and heritage spanning 55 years. The first 18 years of the college were beautifully captured in the historical document Tumbleweeds to Roses. The rest has been preserved primarily in press releases, in-depth feature stories, some videotaped oral histories, and numerous photos. Additionally, the college recently has discovered one, remaining original building from the Santa Ana Army Airbase (the site on which OCC began). It is on the grounds of Vanguard University and is in pristine condition. Vanguard has no further use of it and plans to tear it down to make way for a new structure. One idea is to move the building back to campus, create a museum of OCC history, perhaps including headquarters for the Emeritus Institute. The History and Heritage Committee could help make that happen. This committee could also coordinate with existing campus committees such as Friends of the Library, and the OCC Alumni Association.
A unique but very important need was identified almost by accident. At one of our meetings, a retiree was asking about another retired colleague. Sadly, we were told that the person recently died. We then found out, no one from the college attended the bereavement services or had any information about one of our own. Clearly, this case suggested that we needed to stay-in-touch with our retirees and be in a position to offer various forms of assistance. Thus, we are researching the possibility of an Emeritus Care (EC) Program, similar to the Los Angeles Firemen's Relief Association. I knew about this organization because my father was a fireman and when he passed, they contacted our family and offered assistance with the service, announcements and other related help.
As the fall semester began, retires volunteered to serve at information tables throughout the campus, helping students locate their classrooms and answering questions about the college. They are also tutoring and mentoring currently enrolled students. They have signed up for committee work and are available to assist with grant writing. Their support appears to be unlimited.
Thus far, the concept of the Emeritus Institute is a hit with everyone. Each committee met once or twice over the summer and the organization is beginning to take form. One retiree said, "The lunch invitation is the first piece of mail I received from OCC since I retired four years ago.” Another luncheon attendee, an octogenarian nearing 90, had left the college in 1957 to become president of another institution, but was more than happy to return to his OCC.
The initial 71 attendees at our introductory luncheon demonstrated that there are many other retirees out there who would like to continue to be involved in the life of this campus. They are deeply interested in advancing Orange Coast College, and in enhancing student success. The future of the Emeritus Institute is extraordinarily promising.
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