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New College of California

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This article is about New College of California. For College of California, see College of California.
New College of California
File:New college logo.gif
MottoEducation for a Just, Sacred, and Sustainable World
TypePrivate College
Established1971
Location
San Francisco, California
,
USA
CampusUrban
Websitehttp://www.newcollege.edu
File:NCOC.jpg


New College of California was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1971 by former Gonzaga University President, Father John Leary. Although it lasted only thirty-seven years, ceasing operations in early 2008,[1] [2] [3] New College became one of the most renowned experimental liberal arts institutions in the United States. It boasted an extraordinary curriculum in the literary and performing arts, public interest law, community activism and leadership, psychology, and teaching, launching a remarkable number of artists and activists who pioneer at the forefront of America’s avant-garde. Its legacy continues to influence an alternative educational philosophy and practice.

New College’s main campus was housed in several buildings in the heart of the Mission District in San Francisco. The offices at 777 Valencia, and companion buildings across the street, were home to its Humanities-based programs, Media Studies, Experimental Performance Institute, broadcast studio, and administration offices.

The Law School at 50 Fell Street was within walking distance of City Hall and government offices, sharing this building with Bay Area Legal Aid, the largest free legal aid services provider in San Francisco, and with the Holt Labor Library. [4] On April 1, 2008, the law school merged with John F. Kennedy University Law School. [5]

The "Green Living Center" was scheduled to open in Fall 2007. It was to be located in the former SRO (single room occupancy) Casa Loma Hotel, which was badly damaged by fire and became uninhabitable. The building is currently for sale. Peter Gabel and Rod Holt are lien holders on the Casa Loma.

The East Bay Weekend BA Completion Program in "Self-Mastery, Leadership and Resilience In Urban Environments and Global Society" was housed in Emeryville.

The North Bay Campus in Culture Ecology and Sustainable was housed in Santa Rosa, California, in a building owned by the Arlene Francis Foundation, a private foundation run by Peter Gabel, former president of New College and Arlene Francis's son.

The Science Institute classes were held at the Southern California University of Health Sciences, 16200 E. Amber Valley Drive in Whittier, California, within 12 miles (19 km) of downtown Los Angeles.

Notable Alumni

  • Eric Mar, Commissioner & past-President, San Francisco Board of Education.
  • Carla Wilson
  • Darrick Smith
  • Frank Williams
  • Juba Kalamka
  • Rodel Rodis
  • Toni Riss
  • Faye D'Opal
  • Ford Greene
  • Norma Castellanos-Perez
  • Linda Lofthus
  • Peggy Flynn
  • Buford Buntin

Notable Faculty

  • Peter Gabel, Ph.D., was a law professor at New College of California's Law School for 30 years, and served as President for 20 years. He was a founder of the Institute for Labor and Mental Health in Oakland. He is the son of the late Arlene Francis and Martin Gabel. His Arlene Francis Foundation loans money to New College and shared space with New College in the Sperry Building. Gabel resigned from the Board of Trustees amid controversy regarding his role in the mismanagement of the college by former President Hamilton and the Board of Trustees failure to exercise adequate oversight.
  • Richard Heinberg is an internationally-known journalist, author, and Peak Oil expert. Mr Heinberg has written seven books include: "The Party's Over," "Powerdown," "The Oil Depletion Protocol," "A New Covenant with Nature," "Cloning the Buddha," "Celebrate the Solstice," and "Memories and Visions of Paradise." He is one of the core faculty at the New College North Bay Campus and teaches courses on Energy and Society, and Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Community.
  • Stephen J. Ducat, professor of psychology and author of "The Wimp Factor: Gender Gaps, Holy Wars, and the Politics of Anxious Masculinity."
  • Harry Britt, a gay political activist and former Supervisor for San Francisco, California. He was first appointed to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in January 1979 by Mayor Dianne Feinstein, succeeding Harvey Milk who was assassinated in City Hall along with Mayor George Moscone by another Supervisor Dan White. Britt was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1980, 1984, and 1988. Britt served as President of the Board of Supervisors from 1989-90. Britt chose not to run for reelection in 1992. Britt ran unsuccessfully for the 5th Congressional District of California in 1987, narrowly losing to Nancy Pelosi in a special election to fill the seat left when Sala Burton died. He also was unsuccessful in his race against Mark Leno for the California Assembly in 2002. Britt teaches in the Weekend BA Degree Completion Program.
  • David Meltzer, poet and teacher in the graduate Poetics program at New College of California, as well as in the College’s undergraduate Humanities program. His most recent book of poetry is Beat Thing [La Alameda Press, 2004]. He is the editor and interviewer for San Francisco Beat: Talking With The Poets [City Lights, 2001]. With Steve Dickison, he co-edits Shuffle Boil, a magazine devoted to music in all its appearances and disappearances.
  • Daniel Cassidy, author, teacher, filmmaker, founder and co-director of the Irish Studies Program. His most recent publication is "How the Irish Invented Slang: the Secret Language of the Crossroads", He is also co-founder of the Crossroads Irish-American Festival.
  • Neeli Cherkovski, writer-in-residence. He wrote Ferlinghetti: A Biography, and co-edited the North Beach literary journal Beatitude, Elegy For Bob Kaufman, Whitman's Wild Children, Bukowski: A Life, and most recently, a poetry collection entitled Leaning Against Time.
  • Robert Duncan, founding member of the New College Poetics program. He was an American poet and a student of H.D. and the Western esoteric tradition who spent most of his career in and around San Francisco. Though associated with any number of literary traditions and schools, Duncan is often identified with the New American Poetry and Black Mountain poets. Duncan's mature work emerged in the 1950s from within the literary context of Beat culture and today he (like his partner, the artist Jess Collins) is identified as a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance.

Clubs, and Student Organizations

New College of California sponsored a number of student organizations, including the Black Law Caucus, Queer Caucus, and National Lawyers Guild Student Alliance.

Controversy and Criticism

New College was beset by controversies over the course of its history, mostly related to its governing structure. The school was governed by an oligarchy, which included Martin Hamilton, Peter Gabel, and others in their inner circle, while faculty, staff, alumni and students were excluded from governance. The Board of Trustees, which was populated by friends of the inner circle, failed to exercise any academic or financial oversight, thus giving the inner circle free rein with no accountability. Ultimately, the absence of a democratic governing structure and lack of oversight by the Board were important factors in WASC's decision to terminate the College's accreditation.

Unionization and the humanities department upheaval (1995-1996)

In the mid-1990s, the administration fought unionization efforts by faculty and staff. When popular faculty members involved in in unionizing were fired, students organized a group called Pipsqueak!.[6] Pipsqueak! complained to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). In February 1996, WASC required New College to change its governance to include students and faculty.[7] The administration made temporary changes, but shortly thereafter reverted to autocratic governance by the President and his inner circle.

Alliance of Students for Autonomous Power (2005)

In 2005, students reacted to the firing of popular Graduate Psychology Director Ali Chavosian, and the demotions of Media Studies appointed Co-Directors Jon Garfield and Foster by organizing and protesting. They created a group called Alliance of Students for Autonomous Power (ASAP) and published a newsletter, Student Action! ASAP complained about lack of democratic principles and accountability in the administration to WASC, which investigated yet again. They also complained about racism on campus, which they felt was a factor in the treatment of Professors Chavosian and Foster. Students demanded rehiring of the fired professors, an end to autocratic administration, transparency in the school budgeting process, and an end to tuition hikes.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).


Problems and current status of the college

Luis Molina, a former Board member and a real estate attorney with no experience in leading educational institutions, was made Acting President of the college and charged with responsibility of bringing New College in compliance with WASC requirements. Francisco Leite, a former university administrator from Brazil who Martin Hamilton met while contracting an exchange program with UNAES, became Chief Financial Officer. Though initially Martin Hamilton remained on the Board after he was forced to resign as President, he, along with Peter Gabel, was ultimately forced out. The interim administrators hired an educator with little experience in saving failing educational institutions to bring the college into compliance with WASC.

The College was placed on HCM by the Department of Education. HCM or "heightened cash monitoring" which meant that financial aid funds would only be dispersed after New College's paperwork passed a review. The staf hired by Molina and Leite failed miserably and files were not completed properly. The school no longer had financial reserves, a requirement to receive federal financial aid, so few students received their financial aid. After that, the administrators and the Board let the college fall into complete disarray, while maintaining only sporadic communication with faculty and staff. In October 2007, during the fall semester, without any notice, the administration stopped paying faculty and staff. Nevertheless, faculty continued teaching out the semester without pay.[8] Law School faculty continued teaching through the spring semester based on false promises that pay would be forthcoming at the start of the semester. New College of California is accredited through June 2008 for certain programs, while accreditation for most programs was revoked in March 2008.[9] Accreditation was revoked by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) for numerous problems, including lack of proper governing structure, failure to keep proper student records, and lack of oversight by the Board. Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). on Feb. 26, 2008.[10] WASC is the accrediting body for colleges and universities in California. Acting President Luis Molina ans CFO Francisco Carlso Leite misledd staff and faculty who continued to work though January 2008. As a result of molina's and Leiteas's mismanagement The College owes its staff and faculty, who taught without pay from the end of October through December, and some through May, much backpay and has not announced any plan or intention to pay them. A number of creditors of the college have prevailed in lawsuits.


Public Records

References

  1. ^ ntry_id=5228&catid=&volume_id=317&issue_id=330&volume_num=42&issue_num=12 "Is New College Dying?". SF Bay Guardian. Retrieved 2007-12-18. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  2. ^ "Struggling New College may close one campus". SF Business Times. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
  3. ^ "New College of California (Announcements)". WASC Senior. Retrieved 2008-04-10. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ Collection Description - The Holt Labor Library was established in 1992
  5. ^ "New College Out of Money Teachers Unpaid Not Teaching". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
  6. ^ New College Gets Organized, New Mission News, Nov. 1996, pg. 11.
  7. ^ New College Gets Organized, New Mission News, Nov. 1996, pg. 11.
  8. ^ Clark, Leilani (2008-03-05). "School for Scandal". North Bay Bohemian. Metro Newspapers. Retrieved 2008-04-10. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  9. ^ ["Statement of Accreditation Status". WASC. Retrieved 2007-09-29. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  10. ^ "Accreditation Terminated" (PDF). WASC. Retrieved 2008-02-26.

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