Since losing his $42,000-a-year position, Lee has had to leave his apartment in Hermosa Beach and move in with a girlfriend in Pomona. He said he will have to survive on unemployment compensation until the outcome of his hearing, probably in the fall.
If the college does take him back, he may even be willing to adapt to more conservative times. "I will face reality," he said. "Keep my mouth shut on these controversial things and be much more sensitive to the feelings of the college and the community."
Can it be that El Camino's holdout radical is ready to come in out of the cold?
Lee shrugged. "Whatever happens, I'll be all right," he said somberly. Then he chuckled.
"If El Camino is over for me," he said, "I'll just use the greater world as a focus for my ideas."
He said he is working on a new idea now--something called "quantum motion." It could, he thinks, challenge the theories of the likes of Newton and even Einstein.
"Some of my ideas may not be right," he said. "But that's no reason not to try them."
