Community Colleges Orange County

Saddleback College officials are looking into student complaints about the campus newspaper advisor. Trustees ordered the inquiry after 10 former editors and current staff writers at the Lariat called for the removal of advisor Lee Walker at Monday's board meeting. The students claim Walker is ineffective as a teacher and has tried to control the editorial content by grading students on the subjects of their articles. Monday's protest came after Walker's firing of student editor Linda C.

The Orange County Democratic Party this week supported the recall of Steven Frogue as a trustee on the South Orange County Community College District board, saying it must "stand up against bigotry and anti-Semitism." Though Frogue has repeatedly denied he is anti-Semitic, Jeanne Costales, Democratic Party chair, said the party's Central Committee has unanimously backed the recall of the embattled trustee. A recall petition this year failed to get enough signatures, but another has been started.

Santiago Canyon College in east Orange, the newest community college in the state, has received its first accreditation. The accreditation, from the Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges, provides students with access to financial aid and allows them to transfer credits to four-year schools. Santiago Canyon was established as a separate campus, rather than as a satellite campus, in 1997.

State officials have begun an investigation into the stormy relationship between faculty members and administrators at Irvine Valley College, saying the district's alleged exclusion of instructors from campus decision making may violate state regulations. If it does, the South Orange County Community College District, which runs Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, stands to lose more than $4 million in state aid.

Defending champion Irvine Valley, Fullerton and Riverside are the favorites when the first round of the Orange Empire Conference men's basketball race begins Wednesday with games at 5:30 p.m. The men play at 7:30 p.m. in the second round. The playoffs start Feb. 27 and the state tournament is March 12-14 at UC Irvine.

Rick Travis, a Saddleback College student, has been sworn in as the student member of Board of Trustees for the South Orange County Community College District. Travis, 34, was elected by the students at Irvine Valley and Saddleback colleges. Travis will attend board meetings and participate in discussions. He may make and second motions but cast only advisory votes on agenda items.

Steven J. Frogue was recently sworn in to a second term as president of Saddleback Community College District's board of trustees, which governs Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and Irvine Valley College. Frogue, a 25-year resident of Lake Forest, was first elected to the district board in 1992 and was reelected Nov. 5. He was appointed president by his colleagues last month. The board also appointed trustee John S. Williams as vice president and Dorothy Fortune as clerk.

Two Orange Empire Conference basketball games were postponed because of power failures. The men's game between Golden West and Orange Coast has been rescheduled at 7 p.m. Monday at OCC. The women's game between Cypress and Riverside will be played at 7 tonight at Cypress.