Santa Monica Community College

Sisyphus had it easy. Or so it often seemed to the individuals who spent the last decade bringing to fruition Santa Monica College's new performing arts center. The king of Corinth was merely doomed to forever push a boulder up a mountain, only to have it roll back down each time he reached the summit. He didn't also have to deal with fundraising amid a topsy-turvy economy and soaring prices for concrete and steel.

The new Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at Santa Monica College, which will open officially tonight with a program featuring the mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, is a happily, even confidently unresolved piece of architecture. Rather than try to smooth over the gaps between its various architectural impulses -- and between its wide-ranging technical and programmatic requirements -- it seems content, for the most part, to leave them on display.

When Lorrai Brown graduated from Hollywood High School, she felt ill prepared to rush into life at a four-year university. "I wanted to come to Santa Monica College first and . . . learn my basics," Brown said. Now in her second year, she hopes to transfer to USC or UCLA once she earns her two-year associate of arts degree. Tens of thousands of students like Brown have gravitated to the school, widely viewed as the crown jewel of the Los Angeles area's community colleges.

Santa Monica College is bustling these days. After 10 years of anticipation, a performing arts complex envisioned by actor and SMC alum Dustin Hoffman, artistic director Dale Franzen and a host of artistic advisors is ready to take center stage. This morning, donors will have their first opportunity to tour the Stage and Second Space theaters (formerly the Madison campus).

A 40-year-old man who spent more than five months in Los Angeles County jail accused of sexually assaulting a Santa Monica College student on campus was released Thursday after DNA tests threw the case into doubt. Chase Guy Reynolds, who was living in Topanga when he was arrested April 7, was charged after the 18-year-old student identified him as the man who attacked her near the restrooms in the college's library building. The woman told police that the assailant robbed her, licked her stomach and sexually assaulted her, according to court documents.

In a move that further widens the geographic reach of their local arts support, philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad have donated $10 million to create an endowment for programming and arts education at the new performing arts center for Santa Monica College. In honor of the gift, to be announced today at the $45-million arts facility, the center's 499-seat performance space will be named the Broad Stage and its 99-seat theater will be dubbed the Edye Second Space, already dubbed "the Edye" by center leadership.

Graduating students mostly cheered, but some audience members booed Tuesday as Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to one of his alma maters, Santa Monica College, to deliver his first commencement address as governor of California. Schwarzenegger, who Monday ordered a special election that could trim the power of the Legislature, mostly avoided politics in his address, concentrating instead on the importance of community colleges such as Santa Monica in California's system of higher education.

Chui L. Tsang, 54, president of San Jose City College, was chosen Monday to be the next president of Santa Monica College, effective in February. Tsang previously was dean of the school of applied science and technology at the City College of San Francisco. She also has taught at Stanford University and San Francisco State. At Santa Monica, he will succeed Piedad F.

Piedad F. Robertson, president of Santa Monica College since 1995, announced her retirement Wednesday and said she would become president of the Education Commission of the States, a Denver-based nonpartisan education group. In addition to presiding over the 25,000-student community college, Robertson served on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2003 transition team.

California Coastal Commission members Sara Wan and Pedro Nava will speak to the Greater Oxnard Organization of Democrats at 7:15 p.m. today. Wan is a former chairwoman of the commission and Nava is a candidate for the 35th Assembly District. They will speak on the role of community activism in coastal protection. The talk, to be held at the VFW Hall at 300 Surfside Drive in Port Hueneme, is open to the public. Afterward, club members will consider resolutions regarding the possible U.S.