Santa Ana College continues to disrespect women

Trustees along with former Santa Ana College’s ASG president Raquel Manriquez. / Joanna Meza / el Don

Enrique Perez, the Vice Chancellor at Santa Ana College inform​ed​ the ​Rancho Santiago Community College District’s (RSCCD) ​Foundation Board on April 9, 2013 that the Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD) could no longer afford to carry their Women’s Business Center.

U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez sent a letter to Perez, advocating for the Center, but Perez apparently felt that it would cost more than $250,000 to keep it running.

On October 31, 2013, Foundation board member, Eddie Marquez moved, and RSCCD Trustee Nelida Mendoza Yanez seconded a motion that carried unanimously to authorize Perez to conclude the Women’s Business Center project.

On February 19, 2015, Raul Rodriquez, as the authorized representative of the Foundation entered into a $250K preliminary agreement between fiveDLearning and the RSCCD ​Foundation for “Assistance to Joint Venture in Saudi Arabia” where the RSCCD​ Foundation​ will be consulting with two all-male schools that forbid women from attending or teaching.

Unbelievable.  Santa Ana College can’t fund a women’s center but opts instead to go help Islamic extremists in the Middle East that refuse to allow women to learn or to teach?

The RSCCD Faculty Association sent a cease and desist letter to various members of the district foundation, including Chancellor Raul Rodriguez, on April 16, giving them 30 days to terminate the deal or face a lawsuit. With the deadline approaching, Enrique Perez, the foundation’s executive director, said there are no plans to halt the Saudi deal that could be worth up to $120 million, according to El Don.

Click here to email the RSCCD Trustees.  The Trustees include: Vice President Claudia C. Alvarez, Interim Student Trustee Hector Soberano, Jose Solorio and Nelida Mendoza Yanez; Phillip E. Yarbrough, Arianna P. Barrios, President Lawrence R. “Larry” Labrado and Clerk John R. Hanna.  They are all Democrats except for Yarbrough, who is a Republican, and Barrios, who is supposedly an independent.

Click here to view the RSCCD Foundation’s Board of Directors.

FOUNDATION BOARD MEMBERS:

  • Claudia C. Alvarez, Trustee, RSCCD
    c/o Anita Lucarelli
    2323 N. Broadway
    Santa Ana, CA 92706
    lucarelli_anita@rsccd.edu
  • Arianna Barrios, Trustee, RSCCD
    c/o Anita Lucarelli
    2323 N. Broadway
    Santa Ana, CA 92706
    Lucarelli_anita@rsccd.edu
  • Kristin Crellin (President), Executive Director, School and Community Relations
    SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union
    2115 North Broadway
    Santa Ana, CA 92706
    Cell: (714) 914-2478
    kcrellin@schoolsfirstfcu.org
  • John Didion, Executive Vice Chancellor
    Human Resources and Educational Services
    Rancho Santiago Community College District
    2323 N. Broadway
    Santa Ana, CA 92706
    Office: (714) 480-7489
    didion_john@rsccd.edu
  • Rossina Gallegos, Director & Foundation and Community Outreach Officer/
    Corporate Social Responsibility
    Union Bank
    445 So. Figueroa St., 401 Suite
    MC G04-010
    Los Angeles, CA 90071
    Office: (213) 236-5865
    rossina.gallegos@unionbank.com
  • Peter Hardash, (Treasurer) Vice Chancellor Business Operations/Fiscal Services
    Rancho Santiago Community College District
    2323 N. Broadway
    Santa Ana, CA 92706
    Office: (714) 480-7340
    hardash_peter@rsccd.edu
  • Hector J. Infante, Manager, Policy, Government & Public Affairs
    Chevron
    145 S. State College Blvd, Suite 400
    Brea, CA 92821
    Office: (714) 671-3457
    hectorinfante@chevron.com
  • Todd O. Litfin, Partner
    Rutan & Tucker, LLP
    611 Anton Boulevard, Suite 1400 Costa Mesa, CA 92626-1931
    Office: (714) 641-3454
    TLitfin@rutan.com
  • Eddie Marquez, Manager, Public Affairs Region
    Southern California Edison 1325 S. Grand Ave. Bldg. B
    Santa Ana, CA 92705
    Cell (949) 422-8226
    Eddie.Marquez@sce.com
  • Dr. Erlinda Martinez, President
    Santa Ana College
    1530 W. 17th Street
    Santa Ana, CA 92701
    Office: (714) 564-6975
    martinez_erlinda@sac.edu
  • Nelida Mendoza Yañez, Trustee, RSCCD
    c/o Anita Lucarelli
    2323 N. Broadway
    Santa Ana, CA 92706
    lucarelli_anita@rsccd.edu
  • Enrique Perez, (Executive Director) Assistant Vice Chancellor, Educational Services
    Rancho Santiago Community College District
    2323 N. Broadway
    Santa Ana, CA 92706
    Office: (714) 480-7460
    perez_enrique@rsccd.edu
  • Richard Porras, (Vice President) Regional Vice President
    AT&T
    1442 Edinger Avenue
    Tustin, CA 92780
    Office: (714) 259-6690
    Richard.Porras@att.com
  • Dr. Raúl Rodríguez, (Secretary) Chancellor
    Rancho Santiago Community College District
    2323 N. Broadway
    Santa Ana, CA 92706
    Office: (714) 480-7450
    rodriguez_raul@rsccd.edu
  • Dr. John Weispfenning, President
    Santiago Canyon College
    8045 E. Chapman Avenue
    Orange, CA 92867
    Office: (714) 628-4930
    weispfenning_john@sccollege.edu
Art Pedroza Editor
Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.
Art Pedroza

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

View Comments

  • Art,
    I appreciate your posting this information. The sad part is Santa Ana College is unnecessarily being dragged into this controversy when the blame rests solely on the members of the District Foundation. According to almost five years of minutes, Foundation Board members never even discussed the issue, but allowed the administration to sign contracts and pay expenses for multiple trips to Saudi Arabia while looking the other way.
    The District administration seems to think that by running the Saudi contract through the Foundation it becomes separate from the two colleges. Unfortunately that is not the case. No matter how the District spins this the good name of Santa Ana College will now forever be associated with this debacle.

    Sincerely,

    Barry Resnick
    President
    Faculty Association of RSCCD

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