February 8, 2017 – Santa Barbara City College

On route back to Santa Maria to attend memorial services I stopped by Santa Barbara City College today.  SBCC has a spectacular location on the bluffs overlooking the Santa Barbara Harbor and Leadbetter Beach.  The beach name and the land on which the college sits are both derived from a wealthy early resident.  It seems Leadbetter build his mansion on the current site of the college only to have it collapse in an earthquake.  Leaving the estate in disrepair and moving to Oregon the land sat unused and was sought by a few but no offers were high enough until the early teachers college (which would later evolve into the University of California at Santa Barbara) bought it for $75,000.  Seems Leadbetter was more than happy to have it go to an educational institution, even bidding the price lower than the initial offering.  When UCSB grew too big for the site and moved north to their current location in Goleta the developed campus overlooking the harbor transferred to Santa Barbara City College.  (It’s amazing what you can learn standing in the hallway of the administration-building if you just read….)

City College of Santa Barbara has built itself up over the years and is now a very densely packed campus.  Arriving at peak morning class time on Wednesday put me immediately into the hustle and bustle of a thriving college community.  Making a wrong turn into the carpool drop off lot I could see parking might be an issue but once I extracted myself from the 4 wheel drop off jam I was pleasantly surprised to find a very functional motorcycle parking lot tucked in above one of the hillside parking lots.  The lot was tiered in a way that motorcycles could easily get in and out in a space that would otherwise be useless to car parking due to the compact and steep terrain.  Some one was thinking outside the square when they designed this exquisitely functional lot.

The campus is laid out in two small bluff top areas connected by a bridge.  While it is very dense extra efforts have been made through either design or indention to leave quiet contemplative spaces all throughout the campus.  I cant think of a building I went through that did not have a bench or sitting area close by.  If at any point two people stopped and started a conversation it would be no trouble to immediately sit down and continue talking, which is exactly what many people were doing.  Even in the patio hallways outside the science labs there was plastic lawn furniture left outside the labs so if you were waiting for a class to let out or begin you were being encouraged to stick around.  One hallway area had a small glass atrium and with the addition of a few whiteboards and tables was turned into a very nice biology study space.  All these spaces were put to good use, and I really got a sense of community taking place.  This was an observation that was confirmed by the biology Dept. Staff I spoke with who mentioned the community feel and the common commitment to their educational goals as the nicest thing about the college.  The challenges this community faces are the same as ours at CCSF, normal people (and the student population) is having a hard time staying in the area with the inflated costs of living.  Sound Familiar?

While I wanted too speak with the research and planning office in order to find out how board priorities get translated to the entire community I was out of luck as they were not open when I was there.  There are flaws to being so unscripted in my changing itinerary.  But obviously the college is not having a problem providing student amenities.  There were two cafeterias and multiple other food vendors on campus, including what appeared to be permanent food trucks embedded on the grounds.  All the expected student services, Veterans center, Learning assistance center, DSPS golf cars running everywhere all were visible.  I actually overheard councilor working the transfer information desk encouraging a student to ask more questions, explaining “were her for you, our job is to help you get the information you need”.  But the over the top impression of student services came when I walked through the packed library where in addition to plenty of reference librarians and digital resources on hand, they actually had an espresso café kiosk set up inside the library.  Don’t these types of resources work against the get them in get them out mantra of student success because if I were allowed to study in such an environment I know I sure would not want to transfer or leave to go elsewhere….