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Robinson to Step Down From College Board
By Bulletin Staff Writer
Carl
Robinson, who staged a come-from-behind victory to win back
his board of trustees seat from upstart P.J. Johnson in November,
will not
be returning to the Compton Community College board for another
term, according to his wife.
In the most exciting race of the Nov. 8 election, Robinson defeated
Johnson, a former CCC student body president by a razor thin margin of
1, 822 to 1,778, a difference of 44 votes. Marcia Ventura, a spokesperson
for media relations at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s
Office, verified that the election was certified on Nov. 29 and Robinson
had been declared the winner.
In an interview with the Bulletin last week, Mabel Robinson acknowledged
that her husband, who suffered a severe stroke in late summer, would not
be able to physically serve out his term on the board, which would end
in 2008. “He’s not able to take the seat,” she admitted. “I
think that it would be too much stress for him.”
Now that Robinson will no longer be a part of the board that he served
on for nearly two decades, the college must decide what the next course
of action will be regarding the veteran trustee’s replacement. They
have a few different options that they may choose, says Cheryl Fong, a
spokesperson for State College Chancellor Marshall “Mark” Drummond’s
office.
Under normal circumstances, the college’s board of trustees would
have the responsibility of filling the seat, but because the state moved
to take over the day to day operations last year after the institution’s
governing body could not make their payroll for the fiscal year, the decision
is out of its hands as they are now only an advisory board.
Now the decision will fall to Special Trustee Charles Ratliff, who
was appointed by Drummond.
“Dr. Ratliff has at least three options,” Fong told the Bulletin. “He
can call a special election, which would cost the college between
$30,000-$35,000,” she
noted. “He can appoint someone to serve out Mr. Robinson’s
term, or he can also decide not to replace Mr. Robinson, but that
is not an option that we recommend,” Fong asserted.
That decision would leave several areas unrepresented, such as Carson
and Watts, the chancellor’s spokesperson stated. “That is not
what we want, and it is what we would strongly recommend against,” she
repeated.
“The college always came first”
Mrs. Robinson hopes that her husband will be fondly remembered as
someone who cared deeply about the college. “If the truth be told,
there would not be a Compton College if it weren’t for Carl,” she
declared. “He was a strong advocate for the nursing program, and
he convinced his fellow board members to vote for a bond measure for the
college, which the college needed to help them rebuilt,” she said.
Robinson’s wife said that he was so dedicated to the college and
his other endeavors that he sometimes neglected his home life. “He
wanted to make every graduation, every event at the college,” Mabel
Robinson recalled. “Carl often traveled to Sacramento to lobby for
the college when others wouldn’t.”
“With Carl, the college always came first,” she reiterated.
To many, the combative and plain-spoken Carson-based board member
could at times be controversial. He accused Assemblyman Mervan Dymally
(D-Compton) a former ally, of conspiring with Drummond and former Special
Trustee Arthur Tyler this summer to undermine CCC during its accreditation
crisis. In interviews with the Bulletin and in public forums, Robinson
suggested that the trials and tribulations at the community college were
not about the potential loss of accreditation.
“
It’s about $40 million of bond money,” he charged, referring
to the college bond initiative that he helped to get on the ballot.
Lorraine Cervantes remembers Robinson as a “fun-loving man” who
despite his temperament, was passionate about the college. “He always
had the best interests of the college at heart,” Cervantes, a Compton
Community College board member, believes.
He never intended to run for office, according to his board colleague. “I
proposed him as a candidate to the teachers’ union, and that’s
how he got started as a politician,” said Cervantes, who along with
Robinson were the board’s most outspoken members.
Ratliff will not make any decision until Robinson officially submits
his resignation from the board, said Fong.
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