Photo By Sun Staff
SOUTHWESTERN’S SAVIOR—Former Academic Senate President Angelina Stuart received the 2014 Honorary Degree for her herculean efforts to prevent the college from losing its accreditation in 2011.
By Maya Guerrero-Ibarra
It was just 14 years ago that Southwestern College nearly died.
Buffeted by five years of incompetent, criminal leadership, the college was 72 hours from being closed down by the state college accreditation body for abusive behavior to employees by administrators, embezzlement, extortion and corruption.
Southwestern was saved by a soft-spoken, kindly Spanish professor with the demeanor of a kitten and the heart of a lion.
Angelina Stuart saved the college.
Then, when the dust settled, she quietly returned to teaching English learners how to thrive.
Stuart’s remarkable leadership during Southwestern’s darkest honor led to her selection as the 2024 Honorary Degree recipient, the institution’s highest honor. It took more than a decade to recognize the humble Stuart because she could not be an Honorary Degree nominee while she was still working. She retired in 2017.
Stuart was chosen for the honor by the Academic Senate she once led and confirmed unanimously by the governing board. The nomination letter was blunt.
“Former Academic Senate President and Professor of Spanish Angelina Stuart is a forgotten hero who saved us all,” it says. “Every single person that works at Southwestern College owe their careers to her. Professor Stuart led a team of courageous faculty that prevented SWC from being shut down and sold off.”
“That is not a melodramatic statement,” it continued. “In early 2011, following four-and-a-half years of corrupt leadership by a cabal of administrators and governing board members who were later charged by the District Attorney with 264 felonies, Southwestern was 72 hours from losing accreditation.”
Officials in the California Community College Chancellors Office put out feelers to see if the San Diego Community College District or Grossmont district would consider taking control of Southwestern. Both districts indicted they were not interested, according to media accounts. Real estate speculators were already inquiring about buying the Chula Vista campus as state surplus property.
Chopra resigned in November 2010. Alioto was fired in March 2011. Both were later charged with nearly 30 felonies and pleaded guilty in a plea bargain to escape prison. Denisse Whitaker was hired as the interim president and inherited an unprecedented mess. Stuart became her partner in the saving and rebuilding of Southwestern College during the 2011 academic year.
“Professor Stuart was the only person on campus with the credibility and respect to bring together warring, traumatized and exhausted faculty, administrators and classified employees to solve a half dozen intractable problems,” read the nomination letter. “Using her enormous persuasive skills, command of community college governance and some ‘time to get real’ arm twisting, she delivered Southwestern from death’s doorstep. Southwestern hung on to its accreditation by a fingernail.”
Professor of English Andrew Rempt, the Learning Assistance Coordinator in the college Learning Center, was one of Stuart’s trusted lieutenants during the battle with Chopra and Alioto. (In 2009 they suspended him for leaving the college “free speech area” with students demonstrating class cuts.) Rempt subsequently followed Stuart as Academic Senate president.
“She inspired me to try to be a good leader,” he said. “She inspired me to put aside ego and serve for the greater good no matter what.”
Caree Lesh, the current Academic Senate president, called Stuart a mentor and a hero.
“We worked together for many years in the Academic Senate,” she said. “We traveled together many times to state events. I am really proud of Angie and all her accomplishments she made on behalf of students and faculty.”
Rescuing Southwestern from pending loss of its accreditation was not Stuart’s last miracle, said Professor of Communication Eric Maag, a former president of the faculty union who worked closely with Stuart during the chaos of the Chopra-Alioto years. She and Interim President Denisse Whitaker, the 2012 Honorary Degree recipient, and her faculty team negotiated radical budget and structural changes that staved off bankruptcy with minimal casualties and no layoffs.
“She was a warm smile and a friend when you needed her, and she was a leader,” Maag said. “She was a fierce advocate for students, classified staff and faculty throughout her career at Southwestern College. She was passionate about doing what was right.”
Then, when it was all over, the lioness withdrew from the spotlight, according to the nomination letter.
“When Professor Stuart’s term as Academic Senate President ended she was easily the most powerful person on campus,” it says, “but she exited office gracefully with her usual quiet humility to resume teaching Spanish and ESL fulltime until she retired.”
Stuart started at Southwestern in 1990 as a Professor of Spanish and English as a Second Language. She was a recipient of the NISOD National Medal for Outstanding Leadership as well as the Southwestern College Faculty Leadership Award. She served as Department Chair of World Languages and ESL, Tenure Review Coordinator besides her memorable turn as president of the Academic Senate.
During her time as Senate President, the landmark 10 + 1 Shared Governance agreement was passed. This state legislation requires college administration and the governing board to consult with the Academic Senate on all academic and professional matters as defined by the law. Stuart was a staunch defender of the concept of Shared Governance that Chopra openly mocked.
Stuart spoke out against Chopra and the governing board when he took a 15 percent pay raise while the college was cutting hundreds of classes and facing bankruptcy. She also publicly criticized Chopra for plagiarizing a Thanksgiving message from a Southwest Airlines newsletter during a time when the college was clamping down on plagiarizing students.
Southwestern’s Honorary Degree is awarded to “individuals who have made significant contributions to a field and have impacted those around them.” Previous recipients include United Farm Workers matriarch Dolores Huerta, former Imperial Beach Mayor and environmentalist Dr. Serge Dedina, former Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas, human rights leaders Rachel Ortiz, Herman Baca and Enrique Morones, artist and civil rights activist Salvador Barajas, and music education titans Ron and Reina Bolles.
Stuart said she was “caught by surprise” to receive the Honorary Degree.
“I was deeply touched,” she said, “almost to tears.”
Her leadership North Star, she said, was to serve others.
“Everyone at Southwestern is important,” she said. “Everyone has a contribution to make and a talent the college needs. I think the leaders that came before me taught me how to lead effectively. The key is treating everyone with dignity.”
Lesh is now following in her mentor’s footsteps.
“Angie is a positive, fun, tenacious and vivacious woman,” she said. “Definitely a tough act to follow.”
