Rocha and West L.A. College Mine Gold on the President’s Day in the Sun

There are more theories than there are about global warming as to why West L.A. has nearly suffocated from invisibility throughout its 38-year history.

As the No. 7 president, will Mr. Rocha, surrounded by his wife and two young sons, be the one who finally reverses the frustrating course?

For 100 minutes at mid-day in the sloping Fine Arts Recital Hall, before a full and enthused audience, West presented a scintillatingly synchronized portrait of the apogee of community college life.

This scene was so close to just right that it could or should have been painted and preserved for posterity.

MacFarlane Stands Out

From the precisely pitched master of ceremonies, Fred MacFarlane, through a bevy of well-trained speakers who eschewed long-windedness, to two sudden student stars, to the self-deprecating president, this was a scene for the archives.

The inauguration was a textbook study.

It was a working laboratory for future students of ceremonial oratory, in texture and in length.

The only persons who were not impressive were those who were not there.

Unlike the Past

This was a showcase occasion for new and lesser known stars of the immediate future.

Not your father’s college-president inauguration.

No one gave a speech that had been heard before.

No one recited a speech that had audience members rotating their lips as if this were a karaoke tryout.

Nominally, and the temperature has varied over the years, Culver City is the hometown of West Los Angeles College.

In the midst of a fairly short string of civic commendations, Carol Gross, Vice Mayor of Culver City, stood in for Mayor Alan Corlin as the first presenter.

Senator No. 1

Making another powerful bid for After-Dinner Speaker of the Year, state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Culver City), the king of deadpan, was assigned to what were generically branded “inaugural ceremony remarks.”

This may have been just a shrewd way to shoehorn the Westside’s dandiest orator into the program.

When Mr. Ridley-Thomas exchanged witty improvisations with Mr. MacFarlane, the crowd loved the stylish understatings.

Once all of the day’s many dignitaries had been paid tribute, three West L.A. College regulars emerged as daytime stars:

Extemporaneously

Gregory D. Jennings, outgoing president of the student body, and Jack Waites III, the incoming president, were taking unscripted bows even before Mr. Rocha had undergone investiture.

In tandem, they ran away with the day’s premier blue ribbons for the quality of their unusual and extraordinary oratory.

Their brief but walloping speeches had to have been from their hearts.

They Were A-Plus

You see, both Mr. Jennings and Mr. Waites spoke without scripts.

Expected to echo what student body presidents have said of incoming college presidents for the last 150 years, each man dipped into his soul and extracted handfuls of gems.

Mr. Waites and Mr. Jennings were the only speechmakers who used their hearts rather than printed pages for props.

Nearly every speaker who followed, admiringly and with mock envy, took note, so to speak.

Music to Their Ears

Superior jazz bassist Nedra Wheeler, whose style and talent will remind you of performers who are more celebrated, set a relaxed but entirely proper tone early in the program with her mellifluous voice and her bass.

When she is not performing, Ms. Wheeler is on the West L.A. College faculty.

Designed by You-Know-Who

Outdoors, the streams of elegantly attired invited guests on the lush, hillside campus were greeted by another perfect day in paradise.

The sun was not too hot, not too cool.

Everybody else in the Inauguration Day lineup considered that kind of moderation his or her cue.

A light jazz ensemble was positioned — and tuned up — early on the stone patio adjacent to the Fine Arts Recital Hall.

Their selections, too, were of exactly the right temperature, cool enough to attract polite nods, not so voluble as to interfere with shmoozing.

How to be Different

One way West L.A. seeks to distinguish itself from the glut of community colleges is by doing things differently.

They stepped out high, fast and very differently yesterday.

For the first time since two weeks before the Garden of Eden was rented to a Mr. and Mrs. Adam and Eve, religion and God were strenuously acknowledged on a college campus — in the daylight, in front of an appreciative crowd.

Unprecedented

No doubt for the only time in planet history, the opening 15 minutes of a college program were devoted — to speak reverentially — to the praise of religion.

In the following order — Rabbi Jason van Leeuwen of B’nai Tikvah Congregation, Msgr. Norman Priebe of St. Jerome Catholic Church, Imam Tajuddin B. Shuaib of Masjud Asalaam and Pastor Charles Williams of the Grace Chapel — caught the crowd off-guard.

Messages from Heaven or Elsewhere

They threw away their wheezing ain’t-God-terrific speeches.

Instead, each sent more separately tailored religious emails to the audience.

A note for legal monitors:

While many men — and women — were suitably attired, in suits, at the end of the exulting, there was not a lawsuit in sight.

Rocky but Not Bumpy

Although there were numerous contenders for the star of the day prize, Rocky Young, the retiring Chancellor of the 9-school Los Angeles Community College District, found a way to keep the highlighted moment near the top.

Last July 21, more than a year after the dynamic Frank Quiambao reluctantly departed the president’s chair, Mr. Rocha took charge of the campus.

When Will It Happen?

Another record for the day may be the 10 months that have elapsed between the president’s arrival and his formal, official elevation to the throne.

This yawning gap did not escape Mr. Young. a popular former administrator at Santa Monica College.

No Rush to Judgment

“The L.A. Community College District is a frugal district,” he said. “Most colleges have their inaugural right at the beginning of the person’s term.

“But we like to make sure things are going to work out,” and that drew one of the morning’s tallest laughs.

With a sly, partial grin while displaying a standup comedian’s artful sense of timing, Mr. Young milked the moment to capacity.

“It looks as if it’s going to stick,” he said.

And they roared again.

Time Out for Modesty

At the climax, Mr. Rocha was suave, succinct, self-effacing, whimsical, sentimental and low-key.

He needed all of that to pull off what the audience may remember longest.

Early in his speech, he summoned his wife Nancy and his two school-age sons to the stage.

What’s Behind the Curtain?

At his father’s urging, Sam Rocha disappeared behind the stage curtain and shortly returned.

Sam was bearing a large spray of flowers — weighing two pounds more than he does. Almost shyly, he presented them to Mrs. Rocha.

With that, the three family members who may not be addressed as president, left the stage.

A bellowing, billowy, pillowy speaker might have converted such a Norman Rockwell episode into forgettable schmaltz.

Knowing One’s Place

Near the end of his talk, Mr. Rocha indicated that he holds a steady grip on the wheel of West Los Angeles College.

On an occasion throbbing with hosannas — even if they were imaginative — he showed he is familiar, and comfortable, with his true rank.

“Nobody comes to a community college because of who the president is,” said Mr. Rocha, and the crowd mailed back its approbation.