From: Marcella Lamar
Date: March 15, 2023 at 11:34:19 AM PDT
To: Vince Vigil ’02
Subject: WC alumni
Vincent,
I can only imagine the challenges you face as a representative of a diverse group of alumni at Whittier College. I have listened to and read several communications from College President Linda Oubre and others in her leadership group. I am gravely concerned.
I write to request that you use your voice, our voice, to ask for essential changes at Whittier College. The future for our beloved Whittier is imperiled. We cannot and should not engage in the magical thinking that all is well or that it will work out within the next year with the current plans in place. While I am certain that steps have been taken to attempt to fix the systemic strategic problems at WC, they are not enough and will not fix problems (discount tuition and recruitment) that the current administration refuses to recognize as problems.
The current administration has caused, if not exacerbated, these problems with strategies designed only to transform WC into a certificate and degree completion college from the residential liberal arts college it has traditionally been. This is not an acceptable or viable solution. Eliminating the liberal arts residential education that has always been at the core of what Whittier College means to students, alumni, and faculty should not be the only option pursued.
In order to facilitate the survival of Whittier College not only in name, but in focus and tradition, we ask that the leadership at the college be changed. ALL of it. Alumni no longer trust Linda Oubre to protect the assets of the college or to lead it toward a future which honors its past. The president and all leadership must be changed as soon as possible.
Marcella (Thomas) Lamar
Proud Poet 2004