Juan Olivarez speaks at a recent function on campus. Olivarez recently announced he is stepping down as president of GRCC come July 1. (Photo: Laura Boonstra/Collegiate)

Adios, Sr. Olivarez
By Yirssi Bergman
News Editor

GRCC’s president Juan Olivarez announced his resignation after nine years of service to the college.

Olivarez, 58, is leaving on July 1 to lead the Kalamazoo Community Foundation as their new president and CEO.

Olivarez said he “feels ready to try on a new challenge.”

He said he feels like the college is in a good place even though the mileages didn’t pass, and nothing pressing is going on at the college at this time.

“The opportunity came forward, I’ve had other opportunities but it wasn’t the right time,” Olivarez said. “This one seemed to be right, perfect for me and what I like to do. Something that is also different, but using my skills, knowledge and background.”

Olivarez was at the college for 17 years, and was appointed president a little over nine years ago. He beat 47 other people in the quest for the presidency. Gary P. Schenk, GRCC Board of Trustees chairperson said in a press release “I will always be proud of the choice this board made 10 years ago when it selected Juan Olivarez for the presidency.”

“We didn’t know at that time just how good a choice we made.” Academic Secretary Gretchen Robinson said, “I was quite surprised that he was leaving.”

Robinson said he left a legacy of uniting the college towards one mission: that of student success.

Ken Taber, Adjunct Professor of Sociology believes Olivarez will be hard to replace. Taber has known Olivarez for over 12 years from the community.“He’ll stop me down the street, say ‘hello’ and ask about the family, not many people are like that,” Taber said.

Professor of Psychology Frank Conner believes Olivarez has “done a good job of creating a collaborative culture.”

Conner says Olivarez had a positive effect on the college. “I would like him to stay on longer, but I understand his desire to move on.” Conner said.

Gary Schenk said that the board has begun discussing the process to hire a new president and an interim. The Board of Trustees will be conducting a national search for Olivarez’s replacement.

Olivarez holds a doctorate in family and child ecology from Michigan State University, a master’s degree in educational psychology from Wayne State University, and a bachelor’s degree from Aquinas College.

According to the Kalamazoo Community Foundation web site the foundation was formed in 1925 by Dr. W. E. Upjohn, with a gift of $1,000. He helped establish the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. The Community Foundation’s assets have grown to approximately $289 million.

Editor-In-Chief Lonnie Allen contributed to this story.

Click here for our special coverage on the resignation of Juan Olivarez.

College not his first choice
By Lonnie Allen
Editor-in-Chief

GRCC President Juan Olivarez never intended to go to college or have education be a big part of his life.

Olivarez planned on going to work in the mills after high school because he had no money for school.

Born in Benavides Texas, Olivarez moved outside of Gary Ind. at the age of seven. This move remains a vivid memory to him.

His father and uncle found work in the steel mills in Indiana. Nine months later, with his family and his uncle’s, they left Texas to join their fathers in Indiana, Olivarez said.

“We loaded up a truck with a tarp over it,” he said.

Drawing a comparison to the novel, “The Grapes Of Wrath,” “My uncle had 12 children, and the three children in my family, along with my grandmother, headed north. We spent three days in that truck moving up here,” Olivarez said. “I remember the move very well. Very vivid.”

Olivarez said his family knew the area well before they moved. Not having very much money, they would migrate to the area to help pick tomatoes in Illinois and cherries in Michigan.

He attended high school in Gary Ind., Olivarez commented on how it was his older brother Al, who was a year ahead of him, along with a persistent school counselor that got him to apply to college.

“I figured I would go to work in the steel mills with my classmates and friends,” Olivarez said. “I just couldn’t afford college.”

His senior counselor insisted he apply to college, but money was an issue. The counselor told him to at least try.

“Al was a track star,” Olivarez said, “We knew he would get scholarships and go to college.”
Olivarez decided to apply to Aquinas: it was where his brother Al was going. The college accepted him and he got a federal loan and got a job on campus mopping floors, he said.

“I was glad I applied and was accepted, and I joined the cross country team with my brother,” Olivarez said. “We became very close during that time, and remain very close today.”

Olivarez’s brother Al speaks about their time together at Aquinas. Al said the life experiences fostered and developed during their time together at Aquinas remain strong today.

“We participated in the same college sport. We worked in the school cafeteria, shared the same college friends; and gave each other inspiration and encouragement to succeed in college,” said Al

Olivarez became aware of the importance of the community and higher education while attending Aquinas.

“Juan developed the desire and confidence that he could have an impact on other people through educational services,” said Al.

Some of the moments Al says are the proud moments for his brother Juan is the numerous events “Where he had the opportunity to encourage and give confidence to the young people to succeed.”

Married 36 years ago, he met his wife Mary at Aquinas and proposed to her in a classroom on campus. He said they were the only two in the classroom when he asked Mary to marry him.

Olivarez worked 20 years for the GRPS school system. He wants to give back what was given to him said Al. As a college student, he recognized the importance in having a college education.

GRCC Hired Olivarez as the Dean of Institutional Research in 1991, and one of his tasks was to organize an IT department. It was in 1999 when the Board of Directors voted and hired Olivarez as the new President of GRCC.

GRCC Board Chairman Gary Schenk recalls the night they called him to tell him he would have the job.

“Jack Day, the Board Chair at the time, called and offered the position to Olivarez,” Schenk said, “the funny thing about it was Olivarez asked, ‘what do you want me to say?’ We responded, ‘say yes’.”

Juan’s vision for GRCC was making it the “Community’s college” said Al.

Schenk believes these will be a difficult pair of shoes to fill, “Olivarez was a big success to this college,” he said.

They could never get him to take a vacation. Olivarez grew as a President as GRCC grew as a college Schenk said. “He was always working.”

One of the most memorable moments Olivarez and Schenk share was one of the first conferences they attended together with Olivarez as president.

“We were all sitting together, Juan and the board members, and there was this big bowl of strawberries sitting on the table that everyone was enjoying,” Schenk said, “Someone asked ‘how do you say strawberry in Spanish, Juan?’ He was quiet for a moment and soon replied, “strawberrio” everyone laughed after that.”

“They will never let me live that down,” Olivarez said, “the board persisted and I soon had to call my mother and ask her how. We always enjoy a good laugh about that day.”

Olivarez said the biggest disappointment for him was after the two milleage proposals failed.

“It is unacceptable to turn students away, and this will always bother me,” Olivarez said. “How do we not turn a student away?”

The growth of the college and the connection with the West Michigan community is and always was Olivarez’s stressing point as President.

Author Terri Jentz speaks out about violence against women
By Michelle Smith
Collegiate Staff Writer

Critically acclaimed author, activist, and screenwriter Terri Jentz was a guest speaker for the Diversity Lecture Series on March 12.

Jentz is a survivor of a malicious attack on a biking trip with her college roommate at a state park in Oregon in 1977. She recounted the events of that horrific night and how her life changed after that.

It wasn’t until 1992, 15 years after the attack, that she felt the need to find out more information about the assailant whom she referred to as “a faceless, nameless, cowboy torso.”

“I felt like I wasn’t interested in who had attacked me. I wasn’t interested in anything about the place where I was attacked,” Jentz said.

Jentz described how she came to realize that in order to live a normal life it was time to figure out who it was that did this, because it was affecting her in ways she was becoming more and more aware of.

There was the posttraumatic stress disorder and other issues that occurred because of what happened to her when she was 19.

Her book, “Strange Piece of Paradise,” is about her fight to find out who did this, her equal rights as a victim, and how her search turned into a puzzle piecing together lives and casting a long shadow of abuse and pain among women who were involved with the accused attacker.

Through her pain and trauma, she became an activist and started researching victim rights, becoming involved in changing the laws to make things better for victims of crimes such as hers.

There were videos to go along with Jentz’s dialogue to further impact the audience and make them a part of the story.

There were home movies, phone conversations with offi cials in Oregon, news clips from 1977 when the attack happened, and news clips from 2006 when her book came out.

“A Strange Piece of Paradise” is available in bookstores and online.

GRCC profesor discusses Native American author
By Ashley VanderLoon
Collegiate Staff Writer

In order to appreciate cultural lifestyles, Native American author Linda Hogan's works were discussed at GRCC by professor Gary Burbridge.

Gary Burbridge, a professor at Grand Rapids Community College, wanted to discuss what he found fascinating about the research he conducted.

Burbridge is currently teaching Anthropology classes in the Fall 2008 semester and is an active faculty member.

Burbridge covered engagement and social relevancy through his dissertation on her work.

Linda Hogan’s work emphasizes women’s literature, nature, and survival. As a Chippewa Indian, Hogan was able to write about her personal experiences.

“There is a body of wisdom through the Native American people using their values which are unnoticed,” Burbridge said.

He discussed many topics including how the highest rate of suicide is by the Native American people because America often fails to make room for them. Though he never met Linda Hogan, he went on to say she was a wonderful poet and mildly mannered woman.

“I never met her, been in the room a couple of times, didn’t know how to introduce myself. Her poetry, non-fiction, novels are an incredible work,” he said. “You can find something new by her any day now.”

There are three books currently published by Linda Hogan. They are “Mean Spirit,” “Solar Storms,” and“Power.”

The author is an environmentalist and makes many connections to nature in her novels. She believes nature is the “closest thing we have to grace.”

Burbridge said her stories were about native people struggling to survive.

Hogan reinforced in her books both traditional living and innovation and combining the two together within a margin.

He also said the margin is handled by relating to the cotemporary world, the traditional world, and the national world.

Hogan’s novels can be found at any local bookstore and her inspiration is to offer her words and share them with the world.

The event took place on March 11 in Cook Hall room 420.

News Briefs for March 26, 2008
by Collegiate Staff

Collegiate’s Blog
Writers from the award winning Grand Rapids Community College student newspaper The Collegiate are going into cyberspace. So far, staff writers have started seven blogs, with topics ranging from movies to student life, and passing through books, music.

The journalism blog is written by Steve Fox the Collegiate advisor. The blogs have been started as a labor of love (or spite, perhaps) with the sole intent of expressing the writer’s opinion. Visit http://www. Collegiatelive.com/blogs to read more!

GRCC Students on the way to trial
A recent court opinion defendant Freeman is bound over on one count of murder in the second degree and one count of manslaughter in the statutory short form.

This Opinion of the court also filed and charged Ryan Simonson and he was bound over on one count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than the crime of murder. Stay abreast by reading collegiate live. com or the next issue of the Collegiate.

Get Ready, Get Set, Transfer!
The Transfer Fair is right around the corner for the students of GRCC. Starting at 9 a.m. March 27 and going to 6 p.m. the event will be held in the Applied Technology Center. Students can seek what classes they need, learn about transfer requirements, complete a graduation audit, meet with other college and university representatives and much more.

Campus Police Report for March 26, 2008
Compiled by Ben Rooisen
Copy Editor

Larceny 3-11-08
Ford Fieldhouse: A wallet was stolen from a pair of pants hanging in a locker in the men’s locker room of the Ford Fieldhouse.

Trespass 3-11-08
Ford Fieldhouse: A man was asked to leave the Ford Fieldhouse weightroom because he was not a student. He was told classes must be currently taken in order to use the facilities.

Damage To Property 3-14-08
ATC: Graffiti saying “white pride” accompanied by a swastika was engraved on the door of the handicap bathroom stall of the ATC men’s restroom.

Larceny 3-14-08
Ramp 1 Bostwick: Twenty CD’s and a textbook were stolen from a vehicle in level 1 of ramp 1 of the Bostwick parkinglot.

Disorderly Conduct 3-14-08
Tassell M-Tec: Officers had to break up a fight over a traffic situation of the way to the Tassell M-Tec building.

Damage To Property 3-15-08
ATC: The electrical box on the east side of the ATC building was found to have graffiti on it.

Damage To Property 3-15-08
Main Building: Black paint or marker graffiti was found on the electrical box on the south side of the Main Building.

WAIT! CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE NEWS ON PAGE 2

Speak Out! Have something to say? Sound off to The Collegiate at grcc_collegiate@yahoo.com for your tips or views on the current news, sports, arts & entertainment and opinion.