Laney College is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. Laney is the largest of the four colleges of the

Peralta Community College District The Peralta Community College District is the community college district serving northern Alameda County, California. The district operates four community colleges: Berkeley City College, Laney College and Merritt College in Oakland, and Coll ...

which serves northern

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and List ...

. Laney College is named after Joseph Clarence Laney. The college offers both certificates and credits for

Associate of Arts An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

degree, as well as prerequisites to transfer to four year universities. It is accredited by the

Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) is an accrediting organization in the United States. It accredits private and public colleges that provide students two-year education programs and confer the associate deg ...

History

Laney College traces its history to the Central Trade School by the Oakland Board of the Education in 1927 and the Merritt School of Business (now

Merritt College Merritt College is a public community college in Oakland, California. Merritt, like the other three campuses of the Peralta Community College District, is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. The college e ...

) founded in 1929. The trade school was later renamed Joseph C. Laney Trade and Technical Institute. Oakland Junior College was founded in 1953 with Laney serving as the vocational training center and Merritt hosting the liberal arts and business programs. In 1958, the college was renamed Oakland City College. With the establishment of the Peralta Junior College District in 1964, Laney Institute, located on the current campus, and Merritt College became separate autonomous colleges in their present-day forms. The current campus was opened prior to the 1970-71 academic year.

Campus

Most of the college's academic and administrative buildings are clustered together in a complex in the northern corner of the campus. The buildings are arranged on a rigid grid, with two levels of concrete pathways providing circulation. The square in the center of the complex has been reserved for the

quad Quad as a word or prefix usually means 'four'. It may refer to: Government * Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States * Quadrilateral group, an informal group which inc ...

. Surrounding the quad are the

student center A student center (or student centre) is a type of building found on university and some high school campuses. In the United States, such a building may also be called a student union, student commons, or union. The term "student union" refers mos ...

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

, and

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational ins ...

nasium. On one corner is the triangular "Laney Tower", the main administration building; on the opposite is another triangular building housing a

lecture hall A lecture hall (or lecture theatre) is a large room used for instruction, typically at a college or university. Unlike a traditional classroom with a capacity normally between one and fifty, the capacity of lecture halls is usually measured i ...

and dance studio. Academic buildings form the outer ring of the complex. Each has a similar design, with outdoor courtyards in the centers of each square on a higher level, ringed by classrooms and offices; and more classrooms and vocational facilities on the lower level, all accessed from the perimeter of the building. However, none of the higher levels are on the same level as each other; they are connected by voluminous stairs and ramps. Most of the outer buildings occupy two or three squares on the grid. The entire complex shares a red brick and concrete theme, with sharp corners, square and triangular shapes, and little vegetation. The newest academic building is the art center, which is adjacent to the main complex but has its own architectural style. The building opened in the 2006-2007 school year. It was designed by Beverly Prior Architects to be built from prefabricated material, because of the short time frame between the start of construction and planned opening. The channel that connects Lake Merritt to the

Oakland Estuary The Oakland Estuary is the strait in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, separating the cities of Oakland and Alameda and the Alameda Island from the East Bay mainland. On its western end, it connects to San Francisco Bay San Francis ...

runs through the center of the campus. The southeastern half of the campus on the other side of the channel is mainly used for athletic and Peralta Community College District facilities. This section was also the former site of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

"Auditorium Housing Project" which housed war industry workers from around the United States, many of whom worked in the

Kaiser Shipyards The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located on the West Coast of the United States, United States west coast during World War II. Kaiser ranked 20th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. The s ...

. The housing was demolished sometime after the war, and in the early 1960s, a temporary football stadium called

Frank Youell Field Frank Youell Field was a American football, football stadium on the West Coast of the United States, west coast of the United States, located in Oakland, California. It was the home of the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League for ...

was constructed on the site for use by the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

Athletics

In 1960, student

Linda Vail Linda may refer to: As a name * Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named) * Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer * Anita Linda (born Alice Lake i ...

won the U.S. Tennis Association national intercollegiate women's tennis championships in both singles and doubles.

Football

The Laney Eagles compete in the Bay 6 Football Conference, which is governed by the

California Community College Athletic Association The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) is a sports association of community colleges in the U.S. state of California. It oversees 108 athletic programs throughout the state. The organization was formed in 1929 as the Calif ...

(CCCAA). They are led by head coach John Beam, who has won the CCCAA Coach of the Year award. In the 2018 season, Laney won the CCCAA State Football Championship and was deemed the Mythical National Champion, due to the regional splits between the CCCAA, which governs all 68 California junior college football programs, and the

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

, which governs junior college athletics across the rest of the United States, and covers 65 football programs. In 2020, Laney Football is featured in season 5 of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

sports series ''

Last Chance U ''Last Chance U'' is an American documentary streaming television series that is produced and premiered by Netflix. The six-episode first season explores the football program at East Mississippi Community College, which features several collegi ...

'', after which the series will cover junior college basketball programs.

Notable people

Faculty

Carole Ward Allen Carole Ward Allen is an American politician, professor, and political consultant. She is a member of the Democratic Party, and serves as the chief executive officer of CWA Partners, LLC. As a mass transportation executive in the State of Californ ...

, professor, ethnic studies *

Phil Snow Phillip Snow (born December 22, 1955) is an American football coach who was last the defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League. Early years Born in Woodland and raised in Winters, both in northern California ...

, football coach

Alumni

Oakland City College, Laney campus

Ron Dellums Ronald Vernie Dellums (November 24, 1935 – July 30, 2018) was an American politician who served as Mayor of Oakland from 2007 to 2011. He had previously served thirteen terms as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Californi ...

, U.S. Congressman and mayor of Oakland *

Gil Kahele Gilbert Kahele (May 15, 1942 – January 26, 2016) was an American politician and a Democratic member of the Hawaii Senate from January 16, 2011, representing District 1. He was appointed by Governor Neil Abercrombie to fill the vacancy caus ...

, Hawaii state legislator *

Frank Oz Frank Oz (born Frank Richard Oznowicz; May 25, 1944) is an American actor, puppeteer, and filmmaker. He began his career as a puppeteer, performing the Muppet characters of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle in ''The Muppet Show ...

, puppeteer, director

Laney College

Teddy Abrams Edward "Teddy" Paul Maxwell Abrams (born May 6, 1987) is an American conductor, pianist, clarinetist, and composer. He is currently Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra and the Britt Festival Orchestra. Early life and education Abrams wa ...

, orchestral conductor and composer *

C. J. Anderson Cortrelle Javon Anderson (born February 10, 1991) is an American football coach and former running back who is currently the running backs coach at Rice University. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons, primarily with ...

, football player *

Seth Bogart Seth Bogart (born February 28, 1980) is an American multidisciplinary artist. As a musician, he is known for his solo career, as well as Hunx and His Punx and Gravy Train!!!!. As a visual artist, Bogart's paintings and sculptures have been exhib ...

, artist and musician *

Steve Howard Steven John Howard (born 10 May 1976) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Howard was usually cited as a typical target man and renowned for his aerial strength. Club career Early career Howard began his career at non- ...

, former MLB player * Chuck Jacobs, football player *

Sterling Moore Sterling Moore (born February 3, 1990) is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at Southern Methodist University. Early years Moore attended Deer Valley High School, where he played as a wide receiver and defensive ...

, football player *

Reggie Redding Reggie Redding (born July 18, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball at Villanova University. Professional career After going undrafted in the 2010 NBA draft, Redding signed with ETHA Engomis of ...

, football player * James Robinson, U.S. track champion 800 meters * Tony Sanchez, college football head coach * George Wells, wrestler *

Tommy Wiseau Thomas P. Wiseau ( or ) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for writing, producing, directing, and starring in the 2003 film ''The Room'', which has been described by many critics as one of the List of films considered the worst, w ...

, director, actor, producer, screenwriter *

Nahshon Wright Nahshon Wright ( ; born September 23, 1998) is an American football cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oregon State Beavers football, Oregon State. Early years Wright attended ...

, football player

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control California Community Colleges Education in Oakland, California Educational institutions established in 1953 Universities and colleges in Alameda County, California Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges 1953 establishments in California Triangular buildings