Citrus 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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

Glendora, California Glendora is a city in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County, California, east of Los Angeles. As of the 2020 census, the population of Glendora was 52,558. World-famous Route 66 runs through the city. Known as the "Pride of the Footh ...

. The Citrus Community College District, which supports the institution, includes the communities of Azusa, Claremont, Duarte, Glendora, and

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. Citrus Union High School was founded in 1891 to serve Azusa and Glendora. In 1915, educator Floyd S. Hayden expanded its offerings to include a junior college, and, from 1915 to 1961, the school was operated by the Citrus Union High School District as both a high school and a junior college. Citrus College is the oldest community college in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

, and the fifth oldest in the state of California. During the 2019–2020 academic year, Citrus College enrolled 19,626 students. It conferred 2,444 degrees and awarded 2,175 certificates. Citrus College offers 65

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

programs, 88 certificate programs, and skill awards in career technical education programs. Its operating budget for 2020–2021 was $78 million.

Campus

Citrus College has a 104-acre (42 ha) campus, which includes 44 buildings and seven outdoor athletics facilities. The Haugh Performing Arts Center (HPAC) is a 1,440-seat proscenium venue and is host to over 140 performances annually, with over 100,000 patrons in attendance. Seats are no more than from the stage. The campus also holds a larger

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

. The campus is also served by a nearby rail station for the Metro A Line as of March 5, 2016.

Athletics

The college's athletic teams are known as the Owls. The college currently fields eight men's and eight women's varsity teams. It competes as a member of the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) in the Western State Conference (WSC) for all sports except football, which competes in Southern California Football Association (SCFA). The football and soccer team play at the 10,000-seat-capacity Citrus Stadium.

Academics

The college runs the Citrus Singers program. The program started in the 1960s and has provided a foundation for students to learn and perform music. Many of its alumni have gone on to be performers on Broadway and Television.

Accreditation

The college has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). Its professional memberships include the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the Community College League of California (CCLC).

Notable faculty

* John Boylan, Professor of Critical Listening Skills, and Music Business/Audio Careers * Dale Salwak, Professor of English. Author of numerous books, including ''Teaching Life'', a memoir of over 35 years of teaching.

Notable alumni

* Carlos Fisher, professional baseball player * Billy Kilmer, professional football player * Chris Limahelu, college football player * Lionel Manuel, professional football player * Lynsi Snyder, owner and heiress of the In-N-Out Burger company

Free speech lawsuits

In 2003, at California's Citrus College, under the pressure of litigation and

FIRE Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

's national campaign for campus constitutional rights, the Board of Trustees voted to rescind most of the speech codes at the public institution. This was the first victory in FIRE's declared war on speech codes at public colleges and universities. The following year, Citrus College was sued again by FIRE when Citrus College reinstated its policy in the early 2010s, when a

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chapter, led by Gabriel Nadales and Vincenzo Sinapi-Riddle, was threatened with sanctions for not staying inside the " Free Speech Zone." In an interview to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune,

Greg Lukianoff Gregory Christopher Lukianoff (; born 1974) is an American lawyer, journalist, author and activist who serves as the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). He previously served as FIRE's first director of legal a ...

, the president of Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said, "'Citrus College agreed to eliminate its restrictive 'free speech zone' in the face of a FIRE lawsuit back in 2003, but later reinstated its speech quarantine when it thought no one was watching'...'But FIRE was watching, and we'll continue to do so. If the speech codes come back again, so will we.'"

References

External links

Official website

Official athletics website
{{authority control California Community Colleges Glendora, California Universities and colleges established in 1915 Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Universities and colleges in Los Angeles County, California 1915 establishments in California Two-year colleges in the United States