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The first campus at 150 classes were offered in anthropology, art, astronomy, automotive
The program for the college’s first graduation ceremony in June 1970 listed 15 of the 16 gradu- the permanent site technology, biological sciences, business, chemistry, communications,
ates. The ceremony was held at Hart High School, the new college’s first but temporary home. A was composed of a
reception followed in the high school’s cafeteria. collection of tempo- economics, engineering, English, French, geography, geology, German,
rary modular build- health education, history, home economics, library technology, mathe-
ings holding 99 matics, meteorology, music, philosophy, physical education, physics,
With hundreds of prospective students eagerly awaiting their new college, tempo- classrooms. The
rary quarters were arranged at Hart High School. It was there, in a Newhall Avenue buildings of the so- police science, political science, psychology, social science, sociology
called “instant cam- and Spanish.
bungalow, that College of the Canyons officially opened on Sept. 22, 1969, welcom- pus” sat roughly on
ing its first class of students. Rockwell expected about 600 people to sign up for the the location of the The college fielded its first athletic teams in baseball, basketball,
present-day softball cross country and track under the auspices of the Desert Conference.
fall quarter. But, in a precursor to the years that would follow, demand was under-esti-
field. Student activities began immediately. The college’s first student body
mated as 735 students showed up.
president, Paul Driver, was elected. The first issue of the student newspa-
Administrative offices were located several blocks away, at 24609 Arch Street, in
per, introduced as “The College Sound,” rolled off the press in November.
a strip-mall storefront just over the railroad tracks at San Fernando Road (now known
A steady succession of events with names such as Sweethearts Dance and
as Main Street). The college organized its first-year schedule around the quarter sys-
Annual Awards Banquet followed, as did theatrical productions such as
tem, with the winter quarter starting Jan. 7, 1970 and the spring quarter commencing
“The World of Ferlinghetti” and “Our Town.”
April 8, 1970. There was no summer quarter.
Courses of instruction were comprehensive for such a new institution. More than

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