Page 29 - coc-40thanniversary

Construction workers build the forms that will encase the massive poured-concrete foundation of
the Instructional Resource Center (Bonelli Hall). The foundation of the IRC (Bonelli Hall) begins to take shape on the new campus.

The IRC (Bonelli Hall) was officially dedicated ulation reflected this trend, with a full 30 percent of students being
by Gov. Ronald Reagan on April 22, 1974. The ded- veterans. The conflict in Vietnam would officially cease the follow-
ication ceremony was a proud and lavish affair, with ing year.
a large stage erected on the football field to accom- The 6,000-seat Cougar Stadium officially opened for the foot-
modate the governor and other luminaries. Reagan ball team’s first home game of the 1974 season on Sept. 21 of that
arrived by limousine and met privately with college year. Unfortunately, the Cougars fell to Los Angeles Harbor
officials in the old board room, which was located Community College by a score of 26-21.
inside a modular building behind where the present- The 1971 The Classroom Center (Seco Hall) and Laboratory Center
day stadium scoreboard sites. Hundreds gathered in Cougar foot- (Boykin Hall), two separate structures that were built on either end
ball squad is
the field’s visitor’s stands as armed, mounted police pictured on a of the IRC (Bonelli Hall), opened in January 1975. To the casual
officers patrolled the hillside above. trading card A campaign sign for the observer, the combined structures appear to be one large building,
that featured
As the fall of 1974 approached, it was becoming 1973 bond measure that but they are actually three separate structures. At the points at which
the team’s asked voters for $8 mil-
abundantly clear that College of the Canyons had a schedule on lion to help build the the buildings appear to touch, they are in fact a few inches apart, the
vital purpose and an ever-expanding following. As the back. campus. Nearly 80 per- gaps along the outdoor walkways covered with steel expansion
cent of voters responded
the college entered its sixth academic year, enroll- plates.
positively at the ballot
ment rose to 2,542 students – an all-time high. box. The scaled-back Student Center, now relegated to a single story
It was a time when many young people were in the interest of earthquake safety, opened in February 1975. The
returning from combat in Vietnam. The student pop- first on-campus dining facility opened here in September, offering

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