Signal archive photos (35mm negatives, Kodak Tri-X Pan Film), photographer unknown. Previously unpublished.

July 7, 1973 — Construction continues on the Dr. William G. Bonelli Instructional Resource Center (IRC) and Cougar Stadium at College of the Canyons.

Local voters overwhelmingly approved an $8 million construction bond measure in February 1973 that was matched with state funds to build a permanent campus in Valencia for a projected enrollment of 7,500 students by 1982. During the 1972-1973 academic year, 1,900 students were housed in temporary, portable buildings on the camupus site.

Named for the founding COC board president who died in 1972, the Bonelli IRC (later called Bonelli Hall) and the football stadium, along with the Student Center, constituted the initial wave of construction. Their combined pro­ject budget was $6.5 million — $4 million funded by the state and $2.5 million from the local bond measure. (The cost of the IRC alone was $3.25 million.)

In July 1973, the state granted an additional $4 million to be put toward a vocational-technical center and a gymnasium-pool complex that were intended for completion in 1975 and 1976, respectively (The Signal, July 27, 1973).