American River College
American River College (ARC) is a two-year community college located in the southern edge of unincorporated Foothill Farms in Sacramento County, California.
The college was opened in 1955 as American River Junior College, on the site of the old Grant Technical College. In 1965 the college became a part of the Los Rios Community College District and became American River College. Today, along with Cosumnes River College, Folsom Lake College and Sacramento City College, ARC is directed by a seven-member board of trustees elected by voters residing in the district.
Current enrollment is 32,690 full-time and part-time students, making it one of the largest community colleges in California. The campus also has its own newspaper, The American River Current.
It is the choice of many students in the greater Sacramento area, serving as a launching point for the competitive four-year universities such as the University of California, Davis and California State University, Sacramento.
Notable alumni and attendees
- Adrian Lamo - former grey-hat computer hacker
- Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox - the creators of Smosh
- Anthony Swofford - author of Jarhead
- Nicholas Evans - creator of the English Writing 300 course
Notable athletes
- Steve Andrade - pitcher for the Durham Bulls, a AAA Tampa Bay Devil Rays affiliate
- Dusty Baker - former Major League baseball player and former manager of the Chicago Cubs
- Dallas Braden - left-handed pitcher for the Oakland Athletics
- Tony Eason - eight-year NFL quarterback for the New England Patriots and New York Jets
- Debbie Meyer - three-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer at the 1968 Summer Olympics
- John Vukovich - former Major League baseball player and current coach of the Philadelphia Phillies
- Gerald Willhite, seven-year NFL running back for the Denver Broncos
Criticism
American River's policies included the practice of deleting a student's pre-enrollment placement test scores after a one-year period. This means that the entire record of a student's test was purged; if that student had not made copies of his or her result sheet, then that record was lost.
American River also would give placement tests on days other than those which the tests were normally scheduled to be given. An example is the use of the American College Testing Service (ACT) English aptitude test, a placement test normally given on Saturdays. College aides gave the ACT test during the week at least once in January, 1989. The test was graded at Sacramento City College, a fact that Sacramento City College faculty officially denies now. The college's policy was that just the English test be given, not the entire ACT battery of tests. This means that the ACT offices in Iowa were not informed of any of the test's results. The test was given in Raef Hall with approximately 100 student testers present. Due to American River's deletion policy, the records of this test are lost.
The enormous injustice of this practice may not be readily apparent to the uninitiated. What the severity of this policy does to a student's education may be better seen in the analogy of having a graduate's degree deleted; the enormity is then seen in better light. Paul Brown, the college's contact person for ACT, denies that the test was ever given in Raef Hall in January, 1989. All records of it are lost and destroyed. This was done by school policy and not natural disaster.
A seemingly minor occurrence but one with far-reaching repercussions. Within a short number of years ACT moved its offices from Sioux City, Iowa to Iowa City, a move that was coincidental with the PELL educational loan offices moving from New Jersey to Iowa City. Many persons in knowledge of this American River ACT test have lost all their legal remedies to thwart the censorship of those behind the untimely ACT testing session. This censorship means that the victims are not able to get into court or gain employment.
This American River ACT test is a blot on the history of American education, one that few persons know of and fewer still know just how deeply it has damaged the American education system. Inner circles liken it to the Black Sox baseball scandal, here called the Black Chalks testing scandal.