De Anza College’s new president, Omar Torres, officially took office on Jan. 3; since then, he has been holding his “100 Days of Listening,” where he meets members of the De Anza community one-on-one to learn more about its campus culture.
“One of the things that drew me to De Anza immediately is the equity imperative of this college and of this district,” Torres said. “De Anza College has done some remarkable work with ensuring that we are providing support for our students and for our community, both inside and outside of the classroom.”
Prior to Torres’ selection as De Anza’s president, he served as chief instructional officer and assistant superintendent at College of the Canyons. He also held the position of president of the California Community Colleges Chief Instructional Officers Association.
Torres said he plans to bring this experience into his new role at De Anza.
“I’ve built those professional relationships and those networks, and knowing the people, knowing the players, knowing how the system works, operationally,” Torres said. “(I’m) bringing that experience to this college as the next permanent fifth president.”
As president, Torres said he intends to retain De Anza’s culture of equity and student support.
“My role is to learn about that culture, to listen to the people, to learn about where there are new opportunities to engage in dialogue,” Torres said. “With students, with faculty, with staff, with administrators, with the chancellor, with district officials.”
Torres emphasized being more “entrepreneurial” in De Anza’s future.
“I think there is an incredible opportunity for De Anza to continue to emphasize the fact that we are at the top in transfers,” Torres said. “I also think that as the needs of our workforce and our students evolve and change, there’s an even greater opportunity to further develop economic and workforce development.”
Part of this entrepreneurship involves increased investment in career technical education.
“It isn’t solely about transfer,”Torres said. “There are also opportunities through industry-recognized credentials and certification for employees that are already in the workforce that may want to reskill or upskill,”
Torres’ presidency begins at the same time as the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States. However, Torres does not agree with many of the Trump administration’s policies.
“The new administration at the national level does not necessarily fully support the work that we as a system have been engaged in support of students and in support of equity,” Torres said.
This includes Trump’s policies on undocumented immigrants. Protocol at De Anza states that if Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers appear on campus, the president’s office should be contacted first. Faculty and staff are instructed to encourage undocumented students to stay in their classroom or a private room while ICE officers are escorted to the president’s office.
“I will not disclose any information to ICE agents on any information that I’m not legally required to disclose,” Torres said. “I am committed, as is our district, to (ensuring) that we are protecting our undocumented students and any employees … where they may feel threatened on campus.”
As outgoing interim president Christina Espinosa-Pieb passes the torch to Torres, she is also passing on oversight of the Measure G project. Espinosa-Pieb has been a major advocate for the construction of a new creative arts building, reconvening the Measure G task force in June 2024 to plan and budget the project. Torres will be continuing this work.
“We are absolutely moving forward with the new creative arts building,” Torres said. “I’ve been having conversations with both district officials and campus administration about the importance of ensuring that we are creating an inclusive and engaging space … as we plan for what the instructional spaces are going to look like in the new Creative Arts building.”
Torres came into his office shortly after leaving a farewell party in honor of Espinosa-Pieb.
“We were just honoring her just a few minutes ago with some gifts, and people had a few words to say,” Torres said. “She is a remarkable educator and a remarkable human being. She has been an incredible mentor. I now call her a friend.”
Other faculty and staff are hopeful about Torres’ leadership.
Business professor and honors coordinator John Francis, who now teaches at De Anza, also worked with Torres at College of the Canyons.
“He was amazing,” Francis said. “He was a great supporter of students, faculty and administration. He was just an amazing person to work with.”
Daryel Hernandez, 21, psychology and political science major and UndocuSTEM event coordinator, emphasized the significance of supporting undocumented students on the administrative level.
“I feel like it’s good that we have some policies already in place to try and do our best to protect undocumented students,” Hernandez said. “We want to pursue the possibility of making us (Foothill-De Anza) a sanctuary district and to have stronger enforcement to make sure that there’s no issues with ICE coming into campus.”
