Teacher Opts for Real-Life Education

Marcos Vargas should have his doctorate by now. In fact, the Ventura resident took a leave of absence last year from his teaching position at the local satellite campus of Cal State Northridge to wrap up his dissertation, the final step in the process.

Somewhere along the way, however, he got sidetracked.

As point man on what is now a countywide campaign to lift the wages of the working poor, the 44-year-old father of two devoted much of his thesis-writing time to laying the groundwork for last week’s decision by Ventura County leaders to adopt a “living wage” law.

Vargas may have put his PhD on hold, but the longtime community activist said he has gotten the education of a lifetime.

“I just got swept up by it, and it’s actually going to make my dissertation more meaningful,” said Vargas, a UCLA doctoral candidate whose thesis explores the impact of community-based organizations on the political landscape.

“It just seemed like the time was right to do this,” he said. “Once there is an idea like this, it just seems to click with folks, and there’s no stopping it.”

Of course, Vargas’ ideas are not universally embraced.

Born in Santa Paula, the son of a grade school cafeteria worker and a hard-muscled longshoreman, Vargas remembers the derision that came with taking unpopular stands, such as rallying against the Vietnam War.

“I was called a ‘communist’ before I had any idea what it meant,” he said.

No one appears to be going that far when it comes to the issue of a living wage--a minimum hourly salary of $8 with health benefits, or $10 without--now required to be paid by those who contract with the county.

The mandate, to be formally adopted by the Board of Supervisors this week, applies only to contracts worth more than $25,000.

But the movement spearheaded by Vargas--and supported by dozens of religious, labor and environmental groups--has drawn plenty of opposition, especially from business leaders who contend the pay raise will hurt employers and do little to address the underlying causes of poverty.

Vargas’ beliefs were born long ago. His father was a strong union man who worked the docks at the Port of Hueneme and Long Beach Harbor. His mother was a deeply religious woman who used to bring her four sons along when she would deliver food to the poor.

He grew up in the Orange County community of Cypress, and as a junior high school student, he protested the Vietnam War. He took a year off from college to join a statewide campaign opposing efforts to dismantle affirmative action.

He was chairman of the Chicano students organization at UC Santa Barbara, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1981. He got his master’s in urban planning from UCLA in 1985 before returning to Ventura County, where he worked for the United Way and then El Concilio del Condado de Ventura, the county’s largest Latino advocacy group.

Vargas said he looks forward to continuing his community activism in other forms, including efforts to register new voters and get them to the polls.