Some opponents of Soka University have less than noble motives

Soka University, with its serene Swan Lake, is a beautiful gem in the Santa Monica Mountains. It needs our support now.

Since the 1920s, it alone of all of the property owners has opened its gates to the public. With its Human Rights lecture series it has brought to Calabasas such notable speakers as Rosa Parks, Julian Bond, the Honorable Shirley Chisolm, Richard Leakey and Coretta Scott King.

It hosts the annual California Traditional Music Society’s Summer Solstice Folk Music, Dance and Storytelling Festival.

It has an internationally known botanical research center and a demonstration garden of more than 225 plant species found in the Santa Monica Mountains. A native plant specialist is available to help one identify plants suitable for their home gardens along with a semi-annual native plant sale.

Unfortunately, Soka University has become the victim of racial and religious hate. We first became aware of this in fall 1990 when we, along with our parents, our daughter and a grandson were at a Cold Creek Canyon Property Owners Association potluck diner.

After a delightful evening, the meeting was called to order, whereupon one member got up to speak and stated: "We must stop Soka University because those Japanese got it by paying cash." It was the first time we had experienced "paying cash" as a pejorative concept.

Since not everyone in the property owners association agreed with this, the organization was disbanded and the caustically crafty Cold Creek Community Council was created, causing chaos in the canyon.

They joined with other newcomers who had invaded the tranquility of the mountains in the ’60s and ’70s, and changed the original charge of "Japanese paying cash" to "an organization impacting on the environment."

In reality, the invasion of the mountains starting in the 1960s was a much greater catastrophe for the ecology than Soka University, which is on the grounds developed by movie mogul Clarence Brown after King Gillette went bankrupt, died of a heart attack, and was unable to live in Calabasas or move his ranch from Tulare County to L.A. County.

Clarence Brown even had his own airstrip, which was worse than anything Soka University has done. The Claretian Brothers, as well as Church Universal and Triumphant, were allowed to make changes to suit their needs on the property.

Although we presently reside in Torrance, we have had a vested interest in Calabasas for more than 60 years and are active in the area three to four days a week. The few who merely have lived in the area 40 years or less have no right to deprive the rest of us to the benefits or enjoyment of Soka University. It is imperative that rational people support Soka University now.

Robin Mitchell

Torrance