‘Squabble’ Between Group at Coastline, New District Chancellor Ends Peacefully

A “family squabble” between the Coastline Community College Academic Senate and newly named Coast Community College District Chancellor David A. Brownell has apparently been resolved.

Brownell and three members of the Academic Senate said at a news conference Friday at district headquarters that they had resolved their dispute over Brownell’s elevation from acting chancellor and the selection of William A. Vega as the new Coastline Community College president.

The Academic Senate had complained that the district’s board of trustees might have violated affirmative action procedures when they appointed Brownell to the $77,000-a-year job without considering other candidates. Brownell, a former dean of administrative services at Coastline, was elevated to the post by the board in a surprise vote Jan. 3.

55,000 Are Enrolled

Brownell and Coast district trustees oversee Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Coastline Community College headquartered in Fountain Valley and Golden West College in Huntington Beach, which have a combined enrollment of 55,000. The district is the second largest in the state.

Vega, by contrast, was appointed to the Coastline presidency, effective Feb. 15, after a review of 90 candidates that was in accordance with the state’s strict affirmative action guidelines. But the Academic Senate had questioned the procedure used for the selection because the faculty was not consulted.

The Academic Senate earlier this week drafted a resolution asking that Brownell and Vega be ousted. But the issue was resolved after a three-hour meeting Thursday between Brownell and the Academic Senate, the two parties said.

“We want very much to set aside what has become a family squabble and move ahead to the many tasks before us,” Brownell said.

Academic Senate President Lawrence Copeland said the Senate never questioned the qualifications of Brownell and Vega but had been concerned only with the manner in which they were selected.

“We were questioning the appointment process, not the participants involved. We recognize that no circumvention of the law took place, and we did not mean to infer that. Our resolution (to the board) was a general airing of frustration,” he said.

Cooperation Pledged Copeland also said that Vega would receive “100% cooperation” when he arrived on campus Feb. 15. “We have no reason to question the qualifications of Bill Vega,” he said.

Moreover, he added, the Coastline Senate has now concluded that the method by which Vega was chosen should be the one used to find a president for Orange Coast College as well.

Vega was selected from among five finalists questioned by the board of trustees following the recommendation of the Pepperdine Center for Educational Leadership, which served as consultant during the selection process.

For Orange Coast, however, the trustees plan to make their selection from the recommendations made by a selection committee that includes faculty and students.

“What is right for one college should be certainly right for another college,” said Terry Strauss, a Coastline business English instructor and Academic Senate member.

Brownell said, however, that the selection process for Orange Coast is already under way and that he does not expect the board to retreat from the process already begun. He said about 60 applications have already been received for the post.

“The process in this case (Coastline) was different. The faculty has never participated in the selection process of a president since the college was founded in 1976,” the chancellor said.

Coastline is the newest, smallest and least traditional of the three Coast District colleges. It has no campus, most of its faculty works part-time, and most classes are held in rented facilities in various locations in the district.

But Brownell also acknowledged that he was partially responsible for the controversy that developed between him and the Academic Senate over his elevation by the board.

“I stand guilty for not reaching out. We did too little, too late on this one,” he said, adding, “I will communicate (the faculty’s) thoughts and concerns to the board.”

Gerald Hayward, chancellor of the state community college system, earlier this week said that he would review the hiring of Brownell and Vega to see if any affirmative action guidelines were neglected.

Hayward could not be reached in Sacramento on Friday. A staff attorney, Catherine Close, said the office had received no information about the apparent rapprochement between the Academic Senate and Brownell.

“What impact that will have on what we will do, I can’t say,” Close said, adding, however, that local trustees have complete discretion in deciding on the method for selecting an administrative officer.

Brownell said he had not recently talked with Hayward but expected the state chancellor to find no irregularities in the process used to select him and Vega once the review is completed.