Law School Dean, 4 Directors Resign; Mismanagement Cited

The dean and four directors of the Channel Islands University law school--all prominent members of the Ventura County legal community--have resigned under the pressure of a lawsuit filed by the state attorney general’s office accusing them of mismanaging funds.

The school, which operates two campuses known individually as the Ventura College of Law and the Santa Barbara College of Law, is in the throes of reorganization, functioning with only two newly appointed directors and seeking others, according to the acting president.

Channel Islands University, which has 350 students, is the only accredited law school between Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties.

Assistant Atty. Gen. Joanne Condas elicited the resignations of the four board members on Feb. 6 and Dean Fred J. Olson on Feb. 10.

Olson, who has been the school’s dean since its founding in 1969, was accused in a November civil complaint of self-dealing with school funds, taking $50,000 more than his contracted annual salary of $30,000 and using college funds to supplement his personal antique business.

“When the school began making more money, he unilaterally decided he was worth more money and nobody on the board made an effort to hold him to his contract,” Condas said.

Olson, who also served as chairman of the board, also took commissions for selling antiques to the school, Condas said.

The directors, who apparently were unaware of some of Olson’s activities, were negligent, Condas said. “All of the directors are members of the bench or the Bar, and they have a duty to know better.”

“Dean Olson pretty much ran the show,” said lawyer Ron Harrington, acting president of the school. “The others met once in a while and said, ‘Fine, whatever you think is right.’ ” Harrington, a former Ventura city councilman, was recently appointed to the board to smooth the reorganization.

Efforts to reach Olson were unsuccessful.

“I feel like I’ve been crapped on,” Richard Irwin, recently retired Ventura County public defender, said Wednesday about his resignation as a director. “Somebody did it. I’m not sure who.”

Besides Irwin, the other board members who have resigned are Kenneth Cleaver, a retired Ventura County Superior Court judge; John Sullivan, a former court commissioner, and Gerhard Orthuber, a private attorney.

“I don’t mind resigning if it’s the best for the school,” Cleaver said. “There’s nothing I did that was wrong, and I don’t think any of the other board members did anything wrong. We just didn’t try hard enough, I suppose.”