Questions Surround Firing of Award-Winning Dean at UCSD

Is Beverly Varga the compassionate mentor of a grateful throng of students, a woman who has earned a string of awards and the admiration of the community at UC San Diego’s minority-oriented Third College?

Or is she “erratic, unprofessional, argumentative and demeaning toward staff and students”--as claimed in the document that led to her firing Nov. 14?

Or, might Varga be an innocent victim of political revenge by top UCSD officials, whom she angered earlier this year by clearing a student activist who had been arrested by campus police?

Those are the questions that have divided Third College in the weeks since Varga was fired as dean and locked out of her office after 14 years on the job. The move has touched off an unusual controversy at the UCSD campus on Torrey Pines Mesa.

Across the country, Third College alumni who say Varga was the key to their personal and professional development are organizing a drive to oust Provost Faustina Solis--the woman who fired Varga a month after giving her a “satisfactory” job evaluation--and have Varga reinstated as dean. Varga’s lawyer is threatening a lawsuit if she is not rehired.

The normally dormant Third College Alumni Assn., which has established a legal defense fund for Varga, also is exhorting members to withhold donations from UCSD’s $30.4-million fund-raising campaign and is seeking an investigation of Varga’s dismissal by the university’s academic senate.

“Dean Varga has given 14 years of loyal service to UCSD, bending over backwards time and again to uphold the integrity of Third College and the university as a whole,” said Marsha Harris, a 1979 graduate who is president of the Third College alumni association. “To fire her with no explanation is an injustice. We won’t rest until this matter is fully investigated.”

Calling the issue a personnel matter, UCSD Chancellor Richard Atkinson, Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Affairs Joseph Watson, and Solis--the dean’s supervisor since 1982--refused to discuss the reasons for Varga’s dismissal.

“There is an obligation upon us not to talk about the reasons publicly,” Watson said. “I think it’s obvious that if someone has been removed, there are negative things to be said, and I don’t think we should be discussing negative things publicly.”

But Varga’s attorney and others at the school believe statements like Watson’s conceal another motive. They contend that the 51-year-old dean--the highest-ranking American Indian at UCSD--was fired for embarrassing UCSD by clearing a student activist of “lynching” charges brought against him by campus police in February and telling an investigating faculty committee that UCSD mishandled the situation.

The charges against activist Russell Andalcio and a subsequent investigation provoked outrage among students and some professors, and ultimately led to the faculty report critical of the way campus police and administrators had handled the matter.

The charges stemmed from a Jan. 23 scuffle between an anti-apartheid demonstrator and a supporter of the South African government immediately after a speech at UCSD by Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. When police took the anti-apartheid demonstrator into custody, a crowd of protesters surrounded them, chanting, “Let him go.” There was some pushing and shoving before the officers released the demonstrator.

Andalcio was accused by police and Nick Aguilar, UCSD’s student conduct coordinator, of lynching--or attempting to free the demonstrator by force. As dean of students, Varga conducted the investigation and cleared Andalcio, finding “insufficient evidence to support the allegations.”

Varga, whom friends describe as depressed over the matter, declined to discuss the case with The Times. However, her attorney, Susan Mosich, said Varga “got a lot of heat” from UCSD administrators for breaking ranks with the university and finding Andalcio innocent.

“She cleared him. She made the university look terrible,” Mosich said. “And if Andalcio sues, what’s the university going to do? (Andalcio) is going to win.”

Watson, however, denied that the Andalcio affair influenced the decision to fire Varga.

“I see absolutely no grounds in that,” Watson said. “Charges are brought against people often. In some cases, the charges are proved to be correct, and in some cases, the charges are unfounded. That’s why we have due process.”

According to Solis’ notice that she intended to fire Varga, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, the dismissal was due to “a lack of confidence by the University administration in your ability to manage effectively the financial, student or personnel activities of your unit and carry forward your responsibilities within Third College.”

The letter also noted “low morale among staff and students within your purview which is a direct result of your divisive behavior,” and charged that “your erratic, unprofessional, argumentative and demeaning manner toward staff and students has been detrimental.”

Mosich said she considers those charges vague and insufficient to justify Varga’s dismissal.

“What does that mean? Give me facts. Give me circumstances,” she said.

Only a month earlier, Varga had received a “satisfactory” evaluation for the period covering June, 1985, to June 1986, according to Mosich. There was “nothing particularly unique about that one compared to ones given to her in the past,” Mosich said.

Mosich refused, however, to show any of the evaluations to a Times reporter.

According to Quelda Wilson, UCSD’s assistant vice chancellor for personnel, administrators like Varga serve at the pleasure of their bosses, without the protection against dismissal enjoyed by the faculty. Mosich contends that, until recently, UCSD administrators could be dismissed only for specific causes but that the rules were changed in July so that they serve at their supervisor’s pleasure.

Watson conceded that Varga’s 14-year tenure as dean--during which she earned the senior class’ award as outstanding staff member nine consecutive times--”means (she was doing) a good job. Certainly it was an acceptable job.”

But he refused to discuss what could have changed since her most recent evaluation to cause her dismissal.

Current students--who say they have no idea what led to Varga’s dismissal--offered conflicting descriptions of the dean’s demeanor and administration of Third College.

Tony Giambone, a senior who worked as an intern in the dean’s office over the summer, praised Varga for leadership training programs she initiated.

But, Giambone said, Varga had an “aggressive” management style that made many people uncomfortable. He said “personality conflicts between her and students and staff” were not uncommon.

“I got along with her fine,” said Giambone, 22, “but I know some people felt she always wanted a little too much control. She is a very strong-minded individual with very definite ideas on how she wants things done. If you’ve got an opposing view, you’d better support it or you’ll get shot down.”

Giambone, who believes Varga’s departure has been a “positive thing overall,” cited her relations with the Third College Council last year as an example of the type of troubles that he believes had beset the dean recently.

The council is an elective student body that plans events and handles student activities. Several students involved in council affairs said the conduct of the group was marred by a power struggle between Varga and council leaders last year.

Isaac Mankita, another student who helped plan the leadership training institute with Varga last summer, said, “Like many working relationships, there are ups and downs. And we had ups and downs. Those were worked out, and we ended up having one of the better leadership training camps since I’ve been here.

“It’s always uplifting talking to (Varga), and she will always push you to your limits. Anyone who came in contact with her could see that she was willing to push you to your limits and challenge you.”

According to some sources, Provost Solis sought assistance from students disenchanted with Varga’s leadership after she decided to fire the dean. Steve Cooper, a student at Hastings Law School in San Francisco, said Solis flew north and met with him in October to discuss problems he had had with Varga while he was a Third College student the previous year.

“She encouraged me to write the letter because she was doing an investigation of the dean and felt it was proper to have input from students with complaints,” said Cooper, who confirmed that his father wrote an earlier letter blasting Varga’s conduct during a series of incidents involving the student. “I agreed to do it.”

Cooper, 22, declined to comment further or reveal the contents of the letter. “I’ll have to take the Fifth (Amendment) on this because I’ve been threatened with a lawsuit by Varga for slander” in connection with statements made in his letter, he said.

Cooper’s correspondence was among nearly a dozen letters submitted by Solis as evidence of the lack of support for Varga among students and staff, according to sources who asked not to be identified.

Other alumni, meanwhile, have nothing but praise for Varga, whom they describe as the virtual embodiment of the goals and philosophy upon which Third College was founded in 1970.

“I’ve talked to alumni across the country about this, and everyone I contacted was affected in some way, small or large, by Dean Varga,” said Zephyr Goldsmith, a 1980 graduate who is now an attorney in New York City. “She was very dynamic. Whether they came by her office once in four years for help with a parking space or worked regularly with her in student government, people came to believe the dean knew and cared about them.”

Varga is most widely and frequently complimented for the leadership training programs she created at Third College in the 1970s. Students and graduates alike say the programs, including a three-day leadership training camp attended by about 150 students each year, provide skills that equip them for the real-world experiences that lie beyond the university walls.

“Beverly’s leadership training program was key to preparing students for positions of responsibility in society,” said Andy Schneider, a Third College graduate and former assistant to Atkinson’s predecessor, Chancellor William McElroy. “She has personally trained a generation of social activists that are out there now serving the community in incredible capacities.”

Harris, the president of the alumni association, praised Varga’s “democratic” style, which she described as an insistence on “giving everyone their say.”

“She’s color blind, in terms of treating everybody equally,” said Harris, a Los Angeles marketing specialist for Enterprise Systems, a company that sells computer systems to hospitals. “She cuts right through the attitudes that different races have and makes it easy for people of very diverse backgrounds to work together. That’s her most unique quality.”

Many students and teachers say, however, that they are simply in the dark about the Varga situation. “In terms of what happened, why it happened, all we have is rumor,” said Rosaura Sanchez, one of three professors who signed a letter to Watson supporting Varga. “We want to know what happened.”

Alumni say they also fear that her dismissal may be part of a larger effort by the university to dilute Third College’s distinctive educational philosophy, which differs from the more traditional programs embraced by UCSD’s three other colleges. Watson, however, said that Varga’s supporters have simply invented that accusation.

Harris says the alumni association’s objective is to have Varga reappointed as dean or placed in another position on campus. Toward that goal, alumni have written letters and telegrams to Chancellor Atkinson, UC President David Gardner and other administrators.

They asked UCSD’s academic senate to investigate the case but were turned down.

Meanwhile, several alumni have contacted members of the state Legislature in hopes of triggering an investigation at that level. In all, Schneider estimated that 100 alumni are involved in the campaign to win the reappointment of Varga.

“We’re young and we’re few and we haven’t had much clout, so in the past it’s been difficult to get anybody involved in anything,” said Harris, a 1979 graduate of Third College. “But with this, I think the university could really feel the impact in a long-range way if they don’t set things straight.”

Watson said the university had received 20 to 30 letters regarding the case. A spokesman in UC President Gardner’s office said four letters and telegrams have been received.

Watson said that he regrets the campaign to persuade alumni to withhold donations to UCSD but said that it will not change the outcome of Varga’s case.

Mosich, who is currently concentrating on Varga’s appeal to UCSD officials, said she will sue the university if her client is not re-hired. At 51, with little other training, Varga has limited chances of landing another job, and her dismissal has exacerbated previous health problems, Mosich claimed.

“This was her life. And she’s becoming more and more devastated as the reality of this situation sets in,” Mosich said.

If a lawsuit is filed, “the university and its administration are going to be looking at a very high dollar figure,” she said.