Horn and Reynolds Clash Over When He’ll Leave Campus

Cal State Long Beach President Stephen Horn is clashing again with state university Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds--this time over when he should vacate the office he already has agreed to leave.

Horn thinks his last day on the job should be July 1, as indicated in the letter of resignation he submitted to university trustees two months ago after receiving a performance review severely critical of his management skills and relations with the faculty and community.

Reynolds thinks it should be five months earlier, on Feb. 1, so Horn could use the vacation time he has accrued during what she called his “distinguished” career at the Long Beach campus.

“If they want him to leave then, they’ll have to remove him in his chair,” said George Johnson, a Long Beach attorney retained by Horn to represent him in the matter.

Early Departure Pushed

The issue surfaced earlier this month when Reynolds sent Horn a memo directing him to leave office by Feb. 1 to begin using up the more than 1,100 hours he has accrued in vacation and holiday time during his 17-year presidency.

“In recognition of your years of service and commitment to CSULB,” the chancellor wrote in her letter, “I would like to permit your enjoying all of the vacation credits you have not been able to enjoy because of the press of official duty. I recognize that this time off is well-deserved and could be very important to you at this time.”

But Horn’s attorney argues that the state administrative code affords the university president up to a year to dispose of the accrued vacation time at his own discretion. And what appears as an innocent directive to enjoy life, Johnson said, is in fact an attempt to prematurely relieve Horn of his administrative powers.

“That is not at all acceptable to him,” the attorney said. “He feels that it is necessary that he stay in full command of the university until July 1 so that he can make an orderly closing of his administration. There are matters of policy and decision hanging fire and he feels that he is by far best equipped to deal with them rather than leave them to the actions of a successor who might have different views.”

Neither Horn nor Reynolds could be reached for comment Tuesday. Attorneys for both sides said they planned to meet today in an attempt to resolve the disagreement.

Johnson said Horn is particularly concerned about the futures of some untenured faculty members whom he helped bring to the campus. As president, university officials say, Horn has the ultimate power to grant tenure. And though he has seldom overturned the recommendations of established academic committees, there is a belief among some at the university that his departure could mean “open season” on those perceived as his most ardent supporters.

“President Horn has attracted a high-quality faculty here that he feels he wants protected,” Johnson said. “He is apprehensive that if he is gone their futures are going to be jeopardized.”

That fear appeared to gain some credibility recently when faculty members at the CSULB School of Business Administration adopted a resolution calling for the resignation of their dean, long regarded as a close Horn associate. Some of them characterized it privately as the first of many such actions campus-wide.

Officials in the chancellor’s office say there are no hidden motives fueling Reynold’s directive. “Our position is quite clear, based on what the regulations of this system are,” said Herbert Carter, executive vice chancellor. “(Horn) spent 17 years as a president in this system. We are very grateful for all that he’s done and the least we could do is try and set in motion a process that would allow him to take advantage of the benefits he has accrued.”