City College President Quits Amid Criticism

With a push from her bosses, Stelle Feuers has resigned the presidency of Los Angeles City College, a post she held for 11 years, officials said Thursday.

Her departure reflects dissatisfaction with the way she has run the oldest and most ethnically diverse of Los Angeles’ nine community colleges, high-ranking administration sources said. It also represents another of many major personnel changes made since Donald G. Phelps became district chancellor last year.

Feuers’ resignation is effective Sept. 15 when she will become an assistant to Phelps for fund raising and legislative matters. Edwin Young, a vice president at Los Angeles Valley College, will serve as interim president at City College while the district conducts a national search for Feuers’ permanent successor, Phelps said.

City College, located on North Vermont Avenue in east Hollywood, was founded 60 years ago at what had been the first campus for UCLA. The college once was a jewel of the education system in Los Angeles, but critics charge that it is now academically adrift, physically run down and unable to keep up with ethnic changes in its student body.

Feuers denied that she was forced out. She said she had planned to resign this summer if another position became available.

“I’ve been here a long time, and I think it’s time for new leadership on the campus,” she said, stressing that few college presidents last more than five years in their jobs nowadays.

She has been with the district for 24 years, starting as an assistant psychology professor.

Trustees’ Support

However, several sources close to Phelps said he wanted the resignation for some time and won support for that from the district’s Board of Trustees. Politically, Feuers was seen by some as a holdover from the administration of Leslie Koltai, Phelps’ predecessor who was forced out of office two years ago after much conflict with the teachers union. Recent elections have created a solid pro-union majority on the Trustees Board.

In an interview Thursday, Phelps praised Feuers and said that the two of them agreed it was time for a change.

“She provided leadership through some difficult times economically, and the campus has known a lot of success under Stelle Feuers,” he said.

However, he added: “When things go well, we can enjoy them. When things don’t go well, we are the ones who have to be held accountable.”

Even Feuers’ critics concede that many problems at City College were caused by the age of the school’s buildings, the district’s severe financial crisis three years ago and a reluctance by some students to venture into Hollywood. Reflecting a districtwide trend, the school’s enrollment dropped from 20,000 seven years ago to about 13,000 four years ago but is up to 15,000 now.

But even when Koltai was still chancellor, the faculty Senate in 1984 approved a vote of no confidence in Feuers, saying she had not done enough to prevent a decline at City College. She was temporarily reassigned to district headquarters but returned the following year.

“Her tenure there has been less than inspirational. The college has kind of been like a ship without a rudder,” said Henry Ealy, a professor of history and Afro-American studies there for 16 years.

On the other hand, her supporters said t she is a scapegoat of the teachers union and that her survival in the job for 11 years proves her skills.

In an interview Thursday, Feuers said that a lot of her actions were not popular.

“We all have our jobs to do. It is very difficult after a long period of time to make decisions that everybody will like,” she said, adding that she leaves “with neither animosity nor misgivings.”

Ethnic Mixture

According to district statistics, City College’s student body is 31% Latino, 27% Asian, 20% Anglo and 19% black, with the rest a mixture of Middle Easterners and other recent immigrants. It offers many courses in English as a second language and classes for immigrants trying to obtain legal residency under the amnesty law.

“Walking across the campus is like a walk across the United Nations,” Phelps said.

He said he wants to offer more services to help the different ethnic groups and to see many more City College students transfer to four-year universities to earn bachelor’s degrees. He also said campus buildings need many repairs and a new gymnasium and library should be built if state funds are available.

Since Phelps arrived a year ago from a similar post in Seattle, the Los Angeles Community College District has seen a string of shake-ups. There are new presidents at East Los Angeles and Pierce colleges. The presidents of Harbor and Trade-Tech colleges have been promoted to positions as districtwide acting vice chancellors, with acting presidents leading those campuses now.

District officials said Feuers’ departure was fairly amicable, especially compared to the forced retirement of Arthur Avila as president of East Los Angeles College last year. Avila claimed emotional distress and got a $35,000 settlement, as well as pay for nearly a year.

One district trustee said Feuers did not resist at all when Phelps talked to her recently about resigning and becoming his assistant.

“No sooner out of Don’s mouth than she said ‘great,’ ” the trustee recounted.