ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Smoothing Things Out at Chapman

James L. Doti, the newly appointed president of Chapman College in Orange, is enjoying a honeymoon of sorts. Students and faculty have expressed relief at the resignation of Allen E. Koenig, whose brief, turbulent tenure ended last week. The selection of Doti, well known locally as an economic forecaster, was understandably well received.

Doti, 44, is highly regarded at the college and has worked hard over the years to build good relations with the community. These are important credentials, but the new president must still deal with Chapman’s many problems. How he answers that challenge will be important not only for the school but for Orange County too. Chapman is the county’s oldest private college and offers an important resource for local students, businesses and institutions.

It was no secret that Koenig was hired to shake things up. Chapman, like many small, private liberal arts colleges, was having trouble keeping enrollment up, and it wasn’t as financially secure as it wanted to be. Chapman’s trustees believed that changes in course offerings, faculty size and spending were in order. But when Koenig came forward with ideas, the campus went into shock.

Even a trusted figure such as Doti may not have been able to accomplish needed changes without causing hard feelings. But Koenig’s brusque manner, his seeming unwillingness to consult the faculty on major changes and his disinclination to make himself available on campus combined to make his mandate from the trustees difficult to fulfill.

Some cynics believe that the board hired Koenig to do the dirty work and now has turned to Doti to smooth things over. That probably gives the board, which is dominated by Orange County developer George Argyros, more credit for foresight than it deserves. It may be that the trustees did not fully foresee that a hornet’s nest would be stirred up by trying to change too many things at once.

Doti has said he has no plans to undo many of the revisions already put in motion. That means the campus--which recently voted to rename itself Chapman University--can look forward to fewer academic majors, more pre-professional programs and a pared-down faculty.

The key to accomplishing all this without turmoil rests with Doti. His collegiality and talent for including students and faculty in decision-making should serve this campus well and help set it in a good direction.