Debate Rages Over College President’s Job Performance : Education: Support pours in for Warren A. Washington, who got only a one-year contract instead of the usual three. Three board members have expressed reservations about him.

The embattled president of Compton College spends a lot of Sundays speaking to packed audiences at local churches.

Warren A. Washington’s message is usually the same--that the college is doing a good educational job for its community and that he deserves to stay on as its president.

“Everywhere I go people stop to shake my hand,” says Washington. “I feel like running for political office.”

In fact, he is at the center of a storm that threatens his job.

After appointing him president two years ago, the majority of the college’s Board of Trustees recently voted to extend Washington’s contract by only one year rather than the usual three, saying they needed time to evaluate his performance.

Now hundreds of community members, including dozens of local ministers, have spoken out in support of Washington. The supporters, including the city’s mayor and City Council members, turned out at a board meeting where they described Washington as a stellar administrator and threatened to recall any board member voting against him.

Now a debate is raging over Washington’s presidency, with the Compton area divided on the issue and each side charging the other with having a secret political agenda.

“I’ve taken a (verbal) and mental beating,” said Emily Hart-Holifield, the board president accused by critics of leading the drive against Washington. “I’m totally flabbergasted.”

Said Lonnie Dawson, president of the Southern Area Clergy Council, a coalition of pastors that helped organize support for Washington and recently participated in a meeting to organize a recall movement against Hart-Holifield: “What the trustees are attempting to do (in removing Washington) will destroy the morale of the school.”

The controversy surfaced in December when the board notified Washington in a letter, signed by Hart-Holifield, that he might not be rehired when his contract expires June 30. At the time, board members refused to discuss the reasons for their action. Now Hart-Holifield says that there were several.

She said newly elected board members Kent Swift and Ignacio Pena had reservations about the president’s ability to respond to the specific needs of their districts. Swift, who was elected to represent Lynwood, said in an interview that he was particularly interested in seeing more vocational training programs, while Pena, who represents Paramount, would say only that he wanted to develop a closer working relationship with Washington.

Hart-Holifield also said she had concerns of her own about Washington, including his tendency to move slowly on issues.

She also said she was concerned when the president’s office took control of certain computer files containing information on enrollment and employment, ostensibly in an effort to simplify and streamline procedures. The files previously were controlled by the business department.

“It gave him too much control over the board,” she said. “I think he’s trying to take over my job.”

Washington’s supporters say this simply is a smoke screen to hide Hart-Holifield’s real goal of replacing Washington with a Latino president in an effort to gain political support among Latinos in a future run for the state Assembly. The board president sought such a seat in 1990, but lost.

Hart-Holifield said it is her opponents who are politically motivated, concocting a political ambush to prevent her from seeking higher office. “It’s politically motivated,” she said of the recall movement. “They don’t want me to run again.”

The issue came to a head in January when the board voted 3-to-2 to extend Washington’s contract for only a year--until June 30, 1993. Washington, 43, is paid $84,534 a year. Board members James Carter and Legrand H. Clegg II voted against the proposal, saying they favored a three-year contract.

“I think Dr. Washington has done an excellent job since taking the helm of Compton College,” Carter said. “It is a growing college and we are financially strong. Morale is good.”

During a recent interview, Washington listed several achievements since taking over in August, 1989, from the previous president, Edison O. Jackson, who left to take a job in New York.

Teacher salaries have increased 30%, making the pay at Compton College comparable with that at other urban community colleges of similar size for the first time in years, he said. When he became president, the faculty and Administration were deeply divided over various issues, and contract negotiations had stalled.

Washington said the college’s enrollment has grown by nearly 1,000 students to 5,800 after he organized visits to high school campuses by college representatives, stepped up college publicity efforts and established some evening classes for community members. The college’s annual budget--which is partly based on the number of students it attracts--has increased from about $12 million to $15 million.

Washington says he has even arranged for the grass to be cut and trash to be picked up more often on the campus.

“Never before has there been a president of this college who has been so close to the faculty, staff and students,” said Washington, who first came to the campus in 1972 as a counseling intern and worked his way up through the administrative ranks.

Generally he gets high marks from administrators and students.

“He really has a vision of where the campus needs to be in terms of serving the community,” said Allan Hoffman, an associate dean of instruction who helped circulate a petition of support signed by 17 of the 20 administrators at the college. “He has a real concern for the people who are working here and have made careers here. He’s a charismatic leader and his policies have made a lot of sense.”

Wendell Westbrook, president of the Associated Student Body council, which passed a resolution supporting Washington’s presidency, said most students find him easy to deal with. “Our communication is good,” he said. “Ninety percent of the issues we take to him get resolved.”

Faculty members seem a bit more divided on his performance. In a recent faculty survey asking whether Washington’s contract ought to be renewed, 52 said yes and 13 said no. Some respondents complained about a lack of needed supplies, problems with the heating and air-conditioning system, lack of information available to faculty members and problems concerning the payroll.

David Horne, president of the Academic Senate, a faculty group charged with overseeing academic standards on the campus, said many faculty members are concerned about the president’s general lack of attention to the college’s academic curriculum.

“We need to have a plan to educate our students,” Horne said. “There is none. There’s not one innovative educational program he can point to that has been accomplished for the benefit of the students. That bothers some faculty members.”

Washington denies the allegation. He says, for example, that several state-sponsored programs aimed at helping disadvantaged students have been started since he became president. In general, he says, the college should do more to reach out to low-income students in the area who might otherwise be denied educational opportunities.

Despite their criticism, Horne said, most professors would still prefer to stick with a known quantity who they believe has potential rather than start over with someone new. “(Washington) is a very cordial man,” Horne said. “At least we can talk to him.”

The soft-spoken president, projecting an image of calm self-confidence, is spending much of his time meeting with concerned members of the community in his office, giving speeches defending his administration, and responding to the hundreds of supportive cards, letters and telephone calls he says he has received.

“It just makes me feel good to have all this support,” Washington said, spreading out some of the cards from supporters on his desk. “They just know that I was doing a good job.”

Profile: Warren A. Washington

President of Compton College. He is under fire from board members who recently extended his contract by only one year instead of three. Age: 43

Education: Ph.D. in human behavior and educational leadership from U.S. International University in San Diego; master’s degree in counseling and guidance from the University of La Verne, bachelor’s degree in sociology from Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Experience: Came to Compton College as a counseling intern in 1972. Since then, he has been associate dean of enrollment services and counseling, and has served as dean of student support services, of program planning, and of continuing education and college development. He became college president in 1989.

Major contributions: Oversaw negotiations resulting in a new faculty contract, increased enrollment, organized an aggressive off-campus program to improve the college’s image and improved campus maintenance.

Quote: “Never before has there been a president of this college who has been so close to the faculty, staff and students.”