EARTHQUAKE: THE ROAD TO RECOVERY : College Chief’s Critics Vote No Confidence : Education: Teachers, students upset at president for opening Van Nuys campus two days after quake.

Angered by a decision to reopen their campus just two days after the Northridge earthquake, Valley College faculty members agreed overwhelmingly to a vote of “no confidence” in the leadership of President Mary E. Lee, a faculty spokesman said Thursday.

“We were the only educational institution to open in the entire San Fernando Valley--the only one,” said faculty President Jack Sterk, a professor of speech communication and broadcasting. “If the argument is a return to normalcy, there is nothing normal about the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.”

All but two of more than 90 faculty members at a meeting Wednesday voted to denounce Lee’s decision to reopen the campus for the beginning of the spring semester two days after the Jan. 17 quake.

The Associated Student Union also voted 16 to 1 in favor of the motion.

Seven of the nine campuses in the Los Angeles Community College District resumed classes on time, but the reopening of the other two Valley campuses--Pierce and Mission colleges--were delayed until the week following the quake.

Lee stood by her decision to begin classes according to the regular schedule of the spring semester.

“I don’t think legally I had a reason for not opening,” she said. “We examined the buildings and determined they were structurally sound.”

Lee said she and plant facilities workers surveyed the campus for structural damage the day after the quake. Staff and faculty worked for hours to clean up classrooms, put offices in order and restock materials in the bookstore to open the campus on time. Phone systems were not functioning properly, but administrators relied on the news media and department chairmen to relay the message that the campus would reopen on time.

“Education is not an optional thing,” she said. “If your plant is safe, you open.”

Sterk said faculty members were disturbed by what they interpreted as a lack of empathy for students, staff and instructors. In addition, he said, the lack of faculty and staff consultation in the decision was bothersome.

“Where was shared governance?” Sterk said. “There were hundreds of students, faculty and staff who could not come in because their homes were in disarray, but Lee made the decision to open it herself after walking around the campus.”

Early next week, the College Senate plans to present a list of demands to Lee related to the reopening, including that she agree to develop a plan for shared decision-making in future emergency situations.

“It’s very easy to second-guess when you don’t have the responsibility,” Lee said. “This is not a shared governance issue. . . . The decision was made by me.”

For Donald Hayes, an associate professor of theater arts who lost his home and belongings when his Granada Hills townhouse was destroyed in the quake, the speedy reopening was an insult.

“My life was in total turmoil,” said Hayes, who spent two nights sleeping in his car in the college parking lot after the quake. “They should have waited and opened a week or so later.”

Faculty members estimated that only about 20% to 30% of their students showed up for classes two days after the quake.

“The majority of students on campus felt the school should have been closed,” said Donald Graham, student body president. “People had to take care of their families, night classes were in violation of the curfew, and many people were still really shaken up.”