Van Nuys : Student Newspaper Back on the Stands

After a four-week delay, the Valley Star student newspaper has returned to Valley College newsstands, and new faculty newspaper advisor Joan Stuller vows that the paper will be distributed at least biweekly, according to her mentor Jack Sterk.

Sterk attributed the delay and shift from publishing weekly to reduced staffing. The Star staff, usually 20 students, has dwindled to less than 10.

Stuller and Valley Star staff members clashed repeatedly last semester, with Stuller twice calling campus police to remove student staffers from her classroom. Stuller also canceled the paper’s last two regular editions due to staff conflicts. Most of the students who exchanged fire with Stuller have not returned to the paper.

Stuller declined comment.

As a first-year probationary employee, Stuller is subject to yearly reviews, Sterk said. Given the conflicts, her first peer review in December was satisfactory, he said. The gist of the review, in Sterk’s words, was: “You’re satisfactory, but you are the whole department, and you must pull it together.”

Due to the retirement of one faculty member and the death of another, Stuller was “forced to take over the whole department,” said Sterk, who is also president of the Academic Senate.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Stuller’s job is in no more jeopardy than that of any probationary employee, said Frank Sinsheimer, dean of academic affairs for vocational programs.

All newly hired faculty members are on probation for four years, assigned a mentor and subject to yearly review by a three-person panel. During peer review, an Academic Senate appointee and an administration member--in this case, Sinsheimer--sit as nonvoting members.

“She’s in good standing,” he said.

Paraphrasing author Mark Twain, Sinsheimer said rumors of Stuller’s death “have been greatly exaggerated.”