Review Details Criticisms of College President

The president of Cal State Dominguez Hills was uninformed about major problems and important administrative details and his top aides failed to work as a team, according to a performance review by the chancellor’s office.

But the review also found that Robert Detweiler is a hard-working leader who inherited a struggling campus and improved it markedly. Conducted with input from students and faculty members, the evaluation is similar to one that all presidents in the state university system must undergo every six years.

Detweiler’s review, released this week, is his first since his arrival on the campus in 1989.

In an open letter to the university, Detweiler wrote that he accepted responsibility for the concerns. He said he planned to address them by asking management to clarify its goals, develop an open budget planning process and set up accountability measures.

In response to the evaluation, the chancellor’s office has established several goals for Detweiler such as restructuring the executive management team, improving fiscal planning and strengthening faculty development.

Over the last year, the university has had a multitude of problems. The university was forced to borrow $441,000 from Cal State Fullerton to balance its books and an international recruitment effort fell nearly $500,000 short. Additionally, a $300,000 deficit in the Academic Affairs Department led to the cancellation of about 80 classes and the demotion of a top administrator.