Clock Ticking at College District

The power struggle at the South Orange County Community College District has now captured the interest of state officials overseeing community colleges. At the heart lies a serious rift between the district’s administrators and faculty members over basic decision making.

State officials are wondering about a controversial administrative reorganization implemented last year. The district administration has signaled its interest in compliance with state directives but carries the burden of demonstrating that its new way of doing business is proper.

Before the ability of the district to function becomes severely imperiled, both the administrators and the faculty must work to depoliticize the atmosphere. Teachers complain that they have been frozen out of decisions about courses, accreditation and professional development. School officials attribute the criticism to a noisy minority seeking to retain perks.

Much of the disagreement arises from the administration’s decision a year ago to curtail the practice of releasing faculty from teaching responsibilities to serve on curriculum committees or take on other decision-making roles. This effectively left faculty members performing those duties at reduced pay or on their own time.

The district says it doesn’t have the funds to pay for nonteaching activities. If this is all about money, the district needs to find a better way to make its case.

Raghu P. Mathur, the Irvine Valley College interim president, recently suffered a no-confidence vote of three-fourths of full-time instructors, a measure of the depth of faculty dissatisfaction. Mathur says he is being undermined, but the administration needs to address faculty concerns.

Last month, state officials decided to investigate whether state regulations were being violated. At issue, potentially, is more than $4 million in state aid. Also, the district’s accrediting agency recently suggested that the district may not be providing “good stewardship.” One bright spot was a finding that the district’s financial picture had begun improving.

The state’s request for a plan from the colleges to resolve the district’s problems stands as a potent challenge to administrators, board members and faculty to work together. The prospect of losing money or accreditation is serious and the clock is ticking. Put the welfare of the district and quality education first.