College President Launches Counterattack

Struggling to steady his year-old presidency, the embattled head of Irvine Valley College is accusing a small group of faculty of engineering a “no-confidence” vote against him and engaging in harassment of professors who do not share their viewpoint.

“They are bullies and they want to have their way at any cost,” said Raghu P. Mathur, whose appointment as president a year ago caused a storm of protest that has not abated. “This vote of no confidence was politically motivated and had nothing to do with my ability.”

Mathur defended himself against the no-confidence vote Monday night at a meeting of the South Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees, which oversees Irvine Valley College in Irvine and Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.

It was the first time Mathur spoke publicly against his opponents and came after a faculty referendum last week in which three-fourths of full-time professors cast votes saying they had no confidence in his leadership.

Faculty leaders said the vote showed widespread dissatisfaction with Mathur and the college’s new management style, which shifts power to upper administrators and trustees and away from students and faculty.

Speaking emotionally to the district’s trustees, Mathur recalled coming to the United States from India 31 years ago with only $8 in his pocket and achieving his dream of becoming an educator.

He insisted a small “core” of faculty were behind the no-confidence vote, which carries no legal force but represents an important stand by professors in academic governance.

“They want a weak president so they can exercise control like they have done in the past,” Mathur said. “They’ll go after anyone at Irvine Valley College, anyone at the district, anyone on the board.”

He said his own supporters had been “harassed and intimidated” by faculty dissidents. He added that after he reported unspecified threats sent through the mail to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the threats stopped. He said protesters in demonstrations have carried empty jars of Ragu spaghetti sauce to mock him, a gesture he found offensive.

Foes of Mathur described the campus as “tense,” but denied anyone had been harassed and described the college president’s charges as “absurd.”

“He’s suggesting our professors can’t think for themselves and that they’re weak, and that’s not true,” said Lisa Alvarez, an associate English professor and recorder for the campus Academic Senate.

Roy Bauer, an ethics professor who was identified by Mathur as one of the “core” opponents, said he and others are opposed to the new top-down management style and described the board and top administrators as “enemies of shared governance.”

“I take ethics very seriously. If we didn’t think what we’re doing was ethical, we wouldn’t do it.”

Mathur, a former chemistry professor, was named interim president of Irvine Valley last April, but faculty members, angry they were not consulted, sued the trustees under the Brown Act for open meeting violations. In September, a Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the faculty members, and trustees had to reappoint Mathur.

Also last year, trustees ordered an overhaul at the college, returning faculty members who also served as part-time administrators to classrooms. Mathur contended that professors who lost perks in the shake-up, such as Bauer, are behind the conflict. Bauer and others deny it.

The clash between Mathur and his faculty is only one controversy plaguing the 33,000-student college district. One of seven trustees on a badly divided board is facing a recall campaign, many top administrators have left and the district is under a fiscal watch by state college officials because of dwindling budget reserves.