Mission College Chief Denies Retirement Is Tied to Lost Funds

Mission College President William E. Norlund, who announced Wednesday that he will retire in June, insisted that he wasn’t forced to step down because he lost a $4.7-million state grant last year to expand the campus.

Instead, he said, he is leaving because a recent change in the college retirement system offers a more lucrative deal that will increase his package by 20%.

“I decided to retire when the governor passed the retirement legislation late last year,” said Norlund, a former physics instructor and longtime community college administrator. “I’ve been in education 38 years and there are other things I want to do.”

With the coming departure in June of Pierce College President E. Bing Inocencio, whose contract was not renewed, the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees faces the task of filling three presidential vacancies, two in the San Fernando Valley, the other at Harbor College.

Georgia Mercer, the Valley’s only trustee, described the task as a challenge and said, “We certainly have our plates full, but I believe there are some great candidates out there. We’ll have search committees that will find them.”

Mercer denied that Norlund was pressured to step down.

“He’s retiring on his own volition,” she said.

In four years at Mission, Norlund, 61, is credited with increasing enrollment by nearly 40%, stabilizing the school financially, and opening a $12-million library and learning resource center.

Mission was one of two schools in the nine-campus Los Angeles Community College District that didn’t end with a deficit last year. East L. A. was the other.

“His biggest accomplishment is that he gave the college direction,” said Carlos Nava, Mission’s dean of student services. “I’m really sorry to see him go.”

Not everyone shared that sentiment, however. Many on campus said the loss of the state grant showed Norlund’s weak relationship with the community.

Mission lost the money allocated for campus expansion because it was unable to meet a state-imposed deadline to use, or lose, the $4.7 million by Dec. 30, 1998.

Norlund apologized for the loss at a community forum, admitting that he and other administrators did not work with the community to develop a spending plan.

Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar) has introduced an emergency bill in a last-ditch effort to get the funds, but he said Wednesday that its passage is unlikely because the money has reverted to the state.

“I personally was very bothered by the fact that it occurred,” Cardenas said. “If in fact he’s at fault, then it’s a very good reason for him to move on.”

Gerald Scheib, chairman of the college’s arts and letters department, said the grant incident received so much publicity that it completely tainted Norlund’s tenure.

“In some areas, he’s done very well, but obviously his relationship with the community is not so good,” said Scheib, who has been at the college since it opened in 1975. “Not everyone is so sad that he’s leaving.”

Student Body President Jesus Ochoa defended Norlund, listing many good things that he’s done for the campus in a short time.

“Our school is in a very stable position because of Dr. Norlund,” Ochoa said. “Most of the students here know that.”