Push to Review Dull Hiring Likely Will Meet Dead End

The process is completed, the decision has been made.

On July 1, Richard M. Dull will assume his new post as athletic director at Cal State Northridge.

Dull, athletic director at tiny Moravian College in Pennsylvania, was selected May 26 by outgoing Northridge President Blenda Wilson over three other finalists after a four-month search that originally included a field of about 50 candidates.

That’s old news.

What’s new? Supporters of Robert Arias, a former Loyola Marymount athletic director and Northridge finalist, refuse to give up their campaign.

They may have to.

The debate continued Wednesday, when about two dozen of Arias’ followers staged a protest rally on the outskirts of campus. They criticized Wilson’s choice and called for a review of the selection process by the chancellor of the California State University system and the speaker of the State Assembly.

“The wrong guy was selected!” said William “Blinky” Rodriguez, a former prizefighter and the rally’s organizer. “Robert Arias has earned the job as CSUN A.D. He deserves it.”

Rodriguez’s clarion call was echoed by members of the campus’ Presidential Advisory Board, including chief officers Lee Alpert and Leroy Chase. Both made lengthy testimonials to Arias while protesting the hiring of Dull, a former athletic director at Maryland who has not presided over a Division I program since resigning amid controversy at Maryland in 1986.

“The university comes to the community and they ask us for help and assistance, for money, for time, for advice,” Alpert said. “We give them the advice, we give them the recommendation. . . . but they make a decision contrary to what everyone recommended and they make the decision without showing respect to the community and explaining the reason.”

Wilson, they claim, ignored recommendations to hire Arias, a Northridge alum whose qualifications and ties to the community, they say, make him a superior choice.

Their voices, they say, fell on deaf ears. And they likely will again.

Irate as they are, Arias’ followers had better prepare to accept Dull. Indications are that the move for review won’t likely get to first base.

A spokesman for CSU Chancellor Charles Reed, who is out of town this week, described the possibility of Reed becoming involved as unlikely.

“It’s a campus-based issue,” said Ken Swisher of the CSU’s office of public affairs. “There seems to be nothing abnormal about the process. I don’t want to speculate on what the chancellor might say, but he generally allows for autonomy on the individual campuses.”

Likewise regarding State Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, a Cal State trustee, despite a member of his staff attending the protest Wednesday.

“The speaker hasn’t had a chance to review [the request],” said Elena Stern, director of communications for Villaraigosa. “But it is my understanding that trustees don’t get involved in campus issues of this kind.”

Alpert and others claim that Wilson disregarded a unanimous recommendation by an eight-member search committee to hire Arias.

In fact, the committee--which included baseball Coach Mike Batesole and softball Coach Janet Sherman--worked to pare the field of candidates to five, who were invited to visit the campus and appear before an open forum.

One candidate, Brian Quinn, athletic director at Loyola Marymount, withdrew. Four forums were held. Arias’ visit included the most supporters, including several Northridge coaches.

But the search committee ultimately recommended three candidates for Wilson to consider, not one.

“[Recommending one candidate] wasn’t what we were appointed to do,” Batesole said. “That wasn’t our job.”

Nor does the Presidential Advisory Board have a “formal role” in the selection process, Wilson said.

Alpert and Chase said they urged Wilson to hire Arias. Alpert said he put his feelings in writing. Wilson said she considered it simply a letter of recommendation.

“Except for one person, none of the others made an attempt to make their views known,” Wilson said.

Wilson, who will leave Northridge this week to take a job in Boston, acknowledged that Arias was among the three finalists recommended by the search committee. She said she personally checked references and made the decision with the approval of the assistant to the president for equity and diversity and a faculty senate committee--both standard procedures.

Wilson defended the decision to hire Dull. But she didn’t have to.

“I would agree that Robert Arias was very impressive,” Wilson said. “And he clearly had prepared himself well and he is admired and respected. But you need to get as many of the [necessary qualifications] in a person as possible.”