College District Gives Chancellor Power to Hire, Fire Nonteachers

Ending what they called personnel micromanagement, Ventura County Community College District trustees this week delegated total hiring and firing authority of nonteaching employees to Chancellor Philip Westin.

The decision Tuesday was immediately criticized by the teachers’ union and faculty members from Ventura College who said it concentrates too much power in the hands of one administrator, and will add to an already bloated bureaucracy at the college district office.

Under the new policy, the chancellor has exclusive authority to hire, fire and discipline management and administrative personnel throughout the three-college district. Formerly, the board routinely reviewed such personnel actions, occasionally overruling a decision by the chancellor.

The policy change does not directly involve instructors, whose positions are regulated by union contract. But faculty members at Ventura College fear that Westin, left unchecked by the board, will add administrative staff rather than hire what they say are sorely needed additional full-time instructors at the campus.

For some time, union representatives and the faculty have complained that Westin reneged on a promise to allocate funds equally between hiring additional administrative staff and hiring more instructors.

Since he took the top district job in 1996, Westin has increased his budget for management staff more than threefold to $836,086, according to figures released by the union. By contrast, Ventura College hired only four full-time instructors last year, and none this year.

The college has experienced flagging enrollment in recent years and with funding tied to student enrollment, faculty members say that classes and services will be reduced if available money goes to hire more administrators.

“The Ventura College budget is getting shafted by the college district office,” Bill Thieman, head of the biology department, said Wednesday.

“We’re going to abrogate all power to the chancellor,” he said. “Where’s the local control? Why do we even have a board of trustees?”

With a growing number of students comes the money needed to hire sufficient instructors, he said.

Westin did not return calls seeking comment.

Faculties at Moorpark and Oxnard colleges, which have experienced steady increases in enrollment, did not speak out against the board’s action.

During their Tuesday night meeting, the trustees cited a need to streamline personnel matters and to respect the chancellor’s authority. They also rejected the claims of faculty members who said the board was abandoning its power.

“I think we need to hold our CEO, the chancellor, accountable on [personnel matters],” said trustee Norman Nagel.

Chairman of the board Robert Gonzales added, “I don’t believe it’s our job to micromanage employees. There is a chain of command in an organization.”