Outspoken Aviation Professor Wages a Battle With His Bosses

An iconoclastic professor at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa has become the first instructor in the district in more than a decade to receive a notice of unprofessional conduct, a serious reprimand that tells him to shape up in 90 days or face firing.

The dispute between Ernest Maurer and the administration has nothing to do with his ability to teach aviation classes, but rather with the tenured professor’s outspoken criticism of his bosses, often documented in memos, and his occasional refusal to follow bureaucratic procedures.

John D. Renley, the Coast Community College District vice chancellor for human resources, said Maurer caused continual disruption by insisting on doing things his way. He said Maurer would talk to his dean only via e-mail, refused to go through proper channels when purchasing supplies and alienated other faculty members.

“After several years of this, people are disgusted [with] dealing with him,” Renley said.

Maurer admits he can be a pain, but said the problems have been caused by administrators who don’t understand or support the aviation and space program, especially Robert Mendoza, the dean of technology, the object of most of his complaints. Maurer worries that his students are being taught by part-timers not as qualified as he is.

“I fought for what was right,” he said. “The bottom line is: The motivation is not monetary. It’s not to get promoted. It’s not to raise Cain. It was to get what’s right for the students.”

He has appealed the trustees’ action to the state Public Employment Relations Board, which filed a complaint against the district. A settlement conference is scheduled for mid-November.

Maurer is also fighting the college with a Web site that has itself become a point of contention. The site publicizes letters of support from students and a news release that blasts college administrators for cutting back on class offerings and for its treatment of him.

“There are administrators, unfortunately, who think that the way to get things done is to harass and intimidate faculty. . . . To write a memo in our college critical of an administrator is considered a capital offense, irrespective of your competence in the classroom. . . . Clearly, the district has chosen the mutual protection of the old-boy network over students,” it says.

Web Site Irks Administrators

The Web site has irked campus administrators. In a Sept. 24 letter, Renley wrote Maurer, “I would also suggest that you not add additional materials to your Web site.”

Maurer said he considered that a threat and an attack on his freedom of speech.

Renley said the Web site could lead to more trouble for Maurer. “Whatever he puts on there, we would have to take a look at it to see whether that’s the unprofessional aspect,” Renley said.

The atmosphere became so polarized in May that Maurer was called to a meeting with administrators, told to clean out his desk, turn in his keys and to stay off campus. He was placed on paid leave. It was a week before finals and the students’ written Federal Aviation Administration test, but Maurer was not allowed to grade his students. They all were given A’s, Maurer said.

Renley said this dramatic step was taken because five administrators and professors were concerned for their safety. “Some people called him a bully,” Renley said. “If he didn’t get his way, people became fearful.”

A former police officer was brought in a week later to investigate. He concluded that although Maurer could be intimidating, no threats were made, Renley said.

Even something as routine as a meeting of the Coast Community College District trustees took a bizarre turn Sept. 19, when Maurer insisted the discussion of his status take place in public, rather than in closed session, which is routinely used to discuss personnel matters. The trustees voted unanimously to send Maurer the misconduct notice.

The next step would be the difficult task of firing a tenured professor.

Armando R. Ruiz, president of the board, declined to comment.

When Maurer was allowed back on campus this fall, he returned not to his usual classes in the aviation and space department but instead to teach math, which infuriated him even more. Maurer’s aviation classes are being taught by part-timers.

“There’s only one person on campus [who] can teach aviation classes full time,” Maurer said. “No one on campus can teach the aviation courses. I’m the only one.”

Renley said the notice of misconduct is the first the district has issued in his 11 years at Coast. The district could not determine when the last one was issued to a professor.

The Notice of Unprofessional Conduct says that Maurer “frequently and repeatedly undermined the working relationships within your division and department, subverted the authority of the dean, failed to work collegially with the dean and other staff members . . . and have generally created a hostile working atmosphere for the dean and other employees within your department.”

Some examples: “On Jan. 24, 1998, you sent a memo to the dean indicating that another instructor was incompetent to teach the classes for which he was scheduled.

“On March 17, 1999, you sent a memo to the dean, the vice president and the president, complaining about the dean.”

“In the fall of 2000, you made numerous complaints about assigned classroom space.”

A Following in the Aviation Industry

Maurer has been a professor and administrator in the district for 24 years. After serving as dean of technology and dean of career education for 12 years, he was sent back to the classroom in 1996.

As a professor, he has built a loyal following among students and in the aviation industry.

“I found Ernie Maurer to be probably the most dynamic, inspirational and dedicated professor I’ve ever had,” said Steve Reynolds, administrator of the Long Beach Flight Center, a member of the aviation and space department’s advisory committee and a former pupil of Maurer’s. He used to tell his students to take their ground-school courses from Maurer rather than attend courses closer to home.

“Ernie militantly supports his program and militantly supports his students and would do anything to help his students, including sacrificing himself,” Reynolds said.