College Wins Ruling on State Takeover

Arguing that the state takeover of its financially troubled campus was illegal and unnecessary, the Compton Community College District Board of Trustees won a temporary restraining order Thursday against the state’s intervention.

The trustees retain decision-making power on paper for at least three more weeks as a result. But college officials agreed not to take any action opposed by Arthur Tyler Jr., the state-appointed special trustee brought in to oversee the Compton college, until a full Superior Court hearing scheduled for June 21.

“The parties agreed that they will not disagree” in the meantime, said Barry Green, one of the lawyers who filed the complaint on behalf of the Compton district.

The restraining order issued by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs came less than a week after state community college system Chancellor Mark Drummond arrived at the Compton campus and appointed Tyler to govern the 7,000-student school until its fiscal solvency is secured.

Compton district lawyers argued that Drummond’s intervention was illegal because it was not authorized by the state community college Board of Governors.

“Even if the chancellor could have validly appointed a monitor or trustee, there is no authority for the chancellor to displace the lawfully elected board of trustees of the district,” the complaint said.

But state officials maintained that the chancellor had a right to intervene and appoint a special trustee when a district’s financial situation called for it.

“The chancellor wouldn’t have issued the executive order if he didn’t think it went with the statutes,” said Cheryl Fong, Drummond’s spokeswoman.

The takeover came as the college remained under criminal investigation by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office for possible financial mismanagement.

In addition, court papers submitted Thursday by Frederick E. Harris, state assistant vice chancellor for college finance, say the U.S. attorney’s office and a federal grand jury are also examining the district for alleged corruption. Harris offered no other details about that investigation.

Last year, The Times reported a history of questionable contracts and costly perks paid for by college officials with taxpayer dollars.

Under Drummond’s executive order last week, the elected board of trustees became an advisory board. However, college President Ulis C. Williams was to be retained.

State officials have said they were forced to intervene because the district was suffering “severe financial distress.” The chancellor’s office had been looking into financial troubles at the college since October, when the campus failed to provide a satisfactory audit and chancellor’s officials discovered a budget shortfall of about $300,000.

The state gives the college about $30 million a year to operate.

Fong called the situation at Compton “uncharted territory” because the state hadn’t intervened in a college’s administration since 1986.

That year, it gave an emergency, $3.3-million bailout loan to the Peralta Community College District in Oakland.

“Everyone’s in agreement we need to work closely; the disagreement is the role of the board and the role of the monitor or trustee,” Fong said. Over the next weeks, she added, “we’re still going to offer them technical assistance; the independent audit is still taking place.”

District officials said they were taken aback by the state intervention. The board of trustees met and voted Tuesday to pursue the restraining order.

Tyler and Williams could not be reached for comment.

In a statement, board members said the college had been successfully working toward solvency and vowed to fight the state intervention.

“They can’t take away the representation of the voters that way,” Trustee Carl Robinson said in an interview. “We’re going to fight it in court.”

The district was represented in court by lawyers who had been on contract but whose payment for the case, they said, would probably be jeopardized if the state prevailed.

“We are under contract with the college. However, we’re willing to assume the risk,” said David Huff, one of the lawyers.