Public comments regarding Chancellor Mathur’s contract.[During the meeting, after these remarks, Chancellor Mathur's contract was renewed. Further, he was given a raise--some of it retroactive. He now makes about a quarter million dollars per year.]
Priscilla R (IVC): “Three votes of ‘no confidence.’ Three massive votes of ‘no confidence.’ I submit that the evidence is irrefutable…Raghu Mathur cannot function as our Chancellor. He cannot be our leader if none of us will follow him.”
Wendy G (IVC): “Almost all of the lawsuits that you have endured and you have ended up
expending taxpayer dollars for have been as the result of the mismanagement of this current chancellor. I would like to suggest that there is a strong possibility…that you cannot rely on the information you are getting from this Chancellor….”Lewis L (IVC): “Last Tuesday I read in the LA Times…that the CEO of Morgan Stanley had been asked to resign. As I read that, I was struck by the irony that, in the private sector, when a corporation is experiencing difficulties, the CEO is asked to resign. Apparently, in the public sector, when the corporation is experiencing difficulty, the CEOs are awarded a new contract and a raise….”
Margot L (SC): “Since 1997, when he was hired as President of IVC, Chancellor Mathur…has cost the taxpayers of this district more in litigation fees than any other senior administrator in the history of this district…One case alone—the recently decided appellate court case challenging the Board’s attempt to unilaterally set faculty hiring policies—likely will end up costing the taxpayers approximately $500,000. That total will be even higher if the district refuses to follow the advice of the court to settle this matter quickly….”
Claire C (SC): “The Saddleback College Academic Senate has a continuing concern that the Board of Trustees, have been given...unreliable information that misconstrues the faculty intent and effort in the accreditation processes, board policy revisions, and the current litigation in faculty hiring process…I respectfully call to the Board’s attention the final paragraph from the unanimous decision of the…appellate court: ‘we note that the parties and the public would be better served if the matter could be resolved by further negotiation, or some form of dispute resolution rather than continuing to spend scarce public resources to litigate the matter further.’…
We need leadership that will seek our involvement—embrace it, even cherish it, and not reject it. Thank you.”
Bob C (SC): “…I’d like to ask for the sake of the community that you retire. I ask for the sake of classified staff that you retire. I ask for the sake of the administrators that you retire. I ask for the sake of the faculty that you retire. And finally, I would ask—using one of your mantras: ‘What have you done for your students today?’—that for the sake of your students, you retire….”
Jeff K (IVC): “In 1997 I was approached by administrators [about] honoring our departing college president Dan Larios with a plaque to be mounted at the site of a small native plant garden that students and I installed a month before. The administration arranged for the small plaque, but I was asked to come up with some words…It was a great send-off for Dan that day, and I had the honor of unveiling the plaque. When Mathur replaced him as president, the plaque soon disappeared from a large rock on which it was firmly bolted. The official word was that the stone plaque—stone plaque—was washed off the rock in the rain. Later, however, maintenance personnel told me in confidence—and [told] others as well—that the plaque is sequestered away in a room and that they were asked to remove the plaque from the rock.
In 2000, you said ‘no’ to Raghu Mathur, and I was allowed to keep my job. For the life of me I can’t understand why it’s so hard for you to say ‘no’ now….”
[In 2000, Mathur recommended that tenure be denied to Jeff on the grounds that Jeff had allegedly participated (along with several tenured faculty) in the unauthorized naming of a greenhouse--one built by those faculty with their own labor and funds!]
Carmen D (SC): “…Does he have the ability to bring people together to act for the good of the institution?
[Carmen looks to the large audience at her left. “No” booms the audience.] [T]he answer is again, ‘no.’
…Finally, does he know how to do his job? [The audience booms: ‘No.’]
Why else would the board of trustees decide to micromanage the chancellor’s daily actions unless they had absolutely no faith in his decision-making capability?...
There is nothing [pause] …more heartbreaking than to watch public officials knowingly cling to the wrong action because they are resistant to listen to any voice other than their own, or to refuse to consider the collective wisdom and experience of trained experts, professionals, and even community members from their own constituency while refusing a call for new district leadership. I hope that [those among the trustees who oppose a contract renewal] would cling to your individual values and your sense of right and wrong. Let your actions serve to bring the district together.
[Carmen looks to the 60-70 full-time faculty, in black, along the hall’s walls:] That over sixty faculty
of the two colleges have gathered in the summer to stand against a renewed contract for this individual should be a clear message that the time for new leadership has come. Thank you.” [The audience responded to each of these remarks with sometimes thunderous applause.]
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