I had the privilege of serving as the Chancellor of South Orange County Community College District for nine years, which is considered a rare term in academic administration of higher education institutions in California as well as the nation. Per direction and support of a majority of the Board of Trustees, I was engaged in tough and successful contract negotiations with the faculty and staff unions under declining economic conditions affecting our taxpayers and businesses. However, a disgruntled faculty union member had created blog with continued irresponsible, unprofessional and defamatory false statements about me and my outstanding work as Chancellor as supported by my outstanding performance evaluations.
I retired from the college district when an elected and married male member of the Board of Trustees, directed, and in fact, pressured me to perform an illegal and unethical task, which would have cost an unnecessary expense of more than $250,000 annually for many years. I declined to perform such a task because, as a fiscal conservative, it was against my principles and conscience as well as against the best interests of the students, the three campuses and the taxpayers. Therefore, I respectfully and honorably retired.
Specifically, I chose to leave related to a moral and ethical issue, when an elected and married male member of the Board of Trustees demanded of me to create a new Dean position and pressured me to promote his unqualified girlfriend to fill that position. The position came with a secretarial support position at a total annual cost of $250, 000, and was unnecessary, illegal in the context of employment laws for public higher education institutions and outright unethical. While the colleges were offering a limited number of courses for students due to budget constraints, I declined to add any administrative positions and thus participate in wasting taxpayer dollars. This was against my principles as a fiscal conservative as well as against my conscience and the best interests of students, college campuses and taxpayers. Therefore, I respectfully and honorably retired as Chancellor of the South Orange County Community College District. The Board of Trustees chose to honor one year remaining on my contract as the Chancellor. I most sincerely wanted to work and earn the money; instead, the Board chose to pay me severance pay per contract, and still paid full salary and benefits to another Chancellor when I left. Some Trustees wanted me to stay and earn my pay which I was totally prepared and willing to do.
