Last night, the Governing Board of Southwestern College played host to a packed house for its sudden evaluation of Superintendent Raj Chopra. Every spectator seat was filled to capacity with teachers, students, incoming board members Tim Nader and Norma Hernandez, and outspoken members of the public. Campus police were forced to turn some away due to safety regulations.
It began with Oral Communications - when people are allowed to speak their piece. Many did - including several new faces: students, teachers, and members of the public - and most gave the same message:
"It's wrong to shove this evaluation down the throat of the college, and it seems a blatant attempt by the outgoing board members - Salcido and Dominguez - to affect a change that the new board should undertake."
The board then retired behind closed doors, which is the policy for all personnel matters. After about two and a half hours, they returned to a still-full room. An attorney for the district read their action. To paraphrase broadly:
"The board has decided that Dr. Chopra's current contract will continue as it is, and no other change will take place."
They then adjourned with no other words and left.
This appears to be the second option I described as possible in the last column: allowing any action regarding Dr. Chopra's contract to be left for the incoming board. But several oddities trouble me - and many others that were there.
Dr. Chopra appeared to be gloating early in the meeting, though by the end, he did seem a little worse for wear.
The agenda for next week's actual GB meeting has been changed to include an item regarding Dr. Chopra's evaluation. This might hint at a further evaluation to come. I am not certain, but I believe that the attorney stated that the evaluation tonight covered the period up to August of this year - not including September and October, which is when some of the truly questionable actions of his has taken place - including actively fundraising for incumbents Dominguez, Salcido, and Valladolid. This seems odd to me, and it was noted that this seems very curious.
Allow me to state for the record: I may very likely be wrong about the dates mentioned. If I am, please correct me, and I will make the edits to this blog.
Lastly, there is the question of why? Why did this need to be done now? There was no urgency to have a meeting that ended with "no other action." Surely Dr. Chopra's evaluation could have been discussed in closed-door session before next week's regular board meeting. So what was the point?
Given the fact that this lame-duck board has already called one "special" meeting on Dr. Chopra's behalf, it is no stretch to assume that they might call another before the outgoing incumbents terms end at the end of November.
Is this a game? And why are they playing it? Let's have your theories and ideas in the comments section below.
The attorney was pretty clear that this contract covers up through June 30, 2012. I believe the board was trying to remove any legal obstacles they might incur when they buy Chopra out. It is now law that the max time the board can buy off is 18 months. By my calculation that means Chopra can leave Dec. 31, 2010, rape the college for 18 months salary, and be on his way. This board still has 5 days to make that happen.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all who came out and spoke last night. It was wonderful to see the solidarity (albeit disgusting to hear Chpopra's horrific legacy catalogued by so many).
First off, the only thing we know for sure is, as Nick Furr points out, that there's an item regarding the S/P on the closed-session agenda for the regularly-scheduled GB meeting on Wednesday 11/10.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, the Board will meet in closed session on Wednesday and report out at the beginning of their regular meeting.
It could be that on Wednesday, the Board will report that they've just done exactly what we spoke against last night--they've bought out Chopra's contract.
But that's just speculation, as is everything that happened in the Board's closed-session meeting last night.
Maybe Board members spent two hours last night hashing out the language of Chopra's evaluation. Maybe they gave him a really good evaluation. Maybe they think an excellent evaluation on Friday lays the groundwork for a juicy buyout on Wednesday. Maybe they think a stellar evaluation on Friday will make it more difficult for the incoming Board majority to take any negative action against him at some time in the future.
All these "maybe's" and "what-if's" add up to another certainty: The current Board has us all scratching our heads over the direction the College is taking and worrying about the future. That's precisly what's been wrong with their leadership, and that's why the current Board majority is on the way out the door.
Thanks to everyone who spoke so well last night, and special thanks to those who spoke for the first time.
--Philip Lopez
Whatever this GB is up to, I was so proud of our faculty members who spoke so well and made it clear that we won't sit back and will let them know we're still here. Because faculty who haven't made their voices heard before stood there and told the board members that they too were outraged, our collective voice became all the stronger.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I still house a tiny glimmer of hope that maybe some of the majority GB members heard our words of love for our college and dedication to bring it back to where it should be: Students! And, yes, I'm prepared to see that glimmer die as it always has.
Thank you all. It was an important night.
Barb Speidel
They say that there is silver lining to every storm. The silver lining on this reign or terror that the Old Board has awakened the tiger, the spirit they tried to break at the College. They underestimated faculty, classified, and concerned community members. That was obvious to me from their faces; they didn't expect us to be there last night. If we hadn't been there, I'm afraid that things might have been reported out very differently. I think Phil is right: we'll find out soon and all of this is speculation but one thing is certain: our resolve is even stronger today than before the election to return our College to what it used to be, a return to excellence. Kudos to all who were there, those who spoke and all who work behind the scenes to get things out to all of us. They don't know how to deal with the tiger they have awakened.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't speaking of the contract itself, but was referring to the period of time the evaluation covered. It seems to me that they have left themselves two months' worth of wiggle room -- if what I thought I heard what what I heard. It's all a little too opaque for my taste.
ReplyDeleteFrom 100 miles North: The South Orange Board "bought out" Ragu Mathur's chancellorship. Your board could be buying themselves a little time for the negotiations with Chopra. Ragu's lawyer raked in a cool #25,000 for himself (paid for by guess who!) during that fenagling; wonder what all it will cost you. Good luck. And congratulations--ousting incumbents is hard work--which you were clearly up to providing.
ReplyDelete100 Miles North --
ReplyDeleteThat's kind of what I'm afraid will happen. I can't figure out any other reason what they'd get out of stalling.
Thanks for the head up.
Raj knows ever angle to "WIN". He has had experience doing this many times. Check his track record in Ohio, Kansas, Texas, etc. You will read the same story with different names and different locations.
ReplyDelete