Pasadena City College must return to semesters and pay its faculty for losses brought on by elimination of its winter session in 2012, according to a decision of a public employment board.
The Public Employment Relations Board, or PERB, ruled that the college – then under the controversial leadership of Dr. Mark Rocha — violated state law when it adopted the new schedule because college officials did not properly negotiate the change with the Pasadena City College Faculty Assn.
With the order, PCC must now switch back to fall and spring semesters, with winter and summer sessions, after the 2015-16 school year, according to the ruling.
“The rescission/restoration would occur at the beginning of the second successive academic year following service of the final decision,” the board wrote.
PERB’s ruling requires the college to pay employees for their losses, plus 7 percent interest.
It was unclear just how much that would be.
PCC President Rajen Vurdien said the college still is studying the order’s effects.
“We will not make a statement until we get a full understanding,” he said.
Similarly, PCC Board of Trustees President Berlinda Brown said it was too premature to discuss the return to semesters as the college received PERB’s decision late yesterday.
“Dr. Vurdien will be reviewing the ruling and seeing where we go from here,” she said.
PCC eliminated the winter session in its 2012-13 school year amid a flurry of protest from students and faculty members. The new schedule moved up the start dates for the spring and summer sessions, effectively creating a trimester system.
According to Ms. Brown, the decision largely revolved around the budget.
“That was the biggest part in doing that,” she said. “Money was tight.”
The college believed the change would increase its revenue by $600,000, according to PERB.
The college moved forward with its plan despite not reaching a consensus with the faculty association. The college argued that it only changed the academic calendar, not employees’ work calendars, according to the PERB ruling.
PERB referred to the calendar change as “unilateral” and ordered the college to stop interfering with the rights of union members.
PCC’s Academic Senate took a vote of no confidence against former President Rocha following the removal of the winter session. Dr. Rocha left a year ago this month with a $400,000 severance package. The discontent contributed to a regional accrediting commission’s decision to place the college on probation. That commission found a “climate of distrust,” an erosion of “participatory governance” and a “lack of respect” among employees.
This story originally appeared in the Pasadena Star News.
