Re “PCC Academic Senate Joins the Crowd with No-Confidence Vote, 23-0”
Following yesterday’s hardly stunning – and latest – vote of no-confidence in the President by the Academic Senate, Pasadena City College faculty members found two tart missives when they opened their mail this morning.
Dr. Mark Rocha and his gang of human shields, the loyalist Board of Trustees, swung back at the huge and varied crowd of critics with all the force and insight of a three-day-old newborn.
Smarmy comes to mind.
Not to mention:
Crawling.
Denial.
[img]1769|left|Dr. Mark Rocha||no_popup[/img]When the student body and 92 percent of the faculty are loudly objecting to your arrogant style of governance – at your third straight community college – you don’t blithely blow bubbles into their eyes and inquire, petulantly, “Did you say something?”
Dr. Rocha, however, is armed with the most powerful ammunition, three more years on his renewed contract, and the Trustees have circled his little red wagon.
Here are the two written spankings:
Official Statement from the Superintendent-President Pasadena Area Community College District. Pasadena City College.
I am disappointed in the Senate’s action mostly because it unfairly reflects on the entire administration and my dear colleagues and friends in the administration who every day do the hard work of serving students and supporting excellence in teaching and learning.
I want to thank all managers, administrators and staff who have risen to the occasion to lead the college forward.
I believe more strongly than ever that PCC will move forward together to become the best community in the United States because together we will continue to develop innovative solutions for providing both student access AND student success.
I will rise in the morning and come to work with a renewed commitment to move the college forward into a bright future. This will take dialogue, active listening and a shared vision for action. I am grateful to the many faculty who have volunteered their ideas and their time for how we can continue to create a shared vision for the community college we all love so well. The coffee is still on!
Nothing will change the high regard and profound respect I hold for every single faculty member at PCC. I am still a practicing English teacher and an adjunct faculty member at PCC.
In fact, I am going to ask Dean Ulmer if I can teach a class this summer. I will continue to devote myself to supporting our faculty’s excellent teaching and patient support of our students.
I also congratulate the new officers of the Academic Senate for 2013-2014 and pledge my good faith, active listening and vigorous action in the service of excellence in teaching and learning. I look forward to our working together in the coming year.
Finally, I wish to thank the Board of Trustees for their steadfast and stalwart support and for the Board’s clear statement on the Senate action. This Board’s focus has always been one thing: student success. It is an honor to serve this Board and the College. I will never tire in our work together to help our students realize their dreams through access to quality higher education.
I look forward to seeing many of you at our 89th annual Commencement, if not sooner at one of my open house coffees.
Dr. Mark Rocha
Superintendent-President
Pasadena City College
Official Statement from the Board of Trustees, Pasadena Area Community College District:
The Board of Trustees wishes to register its disappointment at the action of the Academic Senate to vote no-confidence in the administration.
The Board wishes to reiterate its unequivocal and unanimous support for the Superintendent-President and his administration. The Board further wishes to express its appreciation to Dr. Rocha for leading the college through difficult times with compassion and dignity.
Dr. Rocha enjoys not only the Board’s support but also that of the broader community. We look forward to his continuing service.
The Board also wishes to make the following statements:
1.The Board, not the Superintendent-President, made the decisions that the Senate calls into question. As we have said publicly, the Board of Trustees—and not the Superintendent-President—has made all the decisions that have met with disagreement.
On November 7, 2012, the Board publicly adopted eleven goals for the college and then charged the Superintendent-President with implementing them. The Superintendent-President is carrying out this Board’s policy, and criticism directed at him is criticism that is rightly shared by every member of this Board. He will continue to administer with our full confidence, and by extension, that of the voting public.
2. We see the Senate’s action today as premature. All the facts are not in. The Board fully acknowledges and has listened respectfully to those who disagree with its decisions. But these decisions are now before the Public Employees Relations Board (PERB) this summer in formal fact-finding and a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. We believe the Senate’s action should have awaited the formal legal rulings by PERB before making its final determinations.
3. The Board is most severely disappointed that this action was not deferred until the Board and the Superintendent-President had been given the opportunity to consult and confer on the issues at hand with the Senate officers and leadership. Respect for due process, decency and fairness required that the Board and Dr. Rocha be given an opportunity to speak with the Senate and the proponents of the resolution before action. The Board observes that this resolution was publicly agendized only three days before the action as a “Second Hearing”, leading any reasonable member of the public to believe that no final action of this kind would be taken without further consultation. The Board further observes that many senators were absent for the vote.
It is time for us to create a spirit to talk with each other rather than at each other. The Board applauds and supports Dr. Rocha’s efforts to do just that.
Tomorrow the Superintendent-President will continue with our full confidence with our most important work to bring all faculty together to develop a shared vision for moving PCC forward.
Today, April 15, is also Jackie Robinson Day throughout Major League Baseball. Today the entire world will honor our alumnus, Jackie Robinson, for his courage and commitment to the cause of social justice and opportunity for all. May all of us at PCC mark this day, not in further discord, but in unity as we join hands in Mr. Robinson’s cause.
For the PACCD Board of Trustees
John H. Martin, President
