[Editor’s Note: From a private source who has been tracking the administrative controversies plaguing Pasadena City College.]
Dateline Pasadena – Checking in with a status report from Pasadena City College where the campus remains troubled by the heavy-handed rule of wildly unpopular President Mark Rocha.
He roams about undeterred, and employee morale is even lower than last year. Staffers, people who have been here for decades, are leaving, I believe because of Dr. Rocha.
The administration is going crazy trying to get more students enrolled after they mishandled the calendar and schedule so badly they are now in danger of losing state funds for lack of enrollment.
Last fall, they suddenly opened a satellite campus in Rosemead in the middle of the term.
This year they are launching a bunch of weekend classes, again in the middle of the term, and bypassing normal protocol for hiring faculty.
Looks like desperation to me.
Probably the most interesting recent development is that Gail Cooper, the universally disliked “General Counsel” hired by Dr. Rocha, has been exiled to an office at the Child Development Center, a few blocks from the main campus.
Ms. Cooper’s former office in the administration building stands empty.
Nobody seems to hear from her, which is a stark contrast with her formerly noisy ways. She remains the object of a sexual harassment lawsuit.
I have no idea whether that has anything to do with her move off campus.
Another mysterious disappearance was by Dean of the languages division Ted Young.
Suddenly (during the holidays) he was declared to be “on sabbatical” for spring and leaving PCC at the end of his contract in June.
(There is no policy of sabbaticals for deans as far as I know. Faculty sabbaticals require a commitment to continue at the college for some years after the sabbatical period.
So this “sabbatical” is very fishy.
As has been consistently the case with those “disappeared” by the Rocha administration, Ted Young says that he can't comment. He did, however, highlight an entry about Latin American dictators on his personal blog recently.
Dr. Rocha just held a big expensive ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Arts building (they hired a wedding planner and a staff of caterers to run the event) with many invited politicians.
At the same time, he is rumored to have ordered the closing of the art gallery in the campus quad area, forcing cancellation of a planned exhibition of student architecture and design. That gallery building stands as empty as Gail Cooper's old office now.
Journalism teacher Warren Swil is teaching classes again but is apparently no longer affiliated with the school newspaper.
Rumor has it that Juan Guttierez, the former PR man who was also quietly dismissed last term, committed the offense of criticizing a plan by Dr. Rocha to launch a pro-administration newspaper designed to counter and discredit the student paper.
This story is pure rumor. I have no verification at all But the idea that Dr. Rocha would want his own version of Pravda does seem believable. I hear that Juan Guttierez has found employment as PR head for another community college, in Orange county, by the way.
In a potentially interesting development, the Academic Senate is sending out ballots to all faculty, asking for their evaluation of Dr. Rocha's performance. I haven't seen the ballot yet, but I'm guessing they'll leave space for comments, which should make for good reading if they are published.
