2008 Woodie Awards
Chancellor addresses faculty, staff grievances about top-heavy administration
Bexar County taxpayers support district headquarters while colleges operate on tuition, fees and state reimbursement, he explained.
By Regis L. Roberts
Issue date: 6/30/08 Section: News
Originally published: 7/29/08 at 6:15 PM CSTLast update: 9/4/08 at 2:04 PM CST
Editor's note:
A hand gesture by Professor Christy Woodward-Kaupert characterized as a response to trustee James Rindfuss' comments was actually in response to private correspondence with two faculty members. We apologize for the confusion.
After internal discussions, e-mails and letters of complaint, faculty presented concerns to the chancellor about what they perceive as an administrative structure that operates from the top down.
The crowd overflowed Room 120 of the visual arts center July 7 to take concerns to Chancellor Bruce Leslie.
Leslie's town hall meeting on this campus was the third such meeting he has had with the district colleges, the first two at Northeast Lakeview and Northwest Vista colleges.
These meetings were called in response to letters sent to Leslie by Faculty Senate and the District Council of Chairs regarding concerns that the district was being run in "a top-down, invasive corporate culture," as written in the Faculty Senate letter.
Representing district were Leslie; James McLaughlin, vice chancellor of administration; Thomas Cleary, vice chancellor for planning, performance and information systems; and District 9 trustee James Rindfuss. Jeff Hunt, chair of the theater and communication department and member of Faculty Senate and chair of the Council of Chairs, moderated the meeting.
"Dr. Leslie, I did bring my stop watch," Hunt said with a laugh from the audience.
The first order was how Leslie could justify running the district in such a top-heavy manner.Of particular concern was the way in which Leslie has gone about new hires.
Leslie said even now the district is understaffed with its five vice chancellors, up from two vice chancellors when he came to the district in November 2006. To fill much-needed positions, it was necessary to expedite the hiring process by forgoing district policy, he said.
District hiring guidelines DC (Local) requires budgeted positions to be advertised internally, externally or both for at least two weeks and full-time faculty and administrative positions for four weeks.
A hand gesture by Professor Christy Woodward-Kaupert characterized as a response to trustee James Rindfuss' comments was actually in response to private correspondence with two faculty members. We apologize for the confusion.
After internal discussions, e-mails and letters of complaint, faculty presented concerns to the chancellor about what they perceive as an administrative structure that operates from the top down.
The crowd overflowed Room 120 of the visual arts center July 7 to take concerns to Chancellor Bruce Leslie.
Leslie's town hall meeting on this campus was the third such meeting he has had with the district colleges, the first two at Northeast Lakeview and Northwest Vista colleges.
These meetings were called in response to letters sent to Leslie by Faculty Senate and the District Council of Chairs regarding concerns that the district was being run in "a top-down, invasive corporate culture," as written in the Faculty Senate letter.
Representing district were Leslie; James McLaughlin, vice chancellor of administration; Thomas Cleary, vice chancellor for planning, performance and information systems; and District 9 trustee James Rindfuss. Jeff Hunt, chair of the theater and communication department and member of Faculty Senate and chair of the Council of Chairs, moderated the meeting.
"Dr. Leslie, I did bring my stop watch," Hunt said with a laugh from the audience.
The first order was how Leslie could justify running the district in such a top-heavy manner.Of particular concern was the way in which Leslie has gone about new hires.
Leslie said even now the district is understaffed with its five vice chancellors, up from two vice chancellors when he came to the district in November 2006. To fill much-needed positions, it was necessary to expedite the hiring process by forgoing district policy, he said.
District hiring guidelines DC (Local) requires budgeted positions to be advertised internally, externally or both for at least two weeks and full-time faculty and administrative positions for four weeks.
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