Chancellor considers transferring faculty

After winter break, district officials asked several departments at this college to submit names of full-time faculty members to be transferred to other colleges in the district.

English Instructors Richard Farias, Mariano Aguilar and Denise Stallins; speech communication Instructor Karen Wilking; reading and education Instructor Cecilia Gabrillo; and math Professor Brian Hons would be the first affected.

English Chair Mike Burton said he understands that the possible transfers are a result of the board's directive for all colleges to keep faculty at a ratio of 50 percent full-time to 50 percent part-time.

He said the English department was at that ratio in fall 2010, but the district's enrollment capping, limited course sections, and increased class size from 24 to 25, led to fewer sections being offered.

Burton said departments had to fill the schedules of full-time faculty with available courses, leaving fewer opportunities for adjuncts and affecting the full-time to part-time ratio.

Burton stressed that while transfers are "very probable," Chancellor Bruce Leslie must approve them, meaning the transfers are not yet official.

As of Tuesday, Leslie has not approved any transfers officially, but he said a decision will be made in the coming weeks.

He said the reasons behind the moves are twofold: the $4 billion budget cut and $1.4 billion in discretionary grants to education during the most recent legislative session, and "the long history of colleges not being managed in the hiring of their personnel."

Burton said the decision of who is transferred is required, legally, to be done based on seniority, with the least senior staff members leaving first.

"My faculty are very upset," he said.

Farias and Stallins would be moved to Northwest Vista College if transfers are made.

Aguilar also was supposed to be transferred to Northwest Vista but said because English Professor Ioannis Vassiliou will move to Australia this summer for personal reasons, Aguilar will be able to keep his position at this college.

Burton said if departments affected by the transfers have full-time employees who volunteer to leave this college, they can take the place of the aforementioned faculty members.

"I think that whenever there is chaos introduced into the system, it affects everybody, and definitely it affects students. So I think that if the professors are unsettled, it has an unsettling affect everywhere," he said.

Gabrillo would transfer to Northeast Lakeview College if the transfers are made. She said she has been teaching at this college for 15 years and volunteered to be transferred from the department. "I just figured, well, it's closer to my home," she said.

She also said that volunteering to be transferred helped to ease tension that might arise by forcing an employee to leave.

Hons would be moved to Palo Alto College.

Mathematics Chair Said Fariabi said that while Hons is the newest hire, he volunteered to be transferred.

He said math Professor Rachid Makroz was transferred to Northeast Lakeview College after last semester ended, but he also was a volunteer.

This college's unique needs

Burton also said this college faces challenges different from other colleges. He said this college's senior faculty outnumbers those at other colleges, and while the full-time to part-time ratio may be disproportionate now, within the next few years it is likely that departments will fall below the 50-50 ratio.

"It seems reasonable from my position to just let natural attrition take care of the problem," he said.

Wilking is the most junior faculty member in the speech communication program in the fine arts department but said there is no official decision made within the department about who would be transferred to Northwest Vista.

She said while other departments may have a definitive list of who will be transferred, the speech communication program does not. "Our department is not really in that boat," she said.

Fine arts Chair Jeff Hunt agreed, saying the transfers are unofficial, and the department is still requesting volunteers if moves become mandatory.

Discrepancies in hiring

Burton said there seems to be differences in the standards officials use in the hiring "chill."

"Administration is not treated with the same qualities that faculty are," he said. "Administration seems like it grows and grows and grows and grows, and faculty, we're on hold. … It seems like there's a double standard."

Leslie said there has been a collective effort by district officials for the past year and a half to determine what the full-time, part-time ratio should be for administration and support staff.

Linda Boyer-Owens, associate vice chancellor of human resources, did not reply before press time to a request for the number of employees the district has hired since the hiring freeze in August 2003. It officially became a hiring "chill" in summer 2010.

Culture loss bad for students, faculty

Leslie also said he is not concerned about losing skilled professors because of transfers.

"We have the authority to reassign any of our personnel to where they are most effective and where they are properly utilized," he said.

English Professor Alex Bernal, who was the English chair for 20 years at this college, participated in the hiring process of the professors being transferred.

He agreed that talented professors can flourish at either of the colleges, but he said it disrupts the culture of departments to transfer them against their will, negatively affecting students.

He said it is the goal of departments to hone a diverse staff for students to learn from.