Chancellor questions faculty’s honesty

Faculty members are liars. Or at least that's what Chancellor Bruce Leslie indicated during a Super Senate meeting Monday.

Faculty Senate presidents from all five colleges were present during the 1:30 p.m. meeting with the chancellor when they questioned why it took so long for him to respond to their September vote-of-no-confidence statements.

Because there were so many lies and misrepresentations was his reply. Leslie confirmed Wednesday night in a telephone interview that he made it clear to senate leaders that the documents they had produced were full of falsehoods and lies. "They admitted it that they made it up. A series of untruths. The documents that they produced were all false," Leslie said.

Leslie wrote his own statement to the San Antonio Express-News and distributed it districtwide in December more than two months after the Sept. 15 board meeting in which Faculty Senate leaders of the four accredited colleges in the district read statements on the overwhelming votes of no confidence and the objections to the chancellor's leadership.

Leslie told The Ranger that if you do a side-by-side of his response and their statements, you'll see the truths in what he wrote.

Jeff Hunt, Faculty Senate president here, said, "I'm disappointed that the chancellor would use a tactic like character assassination of the faculty leadership." He said the senate was meticulous in choosing what to charge the chancellor with and only included items that could be backed up with instances and facts.

"The facts are all on paper," Hunt said, adding the chancellor has his own perspective, but the senate focuses on reality.

Dr. Mary-Ellen Jacobs, Palo Alto College's senate president, said, "That is so wrong. That is absolutely incorrect. I'm heart sick. This is a misrepresentation of our conversation on Monday."

George Johnson III, St. Philip's College's senate president, said of Monday's meeting that the chancellor basically said he felt there were a lot of points raised in the vote-of-no-confidence statements that were incorrect.

"His sentiments haven't changed. We still feel the same way," Johnson said.

Paul Martinez, Northwest Vista College Faculty Senate president, said, "That's not true. We never said that. We never admitted that there were lies and misrepresentations in the statements."

Northwest Vista faculty's statement, presented Sept. 15, compared administrators' leadership in developmental studies as worthy of a Dilbert cartoon — unworkable and demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of the task.

This college's balloting drew 75 percent of eligible full-time, tenure-track faculty, of which 97 percent voted no confidence in Leslie.

Northwest Vista yielded a 96 percent vote of no confidence out of the 85 percent of tenured faculty who voted. At St. Philip's, 70 percent of eligible faculty voted with 91 percent voting for no confidence and called for his resignation.

Furthermore, Palo Alto's faculty, with 91 percent participation, voted 99 percent no confidence.

Jacobs, Johnson, Martinez and Hunt said they still stand by the statements presented in the no-confidence vote.

In a telephone interview Thursday Debbie Martinez, administrative assistant to the chancellor, was working on the minutes at press time and said there was nothing in the agenda about that. She said if it was said, it might have been a discussion and she didn't hear it.

At the Sept. 15 board meeting, trustees responded to the no-confidence vote by approving a new three-year contract for the chancellor.

Mark Sadler, Northeast Lakeview College's senate president, didn't return calls for comment but was present Monday during the meeting.