MOORPARK : 60 Show Support for College President

About 60 supporters of Moorpark College President Stanley L. Bowers met Wednesday to organize a campaign aimed at persuading community college trustees not to fire Bowers.

The group members, mostly faculty, say they will bombard trustees with calls and letters in support of Bowers. They also say they will appeal to the trustees at their meeting Tuesday.

The trustees began moving to fire Bowers last week in the wake of allegations involving transfers of money between the college and its nonprofit foundation. Bowers has 30 days to fight the move before trustees take final action.

Bowers was reprimanded by the trustees in December in another matter involving the foundation. They contended that he improperly transferred $51,000 in campus bookstore profits to the foundation and that he should not have channeled $3,152 in bookstore profits to Ingrid Ely, former Moorpark College Alumni Assn. president, for travel expenses.

Fred Meyer, a faculty member and chairman of the Friends of Stan Bowers Committee, told the group Wednesday that Bowers had done nothing wrong and that the transfers of money were proper.

He said Bowers was the victim of “a political campaign to clean house at Moorpark College” and an effort to clean up the district’s accounting practices.

Meyer asked those present to sign up for activities such as working on a telephone bank and raising funds for any legal fees Bowers might need to fight for his job. As of Wednesday, more than $2,000 had been donated to help Bowers. Petitions were circulated urging trustees to retain Bowers.

The trustees have refused to comment about Bowers’ employment status.