Mathur Reinstalled in Irvine College Post

MISSION VIEJO —  In the end, Raghu P. Mathur is still president of Irvine Valley College, and all the decisions he made while he was interim chief remain intact too.

But getting to this point required an unusual succession of three meetings on Monday by trustees of the South Orange County Community College District--remarkable even for a board earning a reputation for the unorthodox.

The meetings were held because on Sept. 17, a judge ruled that the board had improperly installed Mathur as interim president of the college on April 28 without adequately publicizing the meeting or the fact that they were making such an appointment. Superior Court Judge William F. McDonald nullified the selection of Mathur and any actions he took from April 28 to Sept. 8, when he was selected to lead the college for two years. The judge also reinstated district Chancellor Robert A. Lombardi as interim president.

So, to comply with the judge’s order, the board had to simply undo what it did and then do it again--in public this time.

In a matter of a few hours, trustees removed Lombardi as interim president, even though he has not been fulfilling that role since April 28, and ratified decisions Mathur made as interim chief, even though most, if not all, of his actions already had taken effect.

But no sooner had the first meeting begun Monday than a few trustees on the seven-member panel complained they had not received adequate notification of the meeting--it was posted at noon Friday on the Irvine Valley College public notice board--and suggested that embattled board President Steven J. Frogue was orchestrating the day’s events.

And then several faculty and staff members lined up to protest Mathur’s decisions, including biology instructor Maala Allen, who complained to the board that sources told her Mathur rejected her for a full-time job because of her gender and mixed Sri Lankan and German background. She said she has filed a formal complaint with the administration.

Pam Hewitt, a senior administrative secretary, said she received a memo from the vice president of the college at the behest of Mathur, scolding her for questioning the validity of his interim appointment during a meeting of college staff.

“I want this action rescinded,” she said.

Mathur dropped in on the session but did not stay to hear the criticisms. Before he left, he declined to talk about his actions, saying in a brief interview: “I want to focus on the positive aspects of my job.”

The board voted 4 to 3 on each of three decisions: to declare Lombardi’s workload too great to serve both as district chancellor and Irvine Valley College president; to rescind his March 31 appointment as interim president; and to ratify Mathur’s decisions made from April 28 to Sept. 8.