At Crowded Meeting, Backers Want College Chief Spared

A month after trustees for the Rancho Santiago Community College District voted unanimously to remove the Santa Ana College president from the job she had held for five years, faculty and students asked the board Monday to reconsider.

Rita Cepeda will become one of three district vice chancellors helping Chancellor Edward Hernandez with district projects -- a move faculty members describe as a demotion.

In front of a standing-room-only crowd, many gathered at the district board meeting to express concerns and question the removal of Cepeda as president.

“She gave all of us the opportunity to dream,” said Lynn Mareck, co-chairwoman of SAC’s math department. “She believed in our ideas; she helped them get funded and then implemented them.”

The board’s seven members did not explain why they decided to remove her as president, saying it was a personnel matter that could not be discussed. Cepeda’s contract expires June 30, 2006, and will not be extended. Before coming to the college, Cepeda was interim president of Mission College in Santa Clara. She also served in the state chancellor’s office for community colleges in Sacramento for 18 years.

The board “exercised due diligence over several months to ensure that this particular case was addressed fairly, methodically and with sensitivity,” said board President Lisa Woolery. “This change is not affecting the college’s ability to deliver on its long-standing promise of a great education for all who want one.”

But Kathy Patterson, the honors program coordinator at SAC, said Cepeda’s departure was simply the latest in a string of recent losses for the school. In May, Peter Bostic resigned as director of the Santa Ana College Foundation and John Nixon, vice president of academic affairs, left.

“When you have a president who was so involved and so well respected, it is very difficult to see the wisdom in the board’s decision,” Patterson said. “When other administrators [leave], it makes you wonder what is causing this exodus.”

Many also said the removal of Cepeda was the culmination of conflicts between the college and the district.

They said Santiago Canyon College, in Orange, had been receiving most of the district’s resources.

Math professor John Zarske said both colleges have always worked well together, making joint decisions. But what he called a growing gap in priority had made SAC administrators and professors increasingly resentful.

“It’s very frustrating because the two departments have identical needs,” Zarske said. “Yet one department is getting awarded more positions while the others are getting cut.

Students also questioned the board’s decision.

“We’re disappointed that we were left out of the loop,” said Helen Martinez. “We are a big part of the district and would like to be a part of decision-making process.”

Woolery said contractual agreements were not “a governance issue.” But she said that as the board searched for a new college president, it would seek advice from the college community.

Many said they were disappointed that the board did not call a special session to reconsider its action despite letters sent to the chancellor requesting a meeting.

“It is very seldom that you see the amount of faculty representation that was here today. That is an indication that the college is hurting,” said Fernanda Solis, a career counselor at SAC.