SANTA ANA : Faculty Says Trustees Unfairly Punished

Faculty groups from Rancho Santiago College asked the Board of Trustees this week to reconsider its decision to remove two trustees from various county committees.

On Jan. 28, the board voted to replace Trustees Brian Conley and Charles W. (Pete) Maddox on the committees after the two asked the Orange County’s district attorney’s office to investigate allegations that the college was not getting its full share of profits from a swap meet held in the campus parking lot on Sundays.

“The action taken by the board appears to be vindictive and punitive and is certainly, at best, divisive not only within the board setting but for the entire college as well,” said Judy Chitlik, president of the college’s faculty association, one of the groups seeking reinstatement for the two trustees.

The faculty’s union and the Academic Senate have also asked the board to reinstate the two. The Academic Senate presented the board with a resolution that asked the board to “rescind the punishments and reopen dialogue with Conley and Maddox.”

“We think that the board is distressed because these two board members don’t think the way the rest of the board thinks,” said Regina Stanback-Stroud, president of the 31-member Academic Senate.

Board President Shirley Ralston said the board’s actions were not meant as punishment, but were done to protect the college and other board members from any legal liability that may have been created by a letter they sent to Deputy Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade.

Ralston said the letter contained statements that were untrue about the board’s position on a swap-meet investigation.

“There was nothing personal or vindictive, and I want to make that clear,” Ralston said.

Ralston said that when the threat of litigation is over, Maddox and Conley would be reinstated to their positions on the committees.

Maddox, who called the board’s motives “highly suspect” said he would not accept any committee appointments until the board’s annual reorganizational meeting in December.