A palm-tree fiasco that yielded a single $305 grand-theft charge has toppled the MiraCosta College president, cost the institution more than $2 million and shredded the campus's harmonious image.
A probe into the illegal sale of trees at the Oceanside campus led to four lawsuits, the departure of three administrators, the start of a recall against two trustees, death threats and “KKK” scrawled on board President Charles Adams' home.
“You woke up a dog,” Adams told trustees at a meeting. “A blood-sucking angry dog.”
Upheaval like this on a campus can jeopardize voter-approved bonds, private donations and the ability to attract and retain top-notch staffers.
It's all the more critical because San Diego County's community colleges enroll more than three-fourths of those seeking a public higher education.
Now, MiraCosta is working to restore its reputation, reclaim its status as a statewide model for collegiality and put “Palmgate” – as this case has been dubbed – to rest.
That may take time, if community-college clashes elsewhere are any indication.
Since Southwestern College's board fired the school's president in 2003, the Chula Vista campus has yet to stop the post's revolving door. One president resigned, a second was fired and the interim leader has been battling the board. Friday night, the board hired a new president – Raj Chopra, a career kindergarten-through-12th-grade educator who was serving as superintendent of the Phoenix Union High School District.
In contrast, the leadership of a new president at Palomar College in San Marcos led to a $694 million bond passing, slightly more than two years after his predecessor retired amid strife with the faculty.
Diane Woodruff of the Community College League of California predicted MiraCosta will go the way of Palomar.
“Prior to Palmgate, I visited MiraCosta and thought it was one of the best colleges in the state,” Woodruff said, adding that “the next CEO needs to be a healer – somebody who can bring people together.”
Highest-paid faculty
The county's community colleges have served more than 240,000 students in the past year, and MiraCosta educated 10,500 this spring.
The districtsprawls from Camp Pendleton in the north to Carmel Valley in the south.
It's such a wealthy district that its property tax base allows it to operate without state aid.
MiraCosta has the highest-paid faculty in the state – earning on average 22 percent more than colleagues at other community colleges – and among the highest-paid in the nation.
Few outside coastal North County knew much about MiraCosta until recently.
In May 2006, President Victoria Muñoz Richart announced an investigation into the sale of palm trees for private profit.
Alleen Texeira, horticulture department head, and her then-fiance decided in 1998 to nurture thousands of donated trees on campus, then sell them and split the profits between the fiance and the college. MiraCosta would receive 7 percent. The college trustees didn't know about the arrangement.
Texeira eventually pleaded guilty to grand theft for paying her boyfriend $305 more than the college actually received in a sale of some of the palms. She was allowed to retire and now lives in Hawaii.
During the yearlong investigation, the campus was in turmoil. A popular vice president was placed on leave, angering staff members who found Richart's management style heavy-handed.
The vice president, another forced-out administrator and two former horticulture department employees sued MiraCosta. The faculty declared no confidence in the president.
One former trustee announced she was changing her will, pulling a roughly $1 million bequest to MiraCosta until the healthy campus climate she once knew is restored.
“In less than a year, MiraCosta College has plunged from healthy and positive to a sick institution gasping for air,” retired dean Gail Prentiss said at a board meeting.
Trustee Gloria Carranza estimates the college has spent more than $2 million on the investigation, the president's contract buyout and salaries for administrators on leave.
A special election for a recall would cost an additional $1 million.
Seeking harmony
Whether MiraCosta will be able to restore harmony, as Palomar did, or will continue in chaos, like Southwestern, will depend on finding the right leader.
Southwestern has endured more than four years of upheaval.
“I've been here 20 years, and this is the most turbulent period I can ever remember,” said Alma Aguilar, former Academic Senate president. “It distracts faculty from our jobs when we're caught up in this whirlwind. Decisions are constantly being put on hold.”
The problems began in 2003, when then-President Serafin Zasueta was fired after a no-confidence vote by the Academic Senate. Faculty members said he left them out of key decisions and engaged in questionable spending.
An investigation later determined that Zasueta used district money to help pay for a school-bond campaign. The next president abruptly retired last summer with a year left on her contract after she and the governing board differed on whom to hire for the No. 2 spot. In February, the board fired her successor.
Recently, the board extended the contract of a vice president against interim President Greg Sandoval's recommendations. Two days later, Sandoval put the vice president on leave.
The new president, Raj Chopra, has no community college experience but comes highly recommended by a Southwestern College search committee.
Finding qualified leaders is challenging. Of the 130 top community-college positions statewide, from chancellor to president, 52 have been open in the past year, the state's community-college league said. Thirty have been filled.
It took nearly 1 ½ years to find a new leader at Grossmont College after Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District trustees dismissed Ted Martinez Jr.
Palomar's turnaround
Palomar College was able to overcome its discord.
In 2003, faculty members and nonteaching staffers issued no-confidence votes against then-President Sherrill Amador during tumultuous faculty contract talks with a new union. She retired the next year.
Palomar trustee Nancy Chadwick said: “The major issue was a lack of communication between the president's office and constituents – an attitude of unilateral kind of authoritarianism. . . . The consequences were distrust and low morale, like at MiraCosta.”
It took slightly more than a year to find a permanent replacement, but President Bob Deegan's leadership changed the campus climate, Chadwick said. In November, voters passed a $694 million bond – the largest in its history – to renovate, rebuild and expand the college.
Palomar trustee Michele Nelson said that what often links these troubled colleges is a divided board of trustees.
Southwestern continues to govern with a divided board, as does MiraCosta.
Despite the controversy at MiraCosta, enrollment is up this summer by 14 percent.
However, the acrimony has intruded on day-to-day business. Clashes have monopolized board meetings, leaving less time for budgets and programs.
Last month, a group of faculty, staff members, retirees and community members announced plans to recall the board president and a trustee.
Some also have wondered whether MiraCosta would have to delay placing a multimillion-dollar school construction bond on the 2008 ballot.
But Henry Holloway, a MiraCosta College trustee for 30 years before being toppled by the palm-tree scandal, said the college will rebound.
“MiraCosta is good for North County,” he said. “I still think it is the greatest place for students to go.”
Staff writer Chris Moran contributed to this report.
Sherry Saavedra: (619) 542-4598; sherry.saavedra@uniontrib.com
