President addresses ‘turmoil’ at Merced College

Merced College’s chief administrator addressed Tuesday what she called a “personal attack” and “turmoil” at the campus.

Interim President Susan Walsh accused Patrick Mitchell, president of the Merced College Faculty Association, of leading an effort to hold a no-confidence vote against her.

During a meeting in Los Banos on Tuesday night, Mitchell told the college’s board of trustees that, in response to requests from faculty members, he sent out a survey late Sunday to about 140 college faculty members to ask whether they wanted to hold a no-confidence vote. Of the roughly 100 professors who responded, he said, nearly three-quarters said the union should take an official vote.

The latest disagreement between the union and the college was related to a search for the next permanent president. Mitchell and another faculty member, Merced College Academic Senate President Julie Clark, were removed from the 24-person search committee Oct. 6 because of their perceived inability to be impartial.

The two were not replaced, leaving just three faculty members on the 22-member panel.

“What they’re really upset about is that there was no mechanism in place for us to appoint replacements,” Mitchell said.

The college has been without a permanent leader since Ron Taylor was placed on paid leave in January. College leaders gave no explanation for the move. The board named Walsh, the Learning Resource Center director, as the temporary replacement in February.

Interviews for candidates to fill the permanent role are scheduled to begin Oct. 24, with a selection to be announced in December, according to a timeline posted by the college.

Mitchell said the survey also indicated that faculty members want to take a no-confidence vote on the college’s next president, even though that person has yet to be named.

“They have that little faith in this process,” he said.

Walsh said she was surprised to learn of the survey being circulated and addressed statements made by the former college police chief, Merced County Sheriff’s Sgt. Vince Gallagher, that have fueled controversy at the school.

Gallagher told the Merced Sun-Star in June that he was asked to search for fingerprints on an anonymous letter that was disparaging of college leaders and that Walsh had pressured him to arrest a trustee thought to have recorded a closed-session meeting. His refusal to do so led to a conflict that ended with the college severing its relationship with the Sheriff’s Office.

“I never asked anyone to arrest a trustee, ever,” she said Tuesday, according to a video of her remarks posted on YouTube. “I never asked that. Those words never passed my mouth.”

She also denied that the college ever dusted for fingerprints in faculty offices.

The college did hire a private investigator in March to try to life fingerprints from the anonymous letter and its envelope, according to information obtained by the Sun-Star through a public records request. No fingerprints came of that search, according to school staff.

Walsh also contested the survey sent out by Mitchell, saying it was not sent to all of the college’s more than 300 part- and full-time faculty members. The survey amounts to a “personal attack” on a “dedicated servant,” she said.

“I don’t know what the purpose of this is,” she said. “I have 48 working days left.”

Mitchell pushed back.

“The faculty has no issue with her personally,” he said Wednesday. “We have concerns about some of her policies. That’s all.”

Trustees Jean Upton, Wayne Hicks and Leonel Villarreal spoke in favor of Walsh.

Board President Dennis Jordan’s words were sharper. He said it would be “idiocy” to cast a vote on a president that hasn’t been hired yet.

This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 6:30 PM with the headline "President addresses ‘turmoil’ at Merced College."