‘No confidence’ vote against Madera college president alleges he disregards faculty input
After years of disagreements with administrators, professors at Madera Community College passed a “no confidence” vote in their president — a symbolic move meant to communicate to the college district’s leaders that the relationship between the two parties is not working.
Proponents of the “no confidence” vote against President Angel Reyna say he has violated faculty’s right to influence curriculum and the creation of educational programs. Some who disagree with Friday’s vote say the root of some faculty’s opposition to Reyna is personal and disregards potential negative impacts on students.
The 12-2 vote by the college’s Academic Senate, the governance group that represents faculty in academic issues, came just minutes after the group voted to also initiate a meditation attempt with Reyna over issues of “participatory governance.” It also came two months after the same group voted “no confidence” in a dean at the Madera campus, Justin Garcia.
Erin Heasley, an Academic Senate vice president, told The Fresno Bee that the vote was not meant to call for Reyna’s firing.
“What we’re asking for is for the (State Center Community College District Board of Trustees) to help us work toward doing participatory governance the way the law outlines,” Heasley said. “For us, mediation has to be a part of that.”
Madera college is one of four campuses under SCCCD leadership, along with Fresno City College, Clovis Community College and Reedley College.
Reyna responded to The Bee’s questions about the vote with an emailed statement: “We remain committed to working collaboratively with all stakeholders to address concerns and have always welcomed discussion from those who have questions or thoughts. Our focus is on delivering high-quality education that supports student success and meets the evolving needs of our community.”
The vote against Reyna comes after Madera college’s involvement the past three years in the Competency-Based Education (CBE) Collaborative, a pilot program including eight California community colleges that “empowers learners to progress at their own pace by prioritizing the mastery of skills and knowledge while making time variable,” according to a state website. The approach allows students to schedule their own work and intends for them to “demonstrate competencies tied to real world expectations.”
Madera college’s Academic Senate voted in the spring to stop participating in the implementation of CBE.
Since then, community members, including local elected officials, have voiced support for Reyna and an innovative approach to education that benefits disadvantaged students. Members of the Academic Senate said last week that the issue is not CBE itself, but Reyna’s tendency to skirt faculty’s participation in governance — though CBE was “an early catalyst,” Academic Senate President Lynette Cortes Howden told The Bee.
The resolution against Reyna alleges he continued to pressure the Academic Senate to work on CBE efforts despite the group’s decision to pull away from the program. It also says he has pressured non-tenured and part-time faculty, as well as single-person departments, to work on projects that fall outside of the college’s official strategic and education plans.
Reyna is in the midst of launching an ambitious agave distilling program at Madera college — an effort that Cortes Howden said is a recent example of the president working around the Academic Senate’s participatory role in curriculum and educational program creation.
An emailed statement from district Chancellor Carole Goldsmith on Monday expressed her “unwavering support and confidence in President Reyna’s leadership at Madera Community College.”
“His guidance has been instrumental in advancing the educational initiatives that align with our mission to provide high-quality, accessible learning opportunities for all students,” Goldsmith said.
Problems with Competency-Based Education?
In her emailed statement to The Bee, Goldsmith said CBE provides students, especially working adults, a “personalized and flexible” learning experience” that doesn’t require them to adhere to a traditional college schedule. She said the approach “often aligns with industry standards and employer needs.”
But Heasley, the academic senate vice president, told The Bee last week that professors who were initially involved in the college’s CBE efforts ran into roadblocks in recent years, including ones concerned with financial aid laws, student transfers and accreditation.
“They (the professors) needed the administration to understand that the roadblocks they were hitting were not just speed bumps — they were full stops,” said Heasley, an instructional designer/distance education coordinator at Madera college.
The Academic Senate voted in late September to give Reyna an ultimatum: Submit a written request by October to Chancellor Goldsmith that Madera college be removed from the CBE pilot program, or the group will consider a “no confidence” vote against the president.
Goldsmith told Bee she is “exploring options ... to formally be withdrawn from the State funded CBE Collaborative Pilot Grant Project.”
Not all faculty agree
William Mask, a Madera college history instructor, told The Bee last week that he thinks the Academic Senate’s vote of “no confidence” against Reyna is a “vendetta” against the president.
“Their argument over the CBE program and the agave program is meritless, and everything they’ve used as reasons to not do it have been disproven time and time again,” Mask said. “Dr. Reyna has been our only president, and he’s been incredibly successful.”
Mask went on to say that Reyna can create new programs because he is the president, referring to the agave distilling effort.
“This agave program gives people hope for tomorrow, hope to change their generational wealth,” he said. “Someone that’s been on a farm for 40 years can come here and get a certificate for their knowledge.”
This story was originally published November 25, 2024 at 5:48 PM.
