2008 Woodie Awards
Faculty upset over lack of respect
Complaints sounded over Richmond's undemocratic leadership
Karla Rivas
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: News
Last week, the ad hoc committee created a Bill of Particulars, a list of faculty grievances, from the October 18-22 Academic Senate poll; however, the poll did not ask faculty to give their reasons for their lack of confidence in Rollin Richmond.
If the Senate wanted to know the reasons why faculty have no confidence in the president, why didn't they ask for those reasons and will the bill address the concerns of faculty?
Now that the Bill of Particulars has been submitted, several professors have decided to voice some previously private concerns regarding President Richmond's leadership, regarding diverse issues.
Richard Stepp, professor of physics, had several complaints about the president's conduct with faculty.
One major concern is the president's treatment of David Wells, former track and field coach. At that time, Stepp was donating more than $7,000 a year to track and field.
Both Stepp and Wells suspected that the donated money was being misappropriated. Wells decided to go on record, suggesting that there were financial improprieties in the athletics department.
Stepp said the administration began to harass Wells, which led to a lawsuit. In 2006, the suit was settled for the lump sum of $140,000 and three additional years of employment pay at $30,000 each year.
Wells complained that his contract was not renewed because he made the allegations about the mishandling of funds in the athletics department and the unequal spending on women's athletics.
Stepp said he met twice with President Richmond, Student Affairs Vice President Steven Butler, and the athletic director at the time, Dan Collin, in June 2003 when athletics was planning to cancel track and field.
"My strong impression is that the president never really listened to anything I said," Stepp said. "That isn't to say that he gave me the impression of not listening-he's quite adept to looking straight at you and being diplomatic-essentially my words had no effect whatsoever."
If the Senate wanted to know the reasons why faculty have no confidence in the president, why didn't they ask for those reasons and will the bill address the concerns of faculty?
Now that the Bill of Particulars has been submitted, several professors have decided to voice some previously private concerns regarding President Richmond's leadership, regarding diverse issues.
Richard Stepp, professor of physics, had several complaints about the president's conduct with faculty.
One major concern is the president's treatment of David Wells, former track and field coach. At that time, Stepp was donating more than $7,000 a year to track and field.
Both Stepp and Wells suspected that the donated money was being misappropriated. Wells decided to go on record, suggesting that there were financial improprieties in the athletics department.
Stepp said the administration began to harass Wells, which led to a lawsuit. In 2006, the suit was settled for the lump sum of $140,000 and three additional years of employment pay at $30,000 each year.
Wells complained that his contract was not renewed because he made the allegations about the mishandling of funds in the athletics department and the unequal spending on women's athletics.
Stepp said he met twice with President Richmond, Student Affairs Vice President Steven Butler, and the athletic director at the time, Dan Collin, in June 2003 when athletics was planning to cancel track and field.
"My strong impression is that the president never really listened to anything I said," Stepp said. "That isn't to say that he gave me the impression of not listening-he's quite adept to looking straight at you and being diplomatic-essentially my words had no effect whatsoever."
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