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College hiring info leak suspected: Secret information from committee reportedly got out at Fresno City College.(Fresno Bee (CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Aug. 3--Something didn't add up in the Fresno City College math department: Secret information from a hiring committee was being leaked to one job applicant, and maybe others. That, at least, was the allegation. A member of the committee fingered another member as the leaker. Ensuing months brought an investigation, claims and counter-claims, denials and confusion. In the end, no leakers confessed. But the dean who tried to find the cheaters -- and was criticized by her bosses for following what she said were orders -- stepped down this summer. She said she decided a year ago to return to teaching for personal reasons. Although the affair ended without a clear result, a top City College official with a disputed role in the investigation called the allegation "very serious." The accusation cast a shadow over the integrity of the college's hiring process, said Tony Cantu, vice president of instruction. If found guilty, the leaker could have been fired. The alleged leak -- and the controversy that followed -- might have remained hidden from the public had not a recent accreditation report mentioned it. Interviews with City College officials filled in the details. The story began in early 2006 when six math instructors were picked to join Shirley McManus, dean of the math, science and engineering division, on a hiring committee. The instructors were Rosemarie Bezerra-Nader, Craig Bigham, Carol Curtis, Larry Dorn, Tiffany Friesen and Greg Jamison. The committee's job was to interview applicants -- including some part-time instructors at City College -- for a tenure-track instructor's job in the math department. Instructors are eligible for tenure after four years, and tenure makes it more difficult to fire them. Most full-time instructors at City College are in tenure-track jobs. Interview committees typically spend one hour with each applicant and ask about background, teaching philosophy and how they would handle different classroom situations. Leaked questions would give an advantage to applicants, the dean said. "The whole process needs to remain fair to everyone involved," she said. Committees usually recommend three top applicants to administrators, who recommend a final applicant to college district trustees for hiring. The math committee's work turned controversial when Curtis told McManus that she believed there was a leak. Curtis, who did not return telephone messages, later wrote to college officials that she "received information from sources outside the committee regarding interview questions and discussions that had taken place during confidential selection committee meetings." Curtis told McManus the name of the committee member she suspected was the leaker, but said she had no proof. McManus, who wouldn't name the suspected leaker, said she didn't confront that person because she didn't want to level an accusation without evidence. McManus said two other math instructors separately reported that comments made in a closed -- and supposedly confidential committee session -- had leaked out. One of those instructors was on the committee. McManus also heard part-time math instructors say that questions and other information from the committee had been divulged. She said she passed all this information to Cantu, her immediate boss. When City College President Ned Doffoney learned of the allegation, he met with the committee to ask what was going on. When no one -- including those who had privately warned McManus -- gave information about the alleged leak, Doffoney disbanded the committee. Doffoney said he folded the committee because he wanted "no hint of compromise" in the hiring process at City College. He added that leaking questions violates professional conduct rules; the most extreme punishment could be termination. Committee members Bigham, Friesen and Jamison said they did not leak questions. Bezerra-Nader on Monday declined to comment about the controversy, and Dorn did not return phone messages. Rumors of job interview leaks at City College have occurred before. Cantu, the college vice president and a 20-year veteran of City College, said such rumors have dogged other interview committees after completion of their work. He also said that, to his knowledge, no active committees have been disbanded during the hiring process due to charges of impropriety. The disbanded committee at City College never interviewed any of the applicants, and a temporary teacher filled the job in the 2006-07 school year. Months later -- as committees were being formed to interview job applicants in 2007, including those interested in the math job -- McManus announced a ban. None of the instructors from the disbanded committee could serve on hiring panels until someone admitted that the questions had been leaked and identified who did the leaking. Doffoney said he didn't tell McManus to do this, and he said the ban she announced was invalid because she didn't have authority to impose it. Cantu said he and McManus discussed possible "repercussions" for the possible leak -- including a ban -- but he didn't know McManus would send out an e-mail announcing it. Said McManus: "That's not accurate. He asked me to notify the committee, and that's what I did. I don't have authority to make those sort of rules. To think I came up with that is ludicrous. Deans don't have that much power." McManus produced an e-mail she wrote to two math instructors in November 2006 in which she says both Doffoney and Cantu stated that members of the disbanded committee would never again serve on hiring panels. Doffoney said Thursday he never said that, and Cantu couldn't be reached again to comment. In January 2007, two committee members who were targets of the ban filed a complaint with City College officials. Bezerra-Nader and Curtis, the whistle-blower, said the ban subjected them to prejudicial treatment, Doffoney said. He reviewed their complaints and said there was no evidence that the two women had been banned. The women weren't satisfied, and they took the issue to Tom Crow, chancellor of the State Center Community College District, and to the district's elected board of trustees, who oversee City College. Doffoney consulted with Crow and ordered the investigation. It was handled by City College Dean of Students Robert Fox, who had not been involved in the controversy. While Fox's investigation -- which took several weeks to complete -- concluded there was no evidence of a leak, McManus believes that someone did divulge the questions. "With the evidence Fox was given, I'm very surprised by the finding," McManus said. After the investigation was finished, State Center trustees were briefed in closed session but took no action, said district spokeswoman Teresa Patterson. The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or (559) 441-6354. To see more of The Fresno Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.fresnobee.com Copyright (c) 2007, The Fresno Bee, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |