AVC GETS POOR GRADE REPORT PANS DIVERSITY EFFORT.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - State community college officials criticized Antelope Valley College's hiring practices and noted mistrust between college officials and staff.

The criticisms, along with a list of recommendations, were contained in a report prepared by a technical assistance review team sent to AVC in October by the state community college's chancellor's office after complaints of racism were made to the state community colleges' board of governors.

``Antelope Valley College has not done an adequate job infusing diversity principles into its culture,'' the report said. ``The team noted that there is also a lack of trust and respect in many areas of the college towards college leadership and towards each other.''

The team did praise efforts by the college's new leaders' efforts to hire more minority faculty.

The report said AVC President Daniel Larios, who was hired last year; Vice President of Human Resources Dee Henry Lee; and Vice President of Academic Affairs Jackie Fisher are trying to improve morale and infuse diversity into the culture of the college.

``They are dedicated to diversity and to the principles of Equal Employment Opportunity and are trying hard to change the practices and climate at Antelope Valley College that hamper progress in these areas,'' the report said.

The report's recommendations include holding open forums to allow complaints and concerns to come forward without festering; establishing an ombudsman post to which staff, faculty or students can express grievances; establishing a committee to clearly define hiring procedures; and beginning recruitment processes earlier and advertising the positions to a wider audience.

The team also noted that Larios has no vote and no opportunity to either veto the recommendation of faculty hiring committees or to submit an alternative candidate to the board of trustees. The report stated most of the college's deans feel faculty has a right to determine whom to hire and that the president is not qualified to make those determinations.

``No member of the TAT (technical assistance team) was aware of any other college with a similar practice or policy and we felt that without the opportunity to, at least, present an alternative recommendation to the board of trustees the president is unlikely to positively influence diversity among the faculty,'' the report said.

The college's hiring practices contributed to a rocky relationship between instructors and Larios' predecessor, Linda Spink. Early in Spink's four-year tenure, a professor was ejected from a board meeting in a dispute over how much role Spink could have in reviewing candidates for two language arts teaching jobs. Language arts professors said Spink implied that the department's faculty was elitist and racist.

The state report recommended a committee be established through the Academic Senate's ``shared governance'' process to clearly define the hiring procedure for academic personnel. AVC should have that procedure approved by the board and incorporated into all relevant documents, the report said.

``The things they are telling us we need to do are things we are already doing,'' said AVC board member Michael Adams. ``Improving the communication started when Daniel Larios was hired. The outreach is something we are already doing.''

AVC officials acknowledge a need to add more members of racial and ethnic minorities to the college work force and say they have taken steps to address the issue. The college released statistics showing progress in the hiring of minorities within the past year.

AVC's percentage of African-American administrators has increased from 14.8 percent last year to 17.4 percent this year while at the same time the proportion of Latino administrators has increased from 11.1 percent to 21.7 percent, the college said.

AVC's percentage of African-American and Latino administrators is higher than the statewide percentage through the state community college system, officials said.

African-American instructors who are either tenured or are on a tenure track rose from 7 percent of the staff last year to 7.9 percent this year. The percentage of Latinos increased from 4.2 percent to 6 percent, officials said.

The college also raised the position of director of human resources from a dean's post to a vice president's post. The position, which had been vacant for several months, was filled four months ago by Lee, an African- American.

``We have not done that badly, especially when you compare us to other colleges,'' Adams said. ``I'm confident we have hired the best and brightest.''

Larios said AVC is not the only community college grappling with the issue of diversity. Larios said he has received phone calls from other community colleges wanting to know how the technical assistance team investigation worked.

``There are 107 other community colleges in the same boat we are,'' Larios said.