The full-time faculty at Ocean County College, a public two-year institution in Toms River, N.J., has overwhelmingly voted to level the same charges of impropriety against its president, Jon H. Larson, that officials there had threatened to sue union representatives for making.
A no-confidence resolution approved by the college’s faculty accuses Mr. Larson of violating contract laws, repeatedly bypassing competitive-bidding requirements, and firing a whistle-blower who tried to stop such illegal practices, echoing charges made by union representatives whom the college’s Board of Trustees subsequently threatened to sue for defamation.
The resolution also accuses Mr. Larson of a long list of flawed management practices and misplaced educational priorities, and charges that he has falsely claimed the existence of a financial emergency “to give himself extraordinary powers to fire employees” who are unionized and to bargain with their unions in bad faith.
The college’s Board of Trustees on Thursday issued a statement in which it reaffirmed its support for Mr. Larson, arguing that he, the board, and the rest of the college’s administration have sought to make decisions in the best interest of the college’s students and faculty members and of county taxpayers. “Institutions of higher learning must meet the challenges of a changing educational landscape,” says the statement, which argues that it is not unusual for a college’s efforts to adapt to change to be met with resistance.
Nearly two-thirds of the college’s full-time faculty members weighed in on the resolution in three weeks of secret balloting overseen by the American Arbitration Association. The resolution passed, 60 to 1, with six faculty members formally registering their abstentions.
‘Outrageous Defamatory Allegations’
In a statement issued by union officials after the votes were counted, Kathy Tietge, president of the National Education Association-affiliated Faculty Association of Ocean County College and one of the union leaders threatened with a defamation lawsuit, said: “The verdict of the faculty was delivered in powerful and unambiguous terms. John Larson lacks the ability to effectively lead Ocean County College in these challenging times.”
Chris Berzinski, the New Jersey Education Association’s liaison to the college, who was similarly threatened with a defamation lawsuit for previously accusing administrators at the college of illegal and unethical purchasing and procurement practices, predicted that college officials would attempt to blame the vote on stalled contract negotiations. But, he said, “nothing could be further from the truth.”
A resolution unanimously passed by the college’s trustees last month authorized the college’s lawyer to sue Mr. Berzinski and Ms. Tietge for defamation unless they retracted, and apologized for, recent accusations of impropriety against the college’s administrators. It said the board “vigorously disputes the outrageous defamatory allegations” made by the faculty representatives and “will not tolerate these continued, baseless attacks on the credibility and reputation” of the board, the college, its president, and other administrators.
Mr. Berzinski said on Thursday, however, that neither he nor Ms. Tietge had ever been served with a lawsuit. The board’s threat to sue them came after they held a news conference seeking to draw attention to allegations of impropriety brought against the college and several of its officials by Joseph B. Reilly, a former purchasing manager who contends he was fired for refusing to go along with questionable business practices. The two union officials said they had turned documents related to Mr. Reilly’s claims over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
