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Newspapers have played an indispensable role in the history of our nation. Many of our Founding Fathers were printers and journalists who had the courage to speak out against tyranny, intimidation and oppression. America's journalists - the only profession protected in the United States Constitution - shine spotlights on the good in our society and shine the penetrating light of truth under rocks to expose corruption, dishonesty and evil.
Today the student journalists of the Southwestern College Sun have decided to take a stand. By unanimous agreement, the Editorial Board of the Southwestern College Sun is calling for the resignation or termination of SWC Superintendent Dr. Raj K. Chopra.
This is a carefully considered decision based on nearly two years of ineffective and autocratic leadership by Dr. Chopra. The grace period is over. Dr. Chopra's ever-growing list of poor decisions has diminished the college's ability to provide the widest range of academic services to our community. His heavy-fisted reign of fear has spawned intimidation, paranoia and mistrust on this campus the likes of which have not been seen. Our long list of grievances includes:
Elimination of shared governance. Though Assembly Bill 1725, the state law mandating an administration-faculty partnership in the policy making at California colleges, is poorly written and vague, the spirit of the legislation is clear - our institutions of higher learning benefit from the rich diversity of ideas that can come from a population of educated, thoughtful people. Dr. Chopra is a singular leader who is famously non-inclusive. He has marginalized the Academic Senate, Classified Senate, department chairs and even his deans.
Plagiarism. Dr. Chopra's theft of portions of a Southwest Airlines newsletter last fall was ample ground for termination, in and of itself. Besides lifting whole paragraphs from the newsletter, he even took the publication's title, "The Spirit." This sort of academic dishonesty from a student is grounds for suspension or expulsion. After years of effort to create a climate of academic integrity at SWC, Dr. Chopra set back the cause with his indiscretion.
Unprofessional behavior. Dr. Chopra's thin skin and volcanic temper have gotten him in trouble during his other superintendencies from Arizona to Pennsylvania. Dr. Chopra does not brook dissent, even from people of good will who have the college's best interests at heart. He has frequently lashed out at and belittled employees who have had the temerity to disagree with him. Dr. Chopra has many of the hallmarks of a bully, and uses his positional power to insult and degrade others.
Power grabbing. Dr. Chopra cleaned out the entire management line of vice presidents and consolidated all the power of fiscal services and human resources under his personal control. While the positions were vacant and all checks and balances had been eliminated, he made other moves to consolidate his power. In retrospect it was a shrewd move. He has surrounded himself with an inexperienced new cadre of vice presidents loyal to him that provides a buffer against other managers and academic leaders.
Mismanagement of finances. Despite his boasting to the contrary, SWC's financial problems began with the arrival of Dr. Chopra and have been exacerbated by his one-track corporate mentality. He has shown severe lapses in judgment, keeping on a $200,000 tech consultant while cutting adjuncts, spending millions on technology when the college can not even keep its bathrooms clean, remodeling administrative offices while cutting class sections and accepting a generous raise while slicing hard-earned sabbaticals.
Lack of transparency. Dr. Chopra is secretive and operates in violation of the spirit - and possibly the letter - of the Ralph M. Brown Public Meetings Act. Major decisions that are supposed to be presented and discussed with the SWC Governing Board in public are clearly being made behind the scenes before the meetings take place. April's major reorganization and layoffs were approved with no meaningful discussion by Dr. Chopra and board members.
Disrespect of students. Students are to be seen and not heard in Dr. Chopra's world. He has a habit of popping in on student groups to scold them for disagreeing with him or criticizing him. Last November, for instance, he snatched the pen out of the hand of a student journalist and demanded that she look him in the eyes while talking to him.
Ruination of the SWC Foundation. Students and faculty with worthy projects could, for years, rely on the generosity of the SWC Foundation for financial support. Dr. Chopra took control of the Foundation early in his reign and has flown it straight into the ground. His actions led to the cancellation of the last two annual gala fund raisers, the Foundation's main source of income. Now depleted of funds, the Foundation did not issue any meaningful grants this semester.
Blackwater. Dr. Chopra led the governing board into a moral and public relations nightmare by advising it to sign a contract with the controversial paramilitary company which has employees facing trial for atrocities in Iraq.
Insubordination. SWC's superintendent works for and is responsible to the five-member governing board elected by the voters of the Southwestern Community College District. Dr. Chopra, however, seems to believe he is self-employed and has defiantly refused to answer relevant questions posed by board members during public meetings. He has also told board member Nick Aguilar that he will not meet with him in private. Dr. Chopra does not seem to be aware that Mr. Aguilar is a respected member of this community who has served public education with great distinction for decades as an administrator at UCSD, as well as 21 years on the Sweetwater board and the County Board of Education. Insubordination is also grounds for termination.
We do not blame our governing board members for hiring Dr. Chopra. There were 33 openings for college and superintendents and presidents at California community colleges durring the Summer of 2007 and too few qualified candidates. Our board was stuck and forced to think outside the box and hire a K-12 administrator with no college experience.
Dr. Chopra makes a great first impression. He is tall, handsome, stylishly dressed and has a big smile. He says all the right things. He has a compelling background. Faculty and staff were initially happy to have him and worked hard to make him feel welcome. He seemed like the kind of grown-up you would want to run a college.
But we got suckered. All of us. And now it is time to correct a mistake.
Dr. Chopra's SWC saga is reminiscent of the great Herman Melville novel "Moby Dick." More and more it seems like SWC is being led by a crazed captain chasing a great white whale that no one else can see or make sense of. Like Captain Ahab, Dr. Chopra has locked himself in his cabin and will give no answers to his most recent decisions. Ahab sacrificed his ship and crew for his own personal quest. And like Ahab, Dr. Chopra leads through fear and making sure his crew is ill-informed.
We are captives aboard a sinking ship with a captain who will not listen, a captain who is chasing Moby Dick when all others are pointing out another way. Ahab became entangled on the whale and rather than free himself of the leviathan, he spent his last seconds of life stabbing futilely at his bewildered foe.
Ahab became obsessed and unable to change direction, even when it was clear he was hurting his crew. Dr. Chopra is suffering the same fate.
It is time SWC be freed from Dr. Raj K. Chopra
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