Long Island

Nassau

ncc search - complete coverage

Nassau Community College will not launch a new presidential search after its board of trustees voted Tuesday night to table a resolution to create a committee to hire the next leader. 
 The vote was 6-1, with trustee Anthony Cornachio casting the sole dissenting vote. 
 Dr. Jorge Gardyn, chairman of the board of trustees, said the vote was tabled so his group could hear more from the campus community. 
 Had the board approved the resolution, a new 16-member committee would have replaced one that disbanded in September after allegations of bias and failed efforts to advance either of two finalists to the state for approval. Had it made it onto the agenda and been approved by trustees, the committee would have been the start of the college's third attempt in four years to hire a permanent leader. 
 The resolution would have called for the next presidential search to be conducted by three NCC trustees, one former trustee and representatives from 12 campus groups. The campus organizations include the minority group ALANA, which unsuccessfully fought to be on the last search committee. 
 "We are trying to be as inclusive as possible," Gardyn said before the meeting. "But we can't make this search committee a panel of 50 people, because that's just not workable." 
 The chairman of the disbanded search committee, trustee Anthony Cornachio, said if ALANA has representation on the committee, then other smaller campus groups, such as groups representing women and Jewish faculty, should too. Cornachio said Tuesday before the meeting the process already lacks transparency. 
 "It seems like this has just been scripted by one or two board members. There's been no discussion [among the board] about who's going to be on this search committee. It doesn't seem like an open way to do things or a collegial way to do things," Cornachio said. "And historically, the chair has always been a member of the board of trustees." 
 The last presidential search was deemed "beyond the point of repair" by SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher because of allegations of favoritism and impropriety. Zimpher, who has approval power over any president installed at the college, requested that NCC's trustees begin a new search with new committee members. 
 Over the summer, the board and the search committee defied her request and brought two candidates to campus for interviews. Trustees voted not to advance either of those candidates' names to SUNY. 
 The Garden City institution -- the largest single-campus community college in the SUNY system -- has been without stable leadership since the retirement of longtime president Sean Fanelli. 
 In 2009, the school hired Donald Astrab from Brevard Community College in Florida. Astrab was on the job for 30 months and got two votes of no-confidence from the faculty. 
 Trustees appointed Kenneth Saunders, a 13-year NCC administrator, as acting president after Astrab's departure. Saunders, who was a candidate for the president's job during the last search, said his interview was unfair and that committee members were biased.

LINCC30

Nassau Community College won't launch new presidential search

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Nassau Community College trustees voted not to affirm either of its two remaining presidential candidates at a special meeting Thursday night.
The winning candidate would have needed six votes, a simple majority, of the 10-member board, said Jorge Gardyn, vice chair of the board of trustees. Gardyn said both candidates could be reconsidered in the future.
So the search continues: The search committee may come up with new candidates or it may be disbanded and a new group formed to do the same, Gardyn said.
David Doyle, spokesman for the State University of New York, said last evening that Chancellor Nancy Zimpher did not support the search the college had been conducting for several months.
"The search process, by many accounts, was flawed," Doyle said. "SUNY's position has not changed." 
The remaining candidates were Joyce Ester, 47, of Chicago, and president of Kennedy-King College, part of the Chicago City College system, and Elana Zolfo, 63 of Smithtown, former interim president of Dowling College. State Supreme Court Justice Anthony Marano, 70, of Valley Stream, asked to be removed from consideration in June.
Thomas K. Jackson II, student government president, said the selection process had been arduous with students playing a limited role. 
Jackson said he was given only a week's notice to mobilize students to meet the candidates. 
"I don't know if it is a matter of pride but it's portraying the college in unfavorable light," he said. "It's a shame. We have students coming here from around the word. We have great faculty."
The search to replace former NCC president Donald Astrab, who left last summer after 30 months on the job and two faculty votes of no-confidence, has made headlines because of allegations it excluded certain campus groups from the selection process and that it was biased during the 10-month search.

LINCC23

NCC to start new search for president

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The state university system's senior vice chancellor for <a href="/topics//Higher_Education">community colleges</a> told <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> trustees Thursday night to "move forward" with a new search for their next president, firmly reiterating the SUNY chancellor's call earlier this month. 
 "The decision has been made by the chancellor and she doesn't make these decisions lightly," said Johanna Duncan-Poitier, the SUNY official, of Chancellor Nancy L. <a href="/topics//Nancy_L_Zimpher">Zimpher</a>. 
 More than 100 faculty, staff and some students packed the on-campus public meeting. The trustees took no action. 
 The gathering, which turned tense at times, was split, with a majority of the eight-member board of trustees questioning Duncan-Poitier and accusing Zimpher of overstepping her authority. 
 Several trustees implored the vice chancellor to show evidence supporting a new search based on allegations that one concluding earlier this month was biased and improper. They want the current search to move forward and contend Zimpher is overstepping her authority. 
 "We did nothing wrong," said trustee Anthony Cornachio, head of the search committee. "The inquiry went in a way that was not satisfactory to SUNY, so they stepped in." 
 Cornachio and others, including members of the search committee, asked SUNY to respect the community college's home rule. They said they never had the opportunity to prove the integrity of their search process. 
 Zimpher, whose approval is needed to install any new president at NCC, has said she would not support a candidate coming out of the current search. 
 Duncan-Poitier said she and Zimpher believe the search is beyond the point of repair. 
 She said the abrupt resignation of former NCC board chairman Geoffrey Prime contributed to their decision to request the search be aborted. 
 Deborah DeSanto, president of the college's full-time faculty union, spoke at the meeting, saying she "was hoping that someone would listen" but felt that didn't happen. 
 She and two other faculty representatives said they stand by the search, saying the college's autonomy and the search committee's integrity was at risk. 
 Zimpher's actions on NCC gained the full support of 17 SUNY trustees this week. At its Tuesday meeting in Manhattan, the SUNY board unanimously approved a resolution encouraging the board of trustees "to work with the chancellor and her representative to start a new search process to bring an appropriate final candidate to the Chancellor and this Board." 
 The search for a new NCC president has been besieged with controversy for months, beginning earlier this year with a campus group representing minority faculty, staff and students contending the 15-person search committee lacked adequate racial diversity. The group, known as ALANA, called for Cornachio to resign. It claimed he used racist and sexist terms in an email. 
 ALANA president Anissa Moore applauded the chancellor's recommendation. 
 The divide became more apparent when three finalists were announced earlier this month and the field did not include Kenneth Saunders, the school's current acting president and a 14-year administrator at NCC. Saunders claimed search committee members had a bias against him.Some people speaking at the previous public meeting said they believe Saunders should not be a candidate in the search if he is acting president, citing a SUNY guideline. SUNY officials say the acting presidents at other colleges often apply for the permanent president's post. 
 Three finalists announced were: Joyce Ester, 47, of Chicago, president of Kennedy-King College, one of seven entities within the City Colleges of Chicago; State Supreme Court Justice Anthony Marano, 70, of <a href="/topics//Valley_Stream,_NY">Valley Stream</a>; and Elana Zolfo, 63, of <a href="/topics//Smithtown,_NY">Smithtown</a>, the former interim president of Dowling College in Oakdale.

LINCC31

Official: NCC should 'move forward' with new president search

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A top state university official is expected to visit <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> this week to discuss the contentious search for the college's next president with members of the board, faculty and students.
Johanna Duncan-Poitier, SUNY's senior vice chancellor for <a href="/topics//Higher_Education">community colleges</a>, is scheduled to attend a special meeting of the college's board of trustees Thursday. Her visit follows Chancellor Nancy L. <a href="/topics//Nancy_L_Zimpher">Zimpher</a>'s recommendation two weeks ago that the college begin a new search for its next president.
Zimpher, whose approval is needed to install any president at the <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> school, intervened after various groups and individuals on campus alleged bias and favoritism had clouded the search process.
The college's board of trustees is at an impasse over whether to begin a new search.
<a href="/topics//David_Doyle">David Doyle</a>, spokesman for the chancellor, said SUNY officials intend to "discuss in person how to resolve the current situation. We hope to have a candid conversation on how best to move forward."
Dr. Jorge Gardyn, acting chair of NCC's board of trustees, called the meeting at the request of SUNY officials.
"I hope there is clarity and vision for the other members of the board," said Gardyn, who is one of three NCC trustees in favor of redoing the search. "At the end of the day, we need to find the best and most qualified president for the 24,000 students of NCC."
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and will take place on the 11th floor of the Tower building. Trustees are expected to conduct the discussion in open session and will take public comment.
In previous board meetings, trustees discussed the presidential search among themselves in executive session as dozens of faculty, staff and students waited for two, and sometimes three, hours for the public portion of the meeting to begin.
Earlier this month, the committee tasked with finding a new president announced it had agreed on three finalists: Joyce Ester, 47, of Chicago, president of Kennedy-King College, one of seven entities within the City Colleges of Chicago; State Supreme Court Justice Anthony Marano, 70, of <a href="/topics//Valley_Stream,_NY">Valley Stream</a>; and Elana Zolfo, 63, of <a href="/topics//Smithtown,_NY">Smithtown</a>, interim president of <a href="/topics//Dowling_College">Dowling College</a> in <a href="/topics//Oakdale,_NY">Oakdale</a>.
Kimberley Reiser, a member of the presidential search committee, said she hopes SUNY officials will allow the current search to move forward. She said the autonomy and governance structure of the school are at risk.
"For the chancellor to come in at this point in the search is perplexing," said Reiser, former chairwoman of the college's Academic Senate, which represents faculty, staff and students.
NCC, the largest single-campus community college in the state, has been operating without a permanent president since the July departure of Donald Astrab, whose tumultuous 30 months on the job included two no-confidence votes from faculty.
The college's acting president is Kenneth Saunders, an NCC administrator for 14 years.

LINCC29

NCC to meet with state official over search

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A standoff between two sides of the governing board at <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> has prolonged the search for the school's new president and the discontent among campus leaders, faculty and students. 
 The eight members of the college's board of trustees are at an impasse over a SUNY request from Chancellor Nancy L. <a href="/topics//Nancy_L_Zimpher">Zimpher</a>, who wants them to restart the search process following allegations of bias and impropriety. 
 Five trustees voted against a resolution to scrap the current search at a special meeting of the board Thursday night. But six votes are needed -- the majority of the 10 seats on the board -- to reject a resolution to suspend the search or to approve a continuation. The board has two vacant seats. 
 "I was very disappointed that the board did not make a decision," said Kimberley Reiser, a biology professor and outgoing chairwoman of the college's Academic Senate, which represents faculty, staff and students. 
 The nearly nine-month-long search to replace the college's former president, Donald Astrab, has been fraught with political infighting, dividing the campus -- sometimes racially. A group of minority faculty and staff have said they were shut out of the selection process and called for the resignation of the trustee in charge of the search. Then the school's acting president, who is black, claimed he was treated unfairly in the interview process. Leaders of three faculty organizations who sat on the 12-member search committee, including Reiser, attested to the integrity of the selection process. They and others say SUNY's intervention is a threat to the college's autonomy. 
 Criminal justice professor Robert Hodge Jr., an executive board member of the minority campus group ALANA, said he was unhappy the board "didn't just do what the chancellor has asked." 
 "I think we might be stuck until the governor appoints two new board members, and that could mean all summer, and a new search won't happen until September," Hodge said. 
 The trustees vote came after nearly 3 1/2 hours in a closed-door executive session Thursday, as about 150 people waited in the meeting room inside the Tower building on the <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> campus. 
 Trustees John P. Donnelly, Mary A. Adams and acting board chairman Dr. Jorge L. Gardyn voted to undertake a new search. Trustees Anthony Cornachio, Edward W. Powers, Arnold W. Drucker, Faruque Amin and John A. DeGrace voted to proceed. 
 "I have been informed that responses are forthcoming to the chancellor's office from various groups on campus expressing opinions," Gardyn said in a prepared statement. "The board of trustees will await the chancellor's response to these recent communications." 
 Gardyn would not elaborate on the content of the letters to the chancellor's office. Cornachio said the search committee and trustees who were not involved in the presidential hiring process were drafting letters defending the fairness of their work. 
 In her call to redo the search, Zimpher said Tuesday that she was appointing a state lawyer to oversee the new search and advised the college to hire a new consultant. The chancellor has no direct control of the college's board of trustees or its actions, she has already stated she would block any nominee for the president's post unless the search begins anew. NCC is the largest, single-campus community college in the state university system. 
 "The SUNY board, on the recommendation of the chancellor, is the ultimate authority here," David <a href="/topics//David_Doyle">Doyle</a>, Zimpher's spokesman, said Friday. "She will not recommend a candidate from this search. SUNY administration will continue to work with the NCC board and the campus community on next steps." 
 The selection committee, after receiving 45 applications, and narrowing the field of candidates to 10, picked three finalists: a president of a Chicago <a href="/topics//City_College_of_New_York">city college</a>, the interim president of <a href="/topics//Dowling_College">Dowling College</a> in <a href="/topics//Oakdale,_NY">Oakdale</a>, and a <a href="/topics//Nassau_County,_NY">Nassau</a> administrative judge. 
 NCC acting president Kenneth Saunders, a 14-year administrator at the school, was not among them. 
 Saunders, whom Zimpher endorsed as acting president, will continue to lead the college, Doyle said.

LINCC18

NCC board hits impasse in president search

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The head of <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a>'s board of trustees has abruptly resigned, amid political infighting over selecting the next president to run the institution. 
Geoffrey Prime, chairman of the college's governing board, sent an email message to nine fellow trustees about 7 p.m. Saturday. His resignation is effective immediately. 
Some people have complained the process to select a new president for the <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> school was unfair.
In an interview Sunday, Prime said the controversy over the presidential selection was too time-consuming. "I realized I couldn't devote the time required and that the college deserved," said Prime, a criminal defense attorney appointed to the board in August 2010. "Obviously, I want what's best for the college."
When asked whether anyone had pressured him to resign, he said: "It was entirely my decision."
The board's vice chair, Jorge Gardyn, will be acting chairman.
<a href="/topics//The_Move_(musician)">The move</a> was a surprise to trustee Anthony Cornachio, who on Friday night met with Prime and members of the presidential search committee to discuss how candidates were selected and interviewed. At that gathering, the two talked again about meeting this week.
"I'm at a loss," said Cornachio, who is head of the search committee. "I know he's very busy and he's hard-pressed to meet all of his obligations."
Prime is a founding partner of Prime &amp; O'Brien, LLP in Garden City and is mayor of the Village of <a href="/topics//South_Floral_Park,_NY">South Floral Park</a>.
"Geoff is a man of high morals and good integrity," Gardyn said. "He has tried to run the chair with honesty. I think he did a great job. I wish him well and he will be sorely missed."
Prime's resignation comes as the two-year college is deeply divided over the search for its new president. Labor contract negotiations and the need to approve the budget also added to the load, Cornachio said.
"He's not a quitter by nature. He likes public service. I just think he reached a point where I think he couldn't take any more," Cornachio said.
The conflict at the college hit a new level last week when, after three finalists were announced, current acting president Kenneth Saunders claimed he was denied a fair interview for the permanent president's job.
Several complaint letters to the <a href="/topics//State_University_of_New_York">State University of New York</a> prompted Chancellor Nancy L. <a href="/topics//Nancy_L_Zimpher">Zimpher</a> to halt the presidential search and open an investigation into the fairness of the selection process. 
Prime was charged with leading that probe. 
"The chancellor expects that whomever assumes the duties of board chair will conduct the requested investigation," SUNY spokesman <a href="/topics//David_Doyle">David Doyle</a> said in an email. "No NCC candidate will be recommended to the SUNY board until this work is completed and we are satisfied that the search process was above reproach."
Saunders characterized the interview process as hostile and said he welcomed the investigation. "I just want it to run its course and see what the outcome will be," he said.
Saunders said he and Prime had a good working relationship. "It's just an unfortunate set of circumstances," he said.
"I think he's made a concerted effort to lead the board with the degree of integrity that's needed to move forward." 
Cornachio denies that anything untoward happened during the selection process and said Saunders got the same treatment all candidates did. "This was a job interview," he said. "They weren't guests in a home. We weren't serving tea and crumpets. . . [Interviewers] asked pointed questions. If there was evasiveness, they asked for specificity."
The campus group ALANA, representing minority faculty and staff, had unsuccessfully lobbied to get a seat on the selection committee.
"I am totally perplexed," said Robert L. Hodge Jr., a criminal justice professor at the college and an executive board member of ALANA. "Why would he resign in the middle of the controversy, because he now has none of the power that he would have had to fix any of the problems?"
On Tuesday, more than 300 people packed an auditorium for the monthly meeting of the board of trustees. Dozens of speakers called on the board to redo the search. Zimpher's endorsement and a vote by SUNY trustees is needed to install a president at the college, which has an enrollment of nearly 24,000 and is the largest single-campus community college in the state system.

LINCC13

Head of NCC board resigns amid turmoil

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The SUNY chancellor halted <a href="/topics//Nassau_County,_NY">Nassau</a> Community College's contentious search for a new president, saying she will not approve any candidate until after an investigation into the fairness of the selection process.
Nancy L. <a href="/topics//Nancy_L_Zimpher">Zimpher</a>, who heads the <a href="/topics//State_University_of_New_York">State University of New York</a> system, directed Geoffrey Prime, chairman of NCC's board of trustees, to "suspend any activities associated with the president search," SUNY spokesman David <a href="/topics//David_Doyle">Doyle</a> said Wednesday.
"The chancellor is demanding integrity, fairness, accountability and a selection based on the merits of the candidates," Doyle said in an email. "She has made it clear that she will not recommend any Nassau candidate until she is satisfied that a proper investigation has been completed."
Zimpher stepped in as campus groups and some individuals demanded the current search be stopped on the grounds it is biased and the process treated the college's acting president, Kenneth Saunders, unfairly in his bid for the job. 
Zimpher "has communicated her expectation to the NCC board chair that he is responsible for conducting an investigation," Doyle said. 
Prime said Wednesday members of the board, excluding trustees directly involved in the search, will gather all materials related to the president search and interview committee members.
"I'm sensitive to the chancellor's concerns as well as to those of everyone involved," Prime said. He said he did not know how long it would take. "We'd like to have the investigation done sooner rather than later." 
Prime said the board plans to communicate details about the investigation to the campus community over the next day or two when they "get a better handle on things." 
Zimpher and SUNY trustees must sign off on any final candidate for president at the 23,550-student <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> institution, the largest single-campus community college in the state.
Professor Robert L. Hodge Jr., an executive board member of ALANA, a group that represents minority faculty and staff, applauded SUNY officials Wednesday for intervening.
"Sounds like it will be investigated and that's all we want," Hodge said.Saunders, 56, who has worked at NCC for 14 years, will remain acting president. He claimed some members of the presidential search committee held a bias against him during his job interview. Saunders was selected in August to lead the school after the departure of former NCC president Donald Astrab, who spent 30 months on the job. 
In a story published Tuesday, Saunders told Newsday: "It was the most caustic interview experience I've ever had. They were not questions, but accusatory statements directed at me."
NCC trustee Anthony Cornachio, head of the selection committee who has come under fire, rebutted Saunders' claim. He said Tuesday night that all job candidates were treated equally.
The leaders of the Nassau Community College Federation of Teachers, which represents the college's full-time faculty, said in a statement Wednesday that they were "concerned that a search procedure that was conceived and approved by the BOT [board of trustees] and supervised by SUNY is now being questioned."Tuesday night, nearly 300 people gathered at the college for the monthly board of trustees meeting. The board spent about three hours closeted in executive session before the public session began. More than two dozen speakers took to the microphone, the majority demanding that trustees start the search over.
Audience members, which included officials from the NAACP, the college's student government and ALANA -- the African, Latino, Asian and Native American Alliance -- called for Cornachio's resignation.
ALANA earlier had called for Cornachio's resignation as head of the search committee after it was revealed he sent an email to other board members that referred to an African-American member of ALANA as "a thug" and to a female member as "very pretty."
The selection committee had agreed on three finalists: Joyce Ester, 47, of Chicago, president of Kennedy-King College, one of seven entities within the City Colleges of Chicago; State Supreme Court Justice Anthony Marano, 70, of <a href="/topics//Valley_Stream,_NY">Valley Stream</a>; and Elana Zolfo, 63, of <a href="/topics//Smithtown,_NY">Smithtown</a>, interim president of <a href="/topics//Dowling_College">Dowling College</a> in <a href="/topics//Oakdale,_NY">Oakdale</a>.
The 12 members of the selection committee voted by secret ballot, Cornachio said.

LINCC09

SUNY chancellor halts Nassau Community College president search

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The stench from the rotten presidential search at <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> wafted very quickly to Albany. SUNY Chancellor Nancy <a href="/topics//Nancy_Zimpher">Zimpher</a> responded by ordering Geoffrey Prime, chair of the college's board of trustees, to suspend the search while he investigates allegations of racial bias and a flawed process. 
Instead, he should just start over.
Clearly holding her nose, Zimpher made the proper bureaucratic move, telling Prime he must be able to attest to the integrity of the search committee's actions. But make no mistake: The chancellor is unhappy and unlikely to move forward with a nominee from this committee unless the controversy is resolved. That will be difficult. 
Acting college president Kenneth Saunders, an administrator for 13 years who didn't make the list of three finalists, claims he was treated with hostility during his interview. Meanwhile, the student representative to the selection committee said the group would not accommodate her when she had classes during candidate interviews. Two other members also missed interviews, and as a result, only 12 of 15 members were eligible to vote on all of the finalists. 
But there is an even more significant reason for starting over: The finalists are rather lackluster or politically tinged. 
One of them, State Supreme Court Justice Anthony Murano, has reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. He has no training as an educator nor experience running an educational institution. He is, however, quite close to the leadership of the county's Republican party, which for decades has used the college as a source of patronage jobs and contracts. Democrats have tried to do that, too, but the <a href="/topics//U.S._Republican_Party">GOP</a> is especially deft at it.
A fresh start is clearly needed. The trustees should immediately dissolve this search panel and convene a new one -- preferably one without trustee Anthony Cornachio, and certainly not as its head. Cornachio, who is also tightly connected to the Nassau GOP, started the latest controversy by sending an inflammatory email about a minority organization upset because it wasn't represented on the search panel. In the email, Cornachio described a professor, writing, "that tall black guy is a thug . . ." And he wrote that a female member was "the youngest looking and very pretty." 
Cornachio said the email wasn't meant to be racist or sexist. However, he already has a troubled history as a trustee. In 2010, <a href="/topics//Mary_Adams">Mary Adams</a>, then board chair, and <a href="/topics//John_LeBoutillier">John LeBoutillier</a>, the vice chair, wrote to then-Gov. David A. <a href="/topics//David_A_Paterson">Paterson</a> to say Cornachio was unfit to be reappointed. They claimed Cornachio had insulted the student body by describing it as made up of students who couldn't get in anywhere else. They also accused him of violating the confidentiality of the 2009 search to find a successor to Sean Fanelli, who was then retiring as president.
Paterson did reappoint Cornachio, but Gov. Andrew M. <a href="/topics//Andrew_Cuomo">Cuomo</a> may have the power to remove him before the trustee's term ends in 2017. And Cuomo has yet to fill another gubernatorial slot vacant for more than a year. Wednesday his office said it was moving rapidly to name a new trustee. It must find someone who can provide expert counsel and guidance. 
The president's job starts at $225,000, and comes with very good benefits, including the use of a home on the <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> campus. The college's 22,500 tuition-paying students, the taxpayers of Nassau County who send $52 million its way each year, and state taxpayers who kick in another $47 million deserve an outstanding educator and vibrant leader for this vital institution. As of now, they aren't even close to getting one.

Opinion

VPNCC09

Editorial: Hit reset on president search at Nassau Community

Nearly 300 students, faculty and community activists crowded into the <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> board of trustees meeting Tuesday night, the majority demanding that members scrap their search for a new president and start over. 
 The board listened to more than two dozen speakers describe the search process as flawed and unfair before ending the meeting at about 11:30 p.m. without voting to move the three finalists recommended by a search committee to the next round of interviews. 
 At several points during the public comments portion of the meeting, many in the crowd chanted "Justice! Justice!" as they stood in a show of support for acting president Kenneth Saunders, who is not among the three finalists. 
 Audience members, which included officials from the NAACP, the Garden <a href="/topics//City_College_of_New_York">City college</a>'s student government and ALANA, which represents minority faculty and staff, called for the resignation of trustee Anthony Cornachio, the head of the selection committee. 
 "Dr. Saunders was a victim of a blatant denial of due process," said Professor Sylvester Wise, a teacher at the college for 48 years. 
 ALANA sought Cornachio's resignation as head of the search committee after it was revealed he sent an email to other board members referring to an African-American member of ALANA as "a thug" and to a female member as "very pretty." 
 Saunders, 56, who is African-American, has claimed he wasn't given a fair interview. 
 Cornachio rebutted that charge, saying "no candidate was treated differently." 
 The finalists recommended to the board Tuesday night were Joyce Ester, 47, of Chicago, who is black and president of Kennedy-King College, one of seven entities within the City Colleges of Chicago; State Supreme Court Justice Anthony Marano, 70, of <a href="/topics//Valley_Stream,_NY">Valley Stream</a>; and Elana Zolfo, 63, of <a href="/topics//Smithtown,_NY">Smithtown</a>, interim president of <a href="/topics//Dowling_College">Dowling College</a> in <a href="/topics//Oakdale,_NY">Oakdale</a>. 
 The votes of at least six trustees -- a majority of the 10 seats on the board -- are needed to approve the three finalists and advance them to a second round of interviews, university officials said. 
 The 12-person selection committee, which along with Cornachio includes two other trustees, announced the finalists Monday amid criticism from ALANA and others, including Saunders, who sat with the trustees at Tuesday night's meeting. 
 Student government president Logan Kenney, 19, of <a href="/topics//Long_Beach,_NY">Long Beach</a>, also criticized the search. Despite being a member of the selection committee, she claims she was shut out of the decision-making process. 
 In another matter, the board Tuesday night held off on voting on a proposed $214 million operating budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year. Student tuition would rise by $98, or 2.5 percent, bringing it to $4,088 annually under the proposed budget. The plan does not call for any increases to student fees. 
 An increase in aid from the state by nearly $3 million helped limit tuition increases, university officials said.

LINCC08

NCC president search must start over, activists tell board

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The acting president of <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a>, who is not among three finalists chosen by a presidential selection committee for the permanent leadership post, said he was denied a fair interview by the panel. 
 Kenneth Saunders, an NCC administrator for 14 years, called the process "unfair" and alleged that some members of the 12-person committee held an obvious bias against him. 
 "It was the most caustic interview experience I've ever had," Saunders said. "They were not questions, but accusatory statements directed at me." 
 He would not give specifics regarding his descriptions of unfairness and bias. 
 Saunders' anger is the latest in a string of flare-ups at the <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> institution over whether the process to choose the 23,550-student school's next leader has been impartial. 
 Trustee Anthony Cornachio, head of the search committee, rebutted Saunders' charge. 
 "No candidate was treated differently," Cornachio said. "Everyone was asked the same questions in the same tone of voice by the same people." 
 &nbsp; 
 3 contenders for president 
 The finalists are Joyce Ester, 47, of Chicago, president of Kennedy-King College, one of seven entities within the <a href="/topics//City_College_of_New_York">City College</a>s of Chicago; State Supreme Court Justice Anthony Marano, 70, of <a href="/topics//Valley_Stream,_NY">Valley Stream</a>; and Elana Zolfo, 63, of <a href="/topics//Smithtown,_NY">Smithtown</a>, interim president of <a href="/topics//Dowling_College">Dowling College</a> in <a href="/topics//Oakdale,_NY">Oakdale</a>. 
 "The committee feels that each of the people selected are competent to run this institution," said Cornachio, whose leadership of the selection process has come under fire. "The trustees may agree or they may not agree." 
 A majority vote by the board of trustees is needed before the finalists advance to a second round of interviews, university officials said. NCC trustees have said they hope to have a new president by June. The selection committee conducted interviews with 10 semifinalists over a three-day period beginning April 19. 
 The presidential search is expected to be discussed at Tuesday night's board meeting. 
 Forty-five people from across the country had expressed interest in the job. <a href="/topics//Nassau_County,_NY">Nassau</a> Community College is the largest single-campus community college in the state. 
 Saunders, 56, was tapped to lead the school on an interim basis following the August 2012 departure of former president Donald Astrab, who was the college's president for 30 months. As acting president, Saunders' annual salary was raised $10,000, to $225,000, and he was allowed to live in the president's house on campus. 
 He was the college's executive vice president before trustees appointed him officer in charge upon Astrab's departure and then as acting president -- an elevation approved by SUNY officials. 
 &nbsp; 
 Panel's fairness questioned 
 Other individuals and campus groups have questioned the selection committee's fairness and inclusiveness. 
 NCC student government president Logan Kenney, a member of the selection committee, said the candidate interviews were scheduled during class time, which kept her out of the decision-making. 
 "Ultimately, I was told that either I skip my classes or I don't go to the interviews," said Kenney, 19, of <a href="/topics//Long_Beach,_NY">Long Beach</a>. 
 Kenney, who has a 4.0 grade-point average, also is the school's valedictorian. 
 "I didn't like that I was the easy casualty," she said. "I represent the students in this process, and the students are everything to the school." 
 ALANA, a campus group representing minority faculty, staff and students, called for Cornachio's resignation as head of the search committee after it was revealed he sent an email message to other board members containing language that some people at the college perceived as sexist and racist. 
 &nbsp; 
<h3> A LOOK AT THE 3 NCC FINALISTS FOR PRESIDENT'S JOB</h3> 
 &nbsp; 
 Joyce Ester, 47, of Chicago, president of Kennedy-King College. Ester has worked more than 20 years in <a href="/topics//Higher_Education">higher education</a>, focusing on student support, from financial aid to programs for disabled students. She was selected to lead Kennedy-King, one of seven entities of the City Colleges of Chicago, in fall 2011. As associate vice president for student services at <a href="/topics//Bakersfield,_CA">Bakersfield</a> College in California, one of at least four colleges where she has worked, Ester founded the Veterans Resource Center to provide information about benefits and help ease veterans' transition to college. She also taught American Sign Language as an adjunct professor at <a href="/topics//Santa_Barbara_AVA">Santa Barbara</a> City College. 
 Anthony Marano, 70, of <a href="/topics//Valley_Stream,_NY">Valley Stream</a>, State Supreme Court justice. As <a href="/topics//Nassau_County,_NY">Nassau</a> courts' top administrative judge, he oversaw training of court personnel to handle foreclosure cases and set up procedures to protect homeowners' rights. He supervised creation of the Nassau Domestic Violence Court and developed the state's first program to encourage parents in contentious custody cases to seek intervention from mental health professionals before litigating. He stepped down as administrative judge this year at the mandatory retirement age of 70 but has been authorized to stay on as a judge. 
 Elana Zolfo, 63, of <a href="/topics//Smithtown,_NY">Smithtown</a>, interim president of <a href="/topics//Dowling_College">Dowling College</a>. In 19 years at the <a href="/topics//Oakdale,_NY">Oakdale</a> college, she expanded work-site degree programs at major companies, from Federal Express to Estee Lauder, and developed opportunities for international students and American students abroad. She has held key posts on several business groups, including the <a href="/topics//Hauppauge,_NY">Hauppauge</a> Industrial Association and the <a href="/topics//Suffolk_County,_NY">Suffolk</a> County Women's Business Enterprise Coalition. She has been active in fundraising for students' tuition, breast cancer research and other causes.

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Acting NCC president Kenneth Saunders blasts 'unfair' hiring process

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A <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> minority organization says a trustee must relinquish his leadership role in the search for the school's next president after it was revealed he sent an email referring to an African-American member of their group as "a thug" and a female member as "the youngest looking and very pretty." 
 College officials said the email, made public at a board of trustees meeting Thursday night, has been sent to the school's <a href="/topics//Affirmative_Action">affirmative action</a> officer and lawyers for review. 
 "As of now, we recognize the concerns of everyone," Geoffrey Prime, the board's chairman, said Friday. "But we're not going to make any rash decisions. This is obviously unprecedented, and I don't know at this point what kind of action we're going to take." 
 Copies of the email, written by trustee Anthony Cornachio, who is charged with appointing members to the presidential selection committee, were circulated at the board meeting by members of ALANA, which stands for African, Latino, Asian and Native American Alliance. 
 The message, dated March 22, was sent from Cornachio's personal email account to eight college trustees. 
 "I find the email disturbing, sexist, hurtful, demeaning and it speaks to the real issue I am trying to address as an African-American and also as a woman," said Anissa Moore, president of ALANA, to whom Cornachio referred in the email. 
 Moore said Friday she and the group's executive board want Cornachio to step down from leading the 15-member presidential selection committee. 
 A printed copy of the email was anonymously placed in the mailbox of ALANA executive board member <a href="/topics//Marilyn_Monroe">Marilyn Monroe</a>. 
 The group, which represents minority staff and faculty, has for two months lobbied trustees to get a seat on the presidential search committee, saying it lacks adequate racial diversity. 
 After Thursday night's meeting, Cornachio, who is white, said he did not intend for the email to be public or for the correspondence to go beyond the intended recipients. 
 "Of course it wasn't meant that way," Cornachio said, referring to others' allegations that the email contained offensive racial and sexist language. 
 In the message, Cornachio writes about Sylvester Wise, a sociology professor and a male African-American ALANA member: "that tall black guy is a thug and he has an agenda. Not known to be a nice person." 
 Wise said of Cornachio: "He needs to be removed from the search committee. I don't think he can be fair." 
 Cornachio said Friday he sometimes has used the term "thug" to describe white people he thought were bullies, including the college's former president, Donald Astrab. 
 NCC trustees said they aim to select a new college president by June. Acting president Kenneth Saunders, who is a candidate, has led the school since August, when Astrab was removed after 30 months in the job. 
 There are 40 applicants for the president's post. Trustees would not disclose the ethnicity or gender of the candidates, citing confidentiality rules. 
 The selection committee comprises seven white women, five white men, two black men and one Asian man.

Group: NCC trustee's email 'sexist, hurtful'

liNCC11 cropped

Leaders of a minority faculty and staff organization at <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> say they were wrongly denied a seat on the committee to select the college's next president and are planning to appeal to the full board of trustees at its meeting Thursday night.
The group, ALANA -- which stands for African, Latino, Asian and Native American Alliance -- has spent the last two months lobbying college trustees and <a href="/topics//State_University_of_New_York">State University of New York</a> officials to get a representative on the committee, which they say lacks adequate racial diversity.
Trustees said opening up a committee seat to every campus group is not possible, and would complicate the selection process and run counter to the advice of state university officials.
In 2009, the last time NCC undertook a presidential search, the 18-member selection committee was too large, state officials said.
"This is a critical time in the college's future," said Anissa Moore, ALANA's president and an associate professor of communication. "The college's structure has literally silenced groups of color and we feel like this is the time to be part of the process."
The current search committee has 15 members: four NCC trustees, two representatives from the <a href="/topics//Nassau_County,_NY">Nassau</a> County Legislature, one from the county executive's office, one each from the three campus faculty and employee unions, one representing the department chairmen, one representing the academic senate, the president of the student government, a college administrator and a community representative.
By race and gender, the committee comprises seven white women, five white men, two black men and one Asian man, said trustee Anthony Cornachio, who was charged with appointing the group's members.
Cornachio, a <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> lawyer, said there was no intention to exclude faculty and staff members of color from the selection process.
"You can have a congress or you can have a committee," he said. "We could take every single campus group and it would be completely unmanageable."
Craig <a href="/topics//Craig_Wright">Wright</a>, a representative from the school's administration who is on the selection committee, is a member of ALANA, Cornachio said.
Wright, who is black, is the college's associate vice president for equity, inclusion, <a href="/topics//Affirmative_Action">affirmative action</a> and Americans With Disabilities Act.
SUNY officials have said that the presidential searches are to be conducted at the campus level. College trustees are responsible for appointing members of the selection committee, according to SUNY guidelines.
Thirty-six people had applied for the president's job as of Tuesday. The job was posted in 12 periodicals, seven of which are targeted to a racially diverse audience, Cornachio said.
Kenneth Saunders is the school's acting president. An administrator at NCC for more than 13 years, he formally applied for the president's position on Monday, college officials said. Saunders is black.
NCC trustees have said they hope to have a new president by June.

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Group: NCC selection committee lacks diversity

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State officials approved <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> trustees' appointment of Kenneth Saunders to the post of acting president, just as a national search for a permanent leader of the two-year institution is getting under way. 
 The change in Saunders' title, endorsed by SUNY Chancellor <a href="/topics//Nancy_L_Zimpher">Nancy L. Zimpher</a> last week, will give him a $10,000 raise, bringing his salary to $225,000, and allow him to live in the president's house on the <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> campus. 
 Meanwhile, NCC trustees said they hope to have a new president by June. It is unclear whether Saunders will be a candidate. 
 "I want to wait until the position is formally advertised before stating my intentions as to whether I will apply for it or not," Saunders said. 
 Trustees have formed a 14-member search committee of stakeholders, including representatives of the college's three employee unions, student government and local community leaders, to select the president. 
 "We recognize how important this search is and we are moving quickly, but we want to make sure it is done right," said Geoffrey Prime, trustee chairman. "We are moving methodically but firmly forward." 
 Five firms specializing in <a href="/topics//Higher_Education">higher education</a> employment answered the college's request for proposals to vet applicants. The companies, located in New York City, <a href="/topics//Washington,_D.C.">Washington, D.C.</a>, <a href="/topics//Illinois">Illinois</a> and Florida, submitted bids ranging from $70,000 to $130,000. 
 A group of NCC trustees is charged with choosing a firm. Any signed agreement must go to <a href="/topics//Nassau_County,_NY">Nassau</a> County's attorneys for review and approval, college officials said. 
 Saunders, 55, of <a href="/topics//Freeport,_NY">Freeport</a>, has been the college's officer-in-charge since August, after president Donald Astrab was removed following two votes of no confidence by the faculty during his 30 months on the job. 
 Debra DeSanto, president of the <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> Federation of Teachers, the college's full-time faculty union, spoke positively this week of Saunders. 
 "We are looking forward to working with him to move the college forward," said DeSanto, who is on the presidential search panel. The committee is scheduled to meet Monday for the first time. 
 Saunders has a doctorate in education from the <a href="/topics//University_of_Pennsylvania">University of Pennsylvania</a>, and has worked at NCC for 13 years. His appointment lasts for one year or until a permanent president takes over.

NCC names Saunders as acting president during search

The acrimony around Donald Astrab's brief, fiery time as president of Nassau Community College won't make finding a new president any easier. Still, it's imperative that the search committee hires someone who'll continue Astrab's fiscal vigilance, but be better at building consensus. 
 Anyone smart enough to be considered for the job will also be smart enough to do some research on Nassau. Even the most cursory check will reveal that Astrab was the target of not one, but two votes of no confidence, one by the academic senate and one by the fiercely proud full-time faculty. The research would also show that the previous chairman of the board resigned, facing accusations of an affordable housing kickback scam in <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a>. 
 So it's been a turbulent time for the state's largest single-campus community college, second only to multi-campus <a href="/topics//Suffolk_County,_NY">Suffolk</a> County Community College in total students. 
 Astrab took the job in November 2009 and resigned at the end of July this year. His executive vice president, Kenneth Saunders, became "officer in charge." Now the college's board of trustees is asking the <a href="/topics//State_University_of_New_York">State University of New York</a>'s board to name him acting president, a title that would allow him to be a candidate for the full-time job, if he wants to pursue it. 
 Though Astrab began the painful process of cutting costs to make the budget work, the new president will have to do more of the same. But the search committee must choose someone who is also a skilled communicator. Faculty members felt Astrab was an imperial president; he looked at them as an imperial faculty, too accustomed to getting their own way. 
 Right now, Nassau lacks not only a permanent president, but a permanent academic vice president. That makes this interim period tough for Saunders, but he'll have to be as decisive as his temporary status allows. And the search committee will have to cast a wide net to find someone not intimidated by the academic warfare, but invigorated by the challenge. 
 When so many need a community college to get new skills in a tough job market, it's time this campus got past battling and pivoted back to excelling.

VPNCC30

Editorial: A critical task at Nassau Community College

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<a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> trustees have moved to name Kenneth Saunders the college's acting president, bumping his pay by $10,000 and giving him use of the president's house on the <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> campus, college officials said Wednesday.
Saunders, 55, of <a href="/topics//Freeport,_NY">Freeport</a> has held the title of officer-in-charge, with a salary of $215,000, since the August departure of former president Donald Astrab.
The community college's board of trustees is launching a nationwide search for Astrab's replacement, a process they have said could take up to a year. Astrab left the college after the faculty twice voted no confidence in him. He was on the job for 30 months.
The board voted 7-0 Tuesday night to make Saunders the college's acting president. The vote is contingent upon approval of state university officials.
It does not mean Saunders will ultimately be named to the top post, board president Geoffrey Prime said Wednesday.
"We are actively and vigorously pursuing the search process. This isn't a step closer for Dr. Saunders, it is a step for more stability for the college," Prime said.
Saunders, who has been an administrator at the college for 13 years, said he has not decided whether he will apply for the president's job. If he were to become the 24,000-student school's permanent leader, he would be its first black president.
"I haven't made up my mind at this point," Saunders said Wednesday. "What I do know is that I'm enjoying what I'm doing."
If approved, his new salary of $225,000 is less than Astrab's salary of $230,000, college officials said.
Richard Newman, spokesman for the Nassau Community College Federation of Teachers, said the college's full-time faculty union looks forward to a full, affirmative-action search for a new president.
"Our goal remains to work with Dr. Saunders for as long as he is in this position, to make sure that Nassau Community College delivers the best education possible to the students who come here," said Newman, who also is an English professor at NCC.
Newman said the union members had no comment on Saunders' raise or his moving into the president's house because they've had "no official word of these changes."
Criminal justice professor Robert Hodge said Saunders has been getting favorable reviews since he's been in charge. <a href="/topics//The_Move_(musician)">The move</a> to make Saunders acting president "automatically lends stability to the college," he said.
"I think there's a general happiness with him now that he's leading us through troubled times," Hodge said.

LINCC22

Kenneth Saunders named NCC acting president

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<a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> officials are in the initial stages of a nationwide search for a new leader -- a task they hope to fast-track -- more than three months after the departure of former president Donald Astrab, trustees said.
The college's next president will face a host of unresolved problems, from a faculty seeking to preserve its influence to an uncertain fiscal future, according to school officials, faculty members and student leaders.
The administration and faculty still are recovering from a strained relationship that was tested during Astrab's embattled tenure. The college is at an impasse in contract negotiations with the adjunct faculty union, and is preparing to negotiate with the full-time faculty union. At the same time, NCC's budget is increasingly reliant on student tuition dollars to replace county and state funding.
"Searching for a new president is the obvious priority this year," said Geoffrey Prime, the college's board chairman, who was not on the board when Astrab was named president in 2009. "Ideally, we'd want someone sooner rather than later, but we also want to err on the side of getting it right."
Astrab, who spent 30 months on the job, left amid fierce criticism from the full-time faculty union, which twice issued votes of no confidence in him.
He resigned in July after agreeing with trustees on a compensation package worth more than $337,000 in salary, health insurance and accrued vacation and sick time. Astrab also had received a car and a house, which is now vacant, on the <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> campus.
There is no official timeline or deadline to find a new president. Trustees said they believe it will take six months to a year to conduct the search.
Three members of the eight-person board of trustees are charged with identifying the stakeholders who will sit on a larger search committee, as required by state regulations, trustees said.
In the meantime, the board on July 30 appointed executive vice president Kenneth Saunders to the position of officer-in-charge. He is the first black leader of the 53-year-old institution.
Saunders, 55, of <a href="/topics//Freeport,_NY">Freeport</a>, has been with the college for 13 years. Asked recently whether he would apply for the president's job, Saunders said he is "giving it serious consideration."
"I have an opportunity that most college president candidates don't get, and that is the opportunity to assess the job," Saunders said.
The college's board of trustees has 10 seats -- nine people appointed by state and county lawmakers, and one student trustee, elected by the student body. Two appointive seats on the board are vacant.
Anthony Cornachio, <a href="/topics//Richard_Gutierrez">Richard Gutierrez</a> and student trustee Faruque Amin are the three members of the board in charge of selecting members of the larger search committee.
The search committee will include campus, political and business community leaders, trustees said, as stipulated in state guidelines. There is no set number of people who can sit on the search committee.
The state has appointed a liaison, Lee Riddell, director of the SUNY Leadership Institute, to guide NCC trustees in the search.
In the process that led to Astrab's selection, the search committee had 18 members, including trustees, representatives of the school's faculty and employee unions, student groups and various local organizations, said Cornachio, a Garden City attorney, who was on the board at the time.
Cornachio said he hopes to "avoid the calamity of the last time."
"We haven't even decided what are the characteristics we're looking for in this next president," he said. "I'm looking for someone who will bring stability and leadership to the college. The institution needs it."
With more than 23,000 students, <a href="/topics//Nassau_County,_NY">Nassau</a> Community College's $204 million budget is funded 40.2 percent by tuition and fees, 25.7 percent by Nassau County and 21.3 percent by the state. The difference is made up from other sources of revenue such as investment income, fund balance and a surcharge for out-of-county students.
Tuition is $3,990. After a 6.9 percent increase between 2010-11 and 2011-12, tuition stayed flat under the 2012-13 budget. State aid rose 7 percent in 2013, the first increase since 2008.
Cornachio, who has been a NCC trustee for past four years, has suggested that faculty members help with vetting candidates.
The college's full-time faculty union, with 683 members, hopes the next president will be more inclusive in management and will preserve full-time faculty postilions, said Richard Newman, spokesman for the Nassau Community College Federation of Teachers Local 3150.
"You need full-time faculty," Newman said at a recent board meeting. "We're the ones who are here all the time for the students."
Newman said the union expects to have a place on the search committee. In looking at candidates for the president's job, Newman said union leaders "would look at attitudes that directly relate to the union contract."
Health benefits, faculty governance, pay raises, seniority steps, retirement incentives and layoffs are all of concern to the full-time faculty, Newman said.
After 18 months of talking, the NCCFT and college officials in September broke off negotiations, without an agreement, on an extension to their current contract, which is set to expire Aug. 31, 2013.
History department chairman Philip Y. Nicholson, who has been at the college for more than 40 years, said there's a sentiment of "feeling adrift without new leadership on campus."
Class sizes at NCC are growing, transfer agreements with four-year colleges have stalled, and there aren't enough spots for students in classes required to graduate, Nicholson and other faculty members said.
"There's a lack of academic vision or initiative," he said. "There's just a feeling that things are going to fall through the cracks until we get back up on our feet."

NCC searches for leader who'll take charge

Newsday's story "NCC president: $337G to leave" [News, July 31] focuses on the dollar figure of the separation agreement between <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> and president Donald P. Astrab. 
 The college's board of trustees acted with the goal of limiting the financial costs as much as possible. In the event of involuntary termination, Astrab would have already been entitled to 12 months' pay and health care coverage, plus accrued vacation and sick pay. Those obligations amount to more than 80 percent of the $337,000. 
 The agreement prevents Astrab from suing or disparaging the college. The board of trustees believes this was the most prudent way to protect the interests of the college and the taxpayers. 
 Geoffrey Prime, <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> 
 Editor's note: The writer is the chairman of the college's board of trustees. &nbsp; 
 Scanning recent headlines, one might be excused for thinking the only issue was Astrab's cost-cutting measures ["Put students first at NCC," Editorial, July 31]. Nothing could be further from the truth. 
 At the beginning of Astrab's tenure, the faculty proposed several cost-cutting strategies, at least one of which would have been worth several million dollars, but he rejected each one. Yet when Astrab called on us to do more with less, we found ways, despite our misgivings, to answer his call. 
 His response was to eliminate faculty, cut programs and course offerings, reduce student services, and increase class sizes while giving substantial raises to certain administrators. Sharing the pain was not part of Astrab's vocabulary. 
 The college's academic senate, a democratically elected body of full-time faculty, students and administrators, is the forum for striking a balance among the educational needs of our students, the difficult financial realities of their lives, and the college's own fiscal realities. Astrab chose to marginalize the academic senate, vetoing its carefully crafted decisions at the eleventh hour and imposing his own will by administrative fiat, thereby missing many chances to lessen the sting of cuts. 
 We defended this system of shared school governance as vigorously as we did -- with two votes of no confidence and a sustained campaign of protest before the college's board of trustees -- for a reason: It is the heart of why <a href="/topics//Nassau_County,_NY">Nassau</a> is the top-ranked community college in <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> State and is among the top 100 <a href="/topics//Higher_Education">community colleges</a> in the nation. 
 The faculty has indeed outlasted Astrab, the "cost-cutter" whom the trustees were forced to pay a sweetheart $337,000 package. Under the leadership of Kenneth Saunders, we are poised just as we were three years ago -- to ensure that <a href="/topics//Nassau_County,_NY">Nassau</a> Community is a place where success starts and continues. 
 Kimberley Reiser, <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> 
 Editor's note: The writer is a biology professor and chairwoman of the college's academic senate. &nbsp; 
 Columnist Joye Brown mentions "NCC's passion for combat" ["Peace at school won't come easily," News, July 31]. This is not a true picture of the historic relationship between faculty and administration. As a past president of the college Faculty Senate and the College Federation of Teachers, and as a faculty member for 47 years, I can state unequivocally that faculty input was always welcomed by past presidents, especially for the 27 years under Sean Fanelli. 
 Bernard Katz, <a href="/topics//Garden_City,_NY">Garden City</a> 
 Editor's note: The writer is a psychology professor at the college. &nbsp; 
 As the article "NCC president leaving?" [News, July 29] points out, <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> is supposed to be funded in thirds: by the state, by the county and by tuition. Yet neither <a href="/topics//Nassau_County,_NY">Nassau</a> County nor <a href="/topics//New_York_(state)">New York</a> State has ever, even when times were good, fully lived up to that funding obligation. 
 If they did, even in these difficult times, the college would be in a much less precarious financial situation. That's where the real financial irresponsibility lies, not with the college itself. 
 Richard Newman, Garden City 
 Editor's note: The writer is the communications coordinator for the <a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> Federation of Teachers (NCCFT), which is the union representing NCC's full-time faculty.

Letters

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Letters: Nasty fight finished at NCC

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<a href="/topics//Nassau_Community_College">Nassau Community College</a> president Donald Astrab resigned Monday after reaching a compensation agreement with the board of trustees worth more than $337,000 in salary, health insurance and accrued vacation and sick time.
The resignation capped a tumultuous year that included two no-confidence votes from faculty. More than 100 people, many of them professors at the 23,000-student college, packed the meeting room for the trustees' special 7 a.m. meeting. The board voted 7-1 to accept Astrab's resignation.
Board chairman Geoffrey Prime said the college's next leader should seek to build consensus, which Astrab's critics said he had not done.
Astrab, who was named president in late 2009, officially assumed the office in February 2010, taking over from NCC's longtime leader, Sean Fanelli. The community college has faced a budget squeeze that last year led to layoffs of 40 full-time faculty positions and some temporary jobs.
The separation agreement calls for paying Astrab's salary and benefits for 15 months: his annual salary of $230,000 plus $57,500; health insurance for him and his family through November 2013, worth an estimated $25,000; and unused vacation and sick days worth $24,894, according to college spokesman Chuck Cutolo.
Astrab was not at the meeting. He could not be reached for comment Monday.
The board unanimously elevated Kenneth Saunders, the college's executive vice president, as "officer in charge" effective Tuesday.
Saunders, 55, of <a href="/topics//Freeport,_NY">Freeport</a>, who has been at NCC for 13 years, becomes the college's first African-American leader. He has not been designated interim or acting president, a title officials said requires approval from <a href="/topics//State_University_of_New_York">State University of New York</a> trustees and could come later.
The crowd applauded when Saunders thanked the board for the opportunity to "be a part of the transition of <a href="/topics//Nassau_County,_NY">Nassau</a> Community College, as we work as a collective to bring things back to a state where we were, where we're functioning collegially with one another." He talked of the need for "shared governance," alluding to the interaction between faculty and the administration.
Saunders' pay rises to $215,000 from $175,000. He holds a doctorate in <a href="/topics//Higher_Education">higher education</a> from the <a href="/topics//University_of_Pennsylvania">University of Pennsylvania</a>, a master's of education from <a href="/topics//Howard_Bison_(football)">Howard University</a> and a bachelor's in psychology and German from <a href="/topics//BGSU_Falcons_(basketball)">Bowling Green State University</a>. He also attended Harvard University's Institute of Education Management in 2006. Before coming to NCC, he worked at SUNY College at <a href="/topics//Old_Westbury,_NY">Old Westbury</a>.
The board named Maria Conzatti, who had been vice president of academic student services, as acting executive vice president at a salary of $180,000.
College officials said they do not have a timetable for their search for a new president. By statute, the college must appoint an interim or acting president and establish a search committee. SUNY will provide a liaison to the college's search committee, SUNY spokesman <a href="/topics//David_Doyle">David Doyle</a> said.
Saunders said he has not decided whether he would be a candidate for the presidency.
The sole dissenting vote on Astrab's resignation came from Anthony Cornachio.
He later said he was against the extension of salary payments for three months beyond the termination clause in Astrab's five-year contract, calling it a "hefty sum. It's not my money; it's not the other trustees' money. It's the public's money."
He supported Astrab's resignation, saying, "There are some people who thrive on adversity, thrive on causing unhappiness. He was that."
After the meeting, Prime said the settlement sought to prevent potential litigation in giving Astrab additional salary and health coverage.
The board's decision, he said, "was not a reflection of Dr. Astrab personally, just a recognition that the college needed to move forward."
He added in an interview, "We certainly wish Dr. Astrab the best in the future. I want to make that clear."For NCC's next president, Prime said the board will look for "someone who recognizes the value of shared governance on campus, and that can balance that with the fiscal responsibilities needed in running the college in these financial times."
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano could not be reached for comment, his office said.
Peter Schmitt (R-<a href="/topics//Massapequa,_NY">Massapequa</a>), the legislature's presiding officer, said through a spokesman, "I'm sorry to see Mr. Astrab go. He was a fine addition to the college."
Legis. Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport), minority leader, said, "Mr. Astrab faced a difficult situation and took on many entrenched interests in trying to change the culture at the community college."
Legis. Judy Jacobs (D-<a href="/topics//Woodbury,_NY">Woodbury</a>) said she would not characterize the agreement as a "golden parachute."
"It seems to me that this separation agreement is in line with the board of trustees and Dr. Astrab wishing to amicably resolve their differences" and avoid "costly litigation," she said in an email.
Faculty representatives welcomed Astrab's resignation.
Kimberley Reiser, chair of the college's academic senate, and Debra DeSanto, president of the Federation of Teachers full-time faculty union, said Astrab's adversarial relationship with faculty affected the college's quality.
Astrab did have some support from a few faculty and others at the meeting.
Denise Gunn, president of the college's CSEA union, representing about 500 mostly clerical workers, called Astrab's ouster a "disgrace," saying she declined to back the faculty union's criticisms of him.

NCC trustees accept president's resignation

Donald P. Astrab cropped

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