EvCC faculty may vote to censure Earl

EVERETT – Faculty at Everett Community College will vote in the next few days on whether to censure President Charlie Earl.

Instructors met behind closed doors for about an hour Wednesday to discuss what formal position they will take.

Many faculty have been angered by Earl’s administrative decisions in recent months, including his announcement that he is reassigning Stu Barger, the college’s vice president of instruction.

“A censure is a statement of dissatisfaction,” said Richard Davis, president of EvCC’s American Federation of Teachers local chapter. “It is not a vote of no confidence, and it is not a call that he be fired or resign.”

Davis said if the faculty approves the letter of censure, instructors would monitor Earl in areas they identify as concerns, and could take stronger action later.

The teachers union voted to extend the voting on the letter of censure to the entire faculty, including union and nonunion, full-time and part-time employees. It would include instructors, librarians and counselors.

A five-member committee will craft the wording for the possible letter of censure.

“I continue to take the whole situation very seriously and do want to see the actual language of their action before I comment,” Earl said.

He said the college has “a lot of work to do” in the meantime, including graduating its biggest class ever and following up on commitments he has made to employees in recent days.

Earl got a sense of the faculty unrest last week when deans from the college’s six divisions provided memos and oral reports on votes taken within their departments. Two divisions asked Earl to resign.

A censure or even a no-confidence vote carries no consequences, but would send a message of discontent to the EvCC trustees.

“We might monitor him for a couple of years,” Davis said.

Earl has told faculty and other college staff that he has no plans to resign, but is taking their criticisms seriously.

“One of your harshest criticisms of my performance is my decision-making style – your call for more collaboration,” he told staff. “You have sent a strong message, and I recognize the need for improvement. I accept your criticism.”

Mayumi Smith, director of the Nippon Business and Cultural Resource Center on the campus, said she supports Earl even though she greatly respects Barger.

“He has done so much for the college over the past five years,” she said Wednesday.

Smith also sent an e-mail to her colleagues across the campus.

“I hope that we can all take a deep breath, relax and can work it out,” she said. “We are (in a) far better position compared with those days when there was talk about layoffs. There is a Chinese proverb that goes, ‘Crisis can bring opportunities.’”

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.

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