Columbia College Faculty And President At Odds Over Leadership
Columbia, CA — The Columbia College Academic Senate, which represents the faculty at the school, has passed a vote of no confidence in the college’s president, Dr. Lena Tran.
Indicating a growing disconnect between many of the staff and the administration, the vote at the meeting, held late last week, was 21-6.
The two faculty members who proposed the resolution were Dr. Adrienne Seegers, with the school’s Child Development Instructional Program, and Lahna VonEpps, Math Faculty and Academic Senate Past President.
The approved resolution states that Dr. Tran “has exhibited poor performance in key areas of the President’s job description.”
The three areas listed are “unsatisfactory interpersonal and communication skills,” a “lack of decision-making based on participatory governance that seeks to empower others,” and a “lack of ability to motivate members of the college community to pursue excellence.”
The resolution concludes, “As a body, we recognize that the status quo under President Tran’s leadership is unsatisfactory and will cause harm to the college, and ultimately students.”
Dr. Tran appeared at the meeting and stated she is “deeply troubled” that many of the faculty members are feeling upset. She provided her meeting comments to Clarke Broadcasting and noted that she earlier made requests to the Executive Academic Senate to attend meetings to address any concerns but was denied.
She also cited several highlights over the past two and a half years while she has been the college president. Some of these include completing a successful accreditation-focused site visit with no major findings, restoring enrollment to pre-pandemic levels, developing strong dual enrollment pathways for high school partners, securing over $20 million in grants, providing free training to 100 students interested in healthcare, and organizing professional development visits to companies like Tesla, Apple and Linkedin.
Tran added that she is proposing to have regular forums for direct communication between her and the Academic Senate.
After approving the first vote of no confidence late last week, the faculty group is planning to do a second reading, at a future meeting.
Dr. Tran’s hiring and employment are overseen by the Yosemite Community College District Board of Trustees, so the Academic Senate’s resolution is more of a symbolic statement.
Tran also provided a detailed written response to Clarke Broadcasting, following the meeting, which you can read in its entirety in the myMotherLode.com blog section by clicking here.
