High court suspends Diné College prez from duties
By Cindy Yurth
Tséyi' Bureau
WINDOW ROCK, Sept. 9, 2010
Also Wednesday, Navajo Nation District Court Judge Cindy Thompson reportedly denied 10 college employees' requests for a temporary protective order against Clark, saying there was no immediate threat of bodily injury. A hearing on the permanent protective orders is set for Sept. 16 in district court in Chinle.
A court employee would not confirm Thompson's action nor release court documents Wednesday, saying they had not been "processed."
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has released the 172-page report of the investigation into Clark's conduct, which confirms complaints of "pervasive harassment" and favoritism, but draws no conclusion on the alleged mismanagement of grant monies.
An employee who answered the phone in Clark's office Wednesday said Clark was on travel and she didn't know whether he had been informed of the Supreme Court order. She said Jack C. Jackson Sr., director of cultural and legislative affairs, had been appointed acting president in his absence.
Clark had been placed on administrative leave in February while the Board of Regents investigated faculty and staff complaints of financial mismanagement, harassment and favoritism under Clark's administration.
However, in early April Clark successfully petitioned the Labor Commission to reinstate him by pointing out the college's personnel policy allows only one month of administrative leave. Clark's supporters later convinced the Navajo Nation Council's Education Committee to remove three regents, leaving the board without a quorum and unable to meet since May.
Clark's detractors, including recently fired Director of Human Resources Evelyn Meadows, say Clark is no longer officially president since the board has not been able to meet to renew his contract.
Investigator Colbert Dayzie interviewed 35 Diné College employees and heard complaints about Clark ranging from intimidation to witchcraft.
Employees also alleged Clark bent the rules for his relatives, including reversing the expulsion of students who were caught with alcohol and once reinstating a class that had been cancelled because his brother wanted to take it.
Many of the complaints centered around the recently hired vice president for academic and student affairs, Elvira Largie, who seemed to be a favorite of Clark.
Although she had no experience in higher education, the former Chinle School District assistant superintendent was offered a $90,000 salary ($6,000 more than fellow vice president Ron Belloli), and both her campus apartment and office underwent expensive renovations.
She also had access to a Diné College vehicle which she sometimes used for personal travel.
Meanwhile, employees who fell out of favor with Clark were fired or "frozen out," with Clark circumventing their authority. Some employees said Clark even refused to shake their hands when they ran into him on campus.
A female employee also said Clark had made her uncomfortable by calling her after hours, inviting her to travel with him, driving slowly by her house and giving her an expensive necklace, which she returned.
One non-Navajo employee said that during a banquet, Avery Denny, the college's medicine man, had made strange hand gestures toward her. Conferring with Navajo colleagues, she had learned the gestures were a way of gaining control over a person. She believes Clark had Denny "witch" her.
Attempts to contact Denny on Thursday were unsuccessful.
Another employee said Clark challenged her to a physical fight, which left her traumatized because she is a victim of domestic abuse.
In the report, Clark denied all the incidents or said he didn't recall or didn't know about them. He defended Largie's perks as necessary to lure her to the job as there was a dearth of qualified Navajo applicants.
There was also the issue of the Wisdom of the People grant, an award that was supposed to be used to document elders' teachings. Instead, alleged the grants manager and others, the money appeared to be given out as stipends to faculty and medicine men for unrelated actions such as conducting ceremonies.
The grants manager said she was denied access to any information about the $100,000 grant, with Clark on one occasion saying, "We're not going to give it to you, nah nah nah."
After returning from leave, Clark seemed bent on retaliating against anyone who had complied with the investigation, employees alleged, and there was a series of terminations that continued up until Tuesday with the firings of Belloli and education professor Janel Hinrichsen, formerly two of Clark's closest associates.
In the interviews, employees described Clark's recent behavior as "strange," "bizarre" and "nuttier and nuttier."
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