Unrest at Diné College

(File photo)

Diné College President Ferlin Clark, right, joins State Sen. John Pinto, center, and Vice President Ben Shelly, left, at an Aug. 18 groundbreaking in Shiprock for the $5 million DinŽ College library named for Pinto. The college's board of regents has scheduled a meeting Oct. 7 to discuss Clark.

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The Diné College Board of Regents plans to meet Wednesday, Oct. 7, at the main campus in Tsaile, Ariz., to discuss the college's president, Ferlin Clark.

The meeting comes after months of don't-quote-me rumblings from unhappy employees.

Now a former program administrator has gone public with a series of criticisms about the way Clark runs the college, saying he has created an atmosphere where staff and faculty are afraid of losing their jobs.

The problems have become severe enough that they are affecting the quality of instruction at Diné College, said Mia Kalish, who served as director of distance education for three years before leaving this past summer when her position was eliminated.

Kalish said 13 people resigned or were forced out at the end of the last school year due to Clark's policies and efforts by him and others to get rid of those who criticized his administration.

"With 64 total employment, that's a really high number," Kalish noted.

It won't be the first time the regents have examined Clark's job performance. Last summer he was put on administrative leave for two weeks while the board looked into allegations that he mismanaged grant funds.

Kalish said when Clark was suspended, he came to her to get support in a letter-writing campaign against the board's president, Fannie Atcitty.

"The requirement was that those writing had to have first-hand knowledge of her visits to the college's campuses and be willing to sign their names," Kalish wrote in a letter to the editor to the Navajo Times (see Letters, page A-6).

"The president also asked me, in a 'conversation that never happened,' that is, a conversation that would be denied if it ever came to light, to write a letter to the Navajo Times that would result in her (Atcitty's) removal from the board," Kalish stated.

Kalish said at the time Clark approached her, she believed him when he said the allegations against him were just an "misunderstanding," but she refused to send the letter because she also believed Atcitty to be "well-educated, knowledgeable and of good character."

Severe morale problems

Her feelings have changed since then, Kalish said in an interview Tuesday.

She now believes that Clark's removal "may be a good solution" to resolve the severe morale problems at Diné College and keep other staff members from resigning.

Although Clark is "charming and convincing" when you speak to him, Kalish said, her experience has convinced her that he and other topsiders in his administration are untrustworthy.

She said that as people have been forced to leave, many of them have filed complaints with the Office of Navajo Labor Relations. The cases are pending.

She claimed that in at least one case, the college settled privately with a former employee by making a "substantial payment" to the individual.

"Staff and faculty members are afraid to speak up because they are afraid that they will lose their jobs as well," Kalish said. "The faculty in general is pretty unhappy."

She said that those who support Clark have formed a clique and refuse to listen to any criticism of him or his actions.

"When I went there to work, I was really unprepared for the politics that exist at the campus," Kalish said. "Whenever anyone comes up with a proposal to better the college, everyone tears it down and nothing is accomplished."

As an ex-employee of the college, Kalish said the needs of the Navajo people are taking a back seat to campus politics.

"When one reflects on what has happened in only the three years that I was at the college, the needs of the Navajo people seem to be considered less important than the personal needs of the college administration who surround the incumbent president," she said.

Asked to comment on Kalish's criticism, the most common response among three college officials contacted by the Times was that she is a "disgruntled ex-employee who wants to get back at her boss."

One of these is Jack Jackson Sr., an assistant to Clark, who said Clark has brought stability to the college for the first time.

Jackson also praised Clark for working to expand the two-year college into a four-year institution. Because of that some people who didn't have the credentials to work at a four-year college had to be let go, he said.

He claimed that's why Kalish's position was eliminated.

Jackson has been connected to the college off and on for 20 years and said conditions on the Tsaile campus - for both students and teachers - have never been better.

Desirea Vecenti, the student representative on the board of regents, agrees.

"The faculty here is great. The students are great and they really enjoy coming here," she said.

Enrollment has never been better - it's hit 900 on the main campus and the dorms are full, she said.

Total enrollment for the college's eight campuses is about 1950, almost 150 higher than last year.

The students this year are more active than last year and the school is adding more clubs to provide the students with something to do when they aren't in classes, she said.

Vecenti also said any student can bring a concern or problem to Clark at any time.

"He has an open door policy," she said.

One member of the board of regents, who requested not to be identified, was asked Wednesday if the board is supporting Clark.

"I rather not answer that at this time," the board member said, adding that the board's position will be known after the Oct. 7 meeting when it plans to evaluate his performance as director and discuss the continuation of his contract.

Clark's current contract expires at the end of May 2010.

Accomplishments cited

Clark was asked to comment about Kalish's allegations but he referred all questions to Ed McCombs, the college's public information officer.

McCombs supplied a copy of an Aug. 1, 2008, letter that Kalish sent to Evelyn Meadows, director of human resources department at Diné College.

In it, Kalish praised Clark's performance as president, saying that he "works very hard to create good working relations between people."

Regents contacted by the Times said other people, some who no longer work for the college, have also approached them about ongoing problems at the college and some of these concerns are expected to surface at the Oct. 7 board meeting.

On the other hand, board members have praised Clark in the past for his efforts at solving one of the school's chronic problems - lack of funding.

During his five years as Diné College president, Clark has managed, for the first time in the college's more than 40 years of existence, to establish a steady flow of money.

He got the Navajo Nation Council to authorize allocations of $4.2 million annually over a 20-year period, for a total of $88.2 million.

He was also instrumental in securing funding to design and build a new library on the Shiprock campus and he convinced Congress to support the Navajo Nation Higher Education Act, which will provide federal funds to update facilities and infrastructure on campus as well as funding operations at the college.

During his tenure, Clark has also secured scholarship funds from private donors.

And despite the state's severe financial problems in the past two years, he convinced the Arizona Legislature to renew its commitment to Diné College, which includes providing $1.75 million a year for capital improvements over the next 10 years.

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