A question-and-answer with the Southern Union president

A team of individuals from the Department of Post-Secondary Education conducted an internal review of Southern Union State Community College last fall and discovered a number of problems.

When then-President Susan Salatto failed to adequately address the allegations, Bradley Byrne, chancellor of the Alabama Community College System, called for her termination.

Almost immediately after she was removed from office, Dr. Amelia Pearson moved in. Pearson is a veteran in higher education, having worked at Auburn University for seven years and the two-year college system for 25; however, she’d never been president. The closest she’s been is provost and dean of instruction for academic and technical divisions at Central Alabama Community College in Alexander City, a post she’s had for almost a decade.

Byrne said he expected Pearson not only to handle the day-to-day responsibilities of president, but to fix the issues reported by DPE.

“My first reaction is there was nothing that was in that report that we could not overcome,” Pearson said in an interview this week with the Opelika-Auburn News. “Southern Union is a good school. It has a lot of dedicated employees that are going to work just as hard as you work or I work. I didn’t see it is an insurmountable task at all.”

Four months after her arrival, she reports that all issues have been addressed or will be. She will present a report to the state Board of Education in August.

“Yes, there were some glowing errors that needed to be addressed, but there’s a willingness for us to move beyond it ... and to move forward, and to put the past behind us,” Pearson said.

Problem: Ability-to-Benefit program (post-secondary college applicants who have not earned a high school diploma or GED must achieve passing scores on an approved test to qualify for federal aid as ATB students) was not working as it should. It’s supposed to be a way for these students to get into a technical program at the college level.
Answer: Southern Union has asked DPE for permission to accept individuals without a high school diploma in the short certificate programs for air conditioning, refrigeration, automotive-collision repair, automotive mechanics, machine shop technology, and welding for the summer. Change will be made in the fall
catalog.

Question: Dean Mary White, who ran the ATB program, was basically accused by the review committee of racism. Has anything changed with her?
Answer: “Not right now. She is the one who wrote the grant in the past for the students that didn’t have high school diplomas, to actually get benefits. She had absolutely no problem with us asking for the ability to benefit. She’s a hundred percent behind it. She is still working in the job that she was working in.”
Pearson is looking for one person to be a Training for Business and Industry Coordinator. It is currently being handled by White and Claude McCartney.
“So you have two people that have full-time other jobs, who then have also been our industry liaisons. I’m looking for somebody who will just do that. Some of the responsibilities Dr. White has had under her umbrella will be shifting in the future.”

Q: You didn’t see a need to remove her or to change her job responsibilities based on what the committee believed it discovered?
A: “We’ve got some retirements in administration over the next year. So we are still looking at different organizations but we haven’t made any. One of the things we’ve got to see is our budget because we are looking at basically a 10 percent cut in operating costs because you really can’t cut salaries. That may very much influence if we add new employees. I’m still looking at that and working with post-secondary on any kind of changes we might make in the future. We have made no decision, but I do know two individuals that are going to be retiring.”

Q: If the TBI job is approved, one of them could take it over, right?
A: “Everything’s still open right now. There’s actually three individuals that are going to be retiring that are in administrative positions over the next year. To some extent, it will be depend on budgets, and to some extent, it depends on the skills of the various people that are in administration. ... Any kind of shift in administration is still being talked about.”

P: Student services is not functioning at an acceptable level of proficiency
A: The new dean of students updated policy manuals so procedures are the same on all campuses. At Wadley, renovated the student center, expanded hours in the cafeteria, weight room, library; healthier food options are offered in the cafeteria, and restaurants in Wadley have agreed to deliver. New dorm will have recreation area, kitchen and indoor heated swimming pool. Hiring an assistant activities director for fall. A student services committee was established. Library hours changed at Opelika, too.

P: Scholarships weren’t being awarded fairly. Review found an majority going to white students, and one in particular went to a relative of the choir
director.
A: The Financial Aid Committee examined categories of scholarships, and removed any “wiggle room.” Loop holes and exceptions eliminated. All scholarships, athletic or academic, are awarded through the committee. When it comes to the performing arts scholarships, there is still an extensive process for each applicant in front a panel of expert judges. Recommendations from the judges then goes to the financial aid committee for the final decision.

P: Athletic director was not included in all departmental decision-making
activities.
A: He is on Administrative Council now. Gives visibility to athletics. Way for coaches to have a voice in administration. Allows him to understand other issues on campus.

P: Financial Aid Committee doesn’t have a scope of responsibilities.
A: “That is the people that do the scholarships. The Scholarship Committee and the Financial Aid Committee are the same.”

P: Baseball awarded too many scholarships, and violated NJCAA rules.
A: Pearson said she didn’t know it was a violation to use an academic scholarship for an athlete. But now, “There are no baseball students being given academic scholarships.” In process of asking NJCAA to be removed from probationary status.

P: Disproportionate amount of funding for women’s sports is a Title IX violation.
A: Dean of students, business manager and athletic director have been working to bring budgets in line and seek more equity in hiring practices. Planning to upgrade softball facility and field.

P: Library hours on all campuses are not in line with student schedules.
A: Have extended hours during the week and added Saturday morning hours in Opelika and Sunday afternoon hours in Wadley.

P: Faculty/staff evaluation process was violating board policy.
A: Formed an Evaluations Committee, which developed a manual of policies and procedures. Evaluations were just from top down. Want to also evaluate from the bottom up and allow students to evaluate all functional units within the college. “It will take probably three years for us to get everything done on the evaluation process and then it will be time to revise it.”

P: A number of couples supervised their spouses. Nepotism violates board policy and state statute.
A: “There is no employee at Southern Union who is reporting to another relative, whether it’s husband, wife, child or parent. Now, we do have individuals that are related to one another within the college, either spouses or maybe a parent and child that both work for the college, but no one is in the direct line of reporting to a relative where that person would evaluate them or approve their leave or influence promotion or anything such as that. We have all those situations corrected.”

P: Faculty for developmental classes were only credentialed in one of the two areas in the blended labs.
A: It was that a person credentialed in math would be there, but there would be no one for reading. Now, in any blended lab, if there are reading students, there’s a reading teacher, and if there’s math students, there’s a math teacher.

P: Two employees were able to abuse the sick leave procedures because there was a lack of institutional control.
A: “We do not have any employee presently on a long-term sick leave and if we do in the future, we will make sure acceptable documentation will be required for that.”

P: Human Resources department is grossly
understaffed.
A: Common for president’s secretary to be HR person. That person at SU retired last fall. Pearson hired someone to be HR director last month. She has an assistant on the Wadley campus.

P: Payroll reports were inconsistent and overtime was being issued
inappropriately.
A: Overtime has to be approved in advance now. Cafeteria is only area with OT now. Need to have some staggered employees to work beyond the normal breakfast, lunch and dinner schedule. Any kind of payroll irregularities have been addressed.

P: Employees were not reporting use of the state vehicle for personal use.
A: “I met with the business manager about our use of the state car. I don’t think there are any abuses taking place ...” She has access to a state vehicle and she says she keeps a detailed record of when she uses it for personal
business.

P: A lack of diversity in administration, faculty and staff.
A: Three blacks on administrative council now. New student recruiter hired last fall is black. Will probably help reach out to that student population. With a designated HR director now, she can spend time on recruiting more minority faculty. “I don’t think you can ever forget about diversity. I think that’s an issue that we always need to keep in the forefront.”

P: Confidential student information was found in the fitness room.
A: Was an isolated incident. “Generally speaking, since the 1970s, the Right to Privacy Act has been drilled in every faculty member’s head so strongly that I don’t think people would blatantly leave confidential information out. I think this was just a fluke, but it’s not happening any longer. There was never an issue with records and transcripts. They are guarded for sure.” Also, Southern Union uses a software that maintains student information with identification numbers, instead of Social Security numbers.

P: The blended class structure (reading and math taught in the same lab) for developmental classes has a low pass rate.
A: Have changed the software delivery system for math. If doesn’t work, will move to a different one. Just finished semester so don’t know if pass rate improved.

P: Southern Union was circumventing the bid law procedures.
A: “We are adhering to all policies, procedures and laws pertaining to the bid laws. I talked to the person who did our audit not long ago, and they didn’t have any problems with how we bid things.”

P: Construction of the baseball facility has been halted for years.
A: “The problem was while they were building it, (Hurricane) Katrina hit and building costs skyrocketed. And when they got in there to build the facility, they found out that in years past that area had been used as a dump. ... The cost ended up exceeding ... what they had been approved to spend.” On the June agenda for the state Board of Education. If approved, will do bid process. The facility itself is finished, it’s the field that’s not.