UC board pushes back vs. HSU
Board calls 90-day notice from HSU overkill, 'ironic'
University Center board member Steven Martin read a letter to the Humboldt State University Senate on Tuesday defending the center’s decades-long relationship with the Arcata Community Pool and taking issue with a handful of recent actions taking by HSU President Tom Jackson Jr.
The letter, signed by Martin and fellow board members Armeda Reitzel and Mark Rizzardi, characterized the 90-day termination notice given to the UC’s board on Sept. 24 for financial dealings with the pool as “… akin to using a sledgehammer to kill a mosquito,” and deemed the termination notice from the office of the president as “ironic … given their own repeated failure to follow policy and process.”
Jackson did not respond to questions before the Times-Standard publishing deadline.
The letter outlined a handful of ways in which Jackson and his office have undermined the UC, a nonprofit auxiliary entity responsible for the majority of
campus programs offered to students including dining, various recreation programs and assorted performing arts.
The UC board’s letter included a list of accusations against Jackson and his office including:
• terminating the UC’s executive director and appointing an interim director without consulting the board;
• having Aladdin Food Services operate on campus for a month without a contract and without consulting the board
• hiring an outside consultant for a program review of the UC without consulting the board;
• failing to consult the board, the University Space and Facilities Advisory Committee, the city of Eureka or the State Lands Commission before moving staff into the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center in violation of that facility’s lease agreement.
“The relationship between (Jackson) and the board deteriorated as a direct result of these actions,” the letter states.
Dining services, aquatic center
On July 20, Aladdin Food Services took over dining operations at HSU without a contract, Martin told the Times-Standard via email. He added the UC board was never made a party to the original contract negotiations, and that former UC Executive Director Dave Nakamura was not shown a draft of the contract until July 9.
“Analysis of the draft contract by UC staff and food services consultant Susan Wilkie concluded that whoever was financially responsible would be in at least a $500K to $600K deficit,” Martin wrote. “Legal review by the UC’s attorney of a subsequent draft contract listing the University Center as the legal party to the contract (instead of the university) was done; the contract was so bad and so one-sided that it required nine singlespaced pages to list all of the problems with it. The UC Board refused to consider the Aladdin contract.”
After operating on campus for more than a month with no contract, Aladdin ceased operations and left.
The Humboldt Bay Aquatics Center, an arm of the UC, had its office space in Eureka turned mostly into office space for employees of the university’s Advancement Foundation and Alumni Association during the summer.
A memo from the UC board says the move by HSU’s administration created “unsafe and inadequate conditions…(did not consider the) limiting nature of these changes and the way it will impact our ability to offer future programming and educational opportunities… (and did not consider various) OSHA regulations.”
Rotating directors
Nakamura was “relieved of his duties” on July 30 by Jason Meriwether, HSU’s vice president of enrollment, Martin said. He said the move was made “just one hour before a UC Board meeting which had been called to discuss the issues with Aladdin and HBAC.”
Nakamura was unavailable to comment. The UC Executive Director is a state employee, and HSU does have the authority to remove someone from that position.
Martin said the board “was not pleased” with the move.
“In a collaborative and consultative environment, the administration would consult with the Board before taking either of those actions. This did not happen,” Martin wrote. “My take on why Dave Nakamura was fired is that he was too willing to push back against what he saw as bad ideas that the administration wanted the UC to do (Aladdin, HBAC, and others). In my opinion, the administration wanted someone who would carry out their agenda without questioning it. Dave was willing to question it, and it got him fired.”
HSU administration appointed Todd Larsen, the director of housing operations for the university, as the UC’s interim executive director.
One of Larsen’s first actions within his first week in the role was to fire the UC board’s attorney, Erickson Law Firm, Martin informed the Times-Standard.
“It was the opinion of many (of the UC board members) that (Larsen) did not and does not have the authority to (fire the attorney) without the Board’s approval. Erickson Law is the Board’s attorney, and only the Board should be able to fire its attorney,” Martin wrote.
On Sept. 24, the board voted to replace Larsen with current interim Executive Director Wendy Sotomayor, who Martin says has been directed by the UC board to re-hire the Erickson Law Firm.
Larsen did not respond to a request for comment.
90-day notice
All of the back-and-forths between the UC board and HSU administration occurred before Jackson’s Sept. 24 issuance of the 90-day termination notice to the UC board.
The notice, previously reported by the Times-Standard, details a $300,000 line of credit given to the Northern Humboldt Recreation and Park District (which operates the Arcata Community Pool) by the UC as well as several other smaller wire transfers. The pool used half of its line of credit, and owes the UC $75,000.
The notice cites several California State University bylaws. “Organizations are. . .operated solely for the benefit of the campus;” and auxiliaries agree “to receive and apply exclusively the funds and properties coming into its possession toward furthering (its contracted functions) for the benefit of CSU and the campus.”
During the reading of Tuesday’s letter to the senate, the UC board contended that, “Although the Community Pool ended up using some of that line of credit for operating expenses instead of capital improvements, which was what our agreement with them called for, that was something that they did, not something the (UC) did. And the only reason they did that was because they used their own reserves to pay for the capital improvements, hoping not to have to use any of the line of credit from the UC.”
The UC board maintains the situation could have been handled differently.
“The President could have simply stated to the board that the management agreement between the pool and the UC, although seemingly fine under the previous three presidents, is not fine under his administration, so the UC should begin to work to end that agreement,” the UC board letter states. “Unfortunately, we find ourselves in an environment where authority seems to outweigh collaboration.”
The UC handles accounting and business services for the pool, which earns the UC around $6,000 per month. The pool also employs HSU students regularly.
Martin said it is very likely the UC will cease its agreement with the pool by the Dec. 23 deadline to comply with the 90-day notice, which should resolve Jackson’s complaints and allow the UC to keep its current role at HSU. Martin wrote he believes the pool should be fine without the UC’s support.
Martin, in the email, speculated on Jackson’s motives.
“Maybe he was angry with the UC Board for the pushback he got on Aladdin and HBAC, and this was a way to show that displeasure. Maybe he wanted to send a message that we’d better fall in line with his agenda or else he’d terminate the organization from campus. I really don’t know. In my opinion, it is much ado about almost nothing. The reaction by the administration to issue a 90-day termination notice over what a reasonable and objective person would agree are tiny procedural issues seems so disproportionate that it suggests other motivations beyond those given in the memo. He used the nuclear option for something that at most should have elicited a slap on the wrist, if even that.”