COD: A Community College in Chaos

Editor’s note: This is the first of three interviews with COD leaders.

College of the Desert Area 3 Trustee Ron Oden Addresses College in Chaos

PALM DESERT — The exasperation in Trustee Ron Oden’s voice was palpable in December when he spoke of “foolishness” at College of the Desert. and said that “… when people look at all the chaos that’s going on here, who would want to come? And believe me, there’s chaos.”

With 20/20 hindsight, his comment was foreboding.

At the same Dec. 20 meeting, as per board policy, Trustees rotated positions. As clerk, Area 4 Trustee Joel Kinnamon was next in line to be chair, with a majority vote and confirmation by his colleagues, after former Chair Bonnie Steffan failed to win re-election. As the roll call was taken, few could have predicted what was to come.

As the roll call was taken, one trustee after another voted “Aye” for Kinnamon. When it was time for Oden to vote, there was a pregnant pause and then an audible “No.” It was the vote few saw coming. Kinnamon had supported Oden for appointment to fill the vacancy in 2023 and supported him for election in the Nov. 5 election.

The nothing-short-of-shocking vote demanded an explanation, so Uken Report set out to get one.

In a brief telephone interview with an infirmed Oden last week, I asked him why he opposed Kinnamon for chair. Oden is a highly respected member of the community. He has taught at COD for decades and served as mayor of Palm Springs, after serving eight years on the city council. He became the first Black openly gay man to be a mayor of a U.S. city.

Here’s how the conversation went down. He spoke slowly and chose his words deliberately. Our conversation was punctuated with long pauses. When he spoke, he did not hold back.

Why did you oppose Joel Kinnamon for chairman of the board?

“Wow. Now that’s a question,” Oden said. “Because I believed that at the time there were disqualifying factors.”

Do you believe there are still disqualifying factors?

“Well, there’s an investigation that has to take place and that will clarify a lot .of things,” Oden said, referring to the investigation now underway into the breach of confidentiality that halted the search for a president.

There is also a question of interference, infighting among trustees and more.

In March, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges team conducted a review to identify where the college meets Standards and to identify areas of attention.

As you know, a four-member peer review team conducted a Focused Site Visit to College of the Desert Sept. 26-27 for the purpose of completing its Peer Review Team Report and determine whether the College continues to meet Accreditation Standards, Eligibility Requirements, Commission Policies, and U.S. Department of Education regulations.

According to the Review report, in September 2023 the evaluation noted recent disagreements among board members regarding the establishment of new buildings after the Board has acted on the item, which indicates potential challenges in acting in a unified manner.

The Report further states that “the Board has periodically disagreed about the priorities of the college and the development of new campuses. During the Focused Site Visit the team reviewed additional evidence, held interviews with college stakeholders, including all trustees and found that the board continues to not act in a consistently unified manner once the board reaches a decision.  Furthermore, a common theme shared was concerns of trustees undermining the collective Board putting the district at risk by reporting false information to the public.

According to the draft, the board “continues to be disruptive to college operations through a lack of authentic delegation to the CEO, an understanding of its policy role versus administrative matters, and the board’s ability to give collective direction to the CEO.”

It continues, “…the team found that the board has not been delegating authority to the CEO without interference.”

It goes on: “Evidence indicates board items are consistently pulled from the consent agenda or action delayed unnecessarily. Also, the team found that in some cases it is noted that members of the board are directly interfering with operations.”

“Do you think Joel Kinnamon has contributed to what you describe as chaos,” I asked Oden.

“”Well, I think if you look at the history, it’s interesting,” Oden said. “I think it’s fairly evident where the issues are. And they’ve been consistent. Not just with Ms. Hope, but with former President Martha Garcia. They’re continuing the same things. I think you either contribute or you help to resolve,” Oden said.

“Do you think he has helped to resolve?” I asked.

“Is it resolved?” Oden asked with a sharpness in his tone.

“We only have one employee,” Oden said. “That is the superintendent. That person implements any and everything that we want to see for the college in terms of the policies and the goals that we set. And that’s why it’s important that we provide every resource for that person to be successful. Why would we not give them what they need? Because when it comes to the results, we don’t want to hear any excuses. We have to ask ourselves; did we provide them everything that they needed to accomplish what we set out to do? And you can see, boy, we set out to do a lot of things. We were moving incredibly well until this breach of confidentiality. Well, this certainly put a cog in the whole machinery.

“If we look back at what happened with Martha Garcia — both women — I might add, there are some consistencies. So, with this breach, we’re really concerned. People aren’t stupid, especially superintendents. They know what’s going on. … I know the breach may have been to stop Laura (Hope), but it’s far more reaching and damaging to the institution than they could have imagined.”

“Can you elaborate on that?” I asked.

“I cannot,” Oden said.

There was an extraordinarily long pause. Then he said, “We have some of the most talented people that you could find on this board and the previous one. The board just needs to remain focused on what our goals and duties are. Because these are talented people, and I like them. I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t.”