Trustee wants Simmons out as board president
Rocklin Placer Herald
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 2:36 PM PDT
By: Loryll Nicolaisen, Gold Country News Service
Sierra College trustee David Creek wants to see Jerry Simmons removed from his role of board president.Creek asked last Tuesday night that an item be added to a June 13 meeting agenda that would open discussion leading to the possible removal of a Simmons as board president."
Abuse of power, intimidation, attempt to stifle free speech - those things are sort of the shell of the matter," Creek said Wednesday. "If I was trying to get what the idea of this is into a few words, that's it."Simmons said the criticism from Creek and Sierra staff is politically motivated by the election season.
Creek said that he'd heard "too much" after receiving a letter from Dr. Morgan Lynn, Sierra College interim president, sent to trustees with allegations of Simmons' attempts to silence staff members who are board critics.
"Nobody as board president has the right to do what he's done," Creek said. "I think that the staff are very upset by these specific events and other acts of intimidation by Jerry Simmons."
Lynn's e-mail, sent to trustees Friday, accused Simmons of attempting to "micromanage" staff, and caused a flurry of further e-mails throughout the campus community.
Tuesday's board meeting at Sierra College was packed with school supporters and community members who spilled into the hallway when chairs were no longer available.
Lynn received a standing ovation from those who packed the board room for her "thoughtful and heroic message," as described by Kent Pollock, one of the Sierra faculty members mentioned in Lynn's letter."
Humility is my reaction," Lynn said Wednesday. "I don't see it necessarily as heroic. Because I have so much support, I don't feel like I am in jeopardy for sticking my neck out."
Lynn didn't plan to say much at Tuesday's meeting but wanted to address those in the audience following heated public comment."
My intention when I wrote this letter to the trustees was to let them know what Jerry Simmons was doing behind the scenes," Lynn said Wednesday. "I do think the light of day needs to be shone on these kinds of behaviors."
Lynn also didn't expect Creek's request for the agenda item." I do think that the board would be a lot calmer with a president who's not so politically motivated," she said.
Lynn mentioned in her memo to trustees that Simmons asked that Kent Pollock, a part-time faculty member and adviser to The Outlook student newspaper, be disciplined after an editorial Pollock wrote was published in the Auburn Journal. Lynn also said in her letter that Johnnie Terry, Sierra academic senate president, told her he'd been advised by Simmons through a third party to "back off."
Lynn also said in the memo that Simmons asked her to discipline Anthony Maki Gill, Sierra classified senate president, for sending a campaign flier via campus e-mail, and that this was not the first time Simmons sought to discipline Gill.
Simmons said he's being targeted by critics in a way similar to criticism of President George W. Bush, Congressman John Doolittle and Assemblyman Tim Leslie."
It's certainly very different to govern an institution that does not want to be governed by conservatives," Simmons said Wednesday.
Simmons is campaigning for a seat on the Placer County Board of Supervisors."It's political silly season," Simmons said. "All of these people making these attacks against me are supporting my opponent in the upcoming election."
Sierra trustee Scott Leslie shared Simmons' sentiment."To me it's more than a coincidence that these false and misleading accusations be made 28 days before an election," he said Wednesday. "Fortunately, I think voters can see through political stunts like these."
Leslie said he's disheartened by criticism of the board and its president."To me, Jerry is intelligent, mild-mannered, carries himself to the utmost professionalism in everything he does," he said.
The next meeting of the Sierra Joint Community College District board of trustees is scheduled for June 13.-
Loryll Nicolaisen can be reached at lorylln@goldcountrymedia.com.
posted by Aaron Klein MUST Resign @ 8:40 AM
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Take a look at this Headliner from the Rocklin Placer Herald
Sierra College senate e-mail deemed legal
Californians Aware attorney offers opinion on political controversy
By: Loryll Nicolaisen, Gold Country News Service
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Jerry Simmons. the Sierra College board president won't be able to shut up a staff member's attempt at free speech any time soon.
Anthony Maki Gill, Sierra classified senate president, sought the legal advice of Terry Francke, general counsel with Californians Aware, a Sacramento-based center for public forum rights. Word came out through the e-mail grapevine earlier this month that Jerry Simmons, Sierra board president, wanted Gill disciplined for distributing a political document via campus e-mail.
"What he did and what he said violated no law or board policy," Francke told Gold Country Media. "I think it's a dead end. I think it was a dead end to begin with."
Simmons said that although Gill's e-mailed political flier may be technically legal, he doesn't think that it's a proper use for college technology.
After reviewing Sierra College board policy and administrative procedure, Francke found no fault in Gill's e-mail.
Gill sent a scanned copy of a campaign flier to Sierra faculty, classified staff and the college's management team following the March release of the Placer County grand jury report, which states charges made by trustee Aaron Klein against Kevin Ramirez, the then-Sierra College president, were "utterly without merit" and that Klein owed the college, community and Ramirez an apology.
The leaflet, dated Oct. 22, 2004, was mailed as a campaign flier prior to the November 2004 election. The piece supports Aaron Klein and Scott Leslie as candidates for seats on the Sierra College board of trustees. The flier's headline reads, "When the Placer County grand jury continually targets the Sierra Board of Trustees for mismanagement and abuse ... It's time for a change!" and bears the signatures of trustees Jerry Simmons and Nancy Palmer.
Gill said his purpose, as it stated in his e-mail to staff, was to offer "an appropriate visual aid as one reads the report."
"There was no advocacy in my message," Gill said Tuesday. "I was just trying to pass information to staff at Sierra College."
Gill said he didn't break the law because what he sent was nothing more than a historical document from a past election.
"I'm speaking out and I'm well within my rights to speak out," he said. "His allegations against me are unfounded."
Francke agrees.
"It just seems to me that the apparent linkage between what he said and sent, and any law that I'm aware of, is non-existent," Francke said Thursday.
While Gill said he's done nothing more than provide a historical document for staff consideration, Simmons previously told the Auburn Journal he believes "in free speech for everyone but not in political campaigning..." at taxpayers' expense and said the college's e-mail system is not a proper outlet for such a document.
"Even if Anthony has found a loophole that allows him to send political mailers out on the college e-mail system, I think the taxpayers would appreciate it if he would use taxpayer resources only for the purpose of educating students," Simmons said Thursday afternoon in an e-mailed statement. "The college is asking taxpayers to fund technology upgrades through the Measure B bond so that we can educate our students more effectively, not so college employees can send more political mailers."
Word of Simmons' attempt to discipline Gill became public following a May 5 e-mail sent to trustees by Dr. Morgan Lynn, Sierra College interim president, which contained allegations of Simmons' attempts to silence staff members who are board critics. Lynn's original message caused a flurry of further e-mails throughout the Sierra College campus and community.
Lynn said Wednesday that Gill's e-mail could be considered politically motivated if the attachment was relevant for a current, not past, election process.
"I do hope this is over now," she said.
The Journal's Loryll Nicolaisen can be reached at lorylln@goldcountrymedia
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