Chattanooga State Community College faculty delivers blow to Catanzaro

photo Jim Catanzaro

The larger-than-life college presidency of Jim Catanzaro took a major blow Thursday, as a faculty vote overwhelmingly cast doubt on his ability to lead.

The vote by Chattanooga State Community College faculty capped weeks of questions on campus, which has become the subject of investigations from both the Tennessee Board of Regents and the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury. At issue is Catanzaro's hiring of Chief Innovations Officer Lisa Haynes.

Catanzaro was attending a scholarship fundraising event Thursday evening and could not be reached for comment.

During a specially called meeting of about 75 members of the college's Faculty Senate, professors expressed concern over Haynes, who was hired without a college degree and earns $108,000 annually.

But faculty said their issues with Catanzaro's leadership run deeper than just the one hire.

They called his leadership style vindictive and questioned both his hiring practices and his handling of money.

After discussion of whether to vote no-confidence on the spot Thursday or move for a referendum process on campus, professors voiced their disapproval by secret ballot.

The motion on the table had a simple, but damning message:

"We as the faculty of Chattanooga State Community College no longer have confidence in Dr. James Catanzaro in his capacity as the president of the college."

Of the 75 or so professors present, 79 percent voted in favor of the statement, 3 percent voted against and 18 percent abstained. (Faculty Senate members voted to count their ballots in percentages, not whole numbers). The college employs about 240 full-time faculty, officials said, including about 40 at the Tennessee College of Applied Technology.

"They don't know what's going to happen but they definitely feel it was a good step in getting back their voice," said Faculty Senate Chairman Kenneth Goldsmith.

Votes of no-confidence are a relatively rare occurrence on college campuses. Tennessee Board of Regents spokeswoman Monica Greppin-Watts said she didn't know the last time a TBR president was the object of such a vote.

"I'm not aware of any in recent history," she said.

But Catanzaro is no stranger to controversy.

In 2003, Chatt State faculty members pushed for a vote of no-confidence, but ultimately hired a conflict manager specializing in problems at colleges.

And in 1979, amid heated contract negotiations, faculty at Chaffey College in California voted almost unanimously to censure Catanzaro -- then their president -- and lodge a vote of no-confidence against him, according to a story in the San Bernardino County Sun.

For decades, Catanzaro has pushed Chatt State to test the conventional limits of higher education, especially community colleges. He has wanted to offer bachelor's degrees and open dormitories. And he has said he runs the college like a business.

"It's a state college, but we shouldn't operate like a state bureaucracy or a state agency, we should in my mind operate like an entrepreneurial business," he told the Times Free Press in February.

Thus his hiring of Haynes: Her background wasn't academic.

She ran three businesses in her native Barbados, a favorite vacation spot of Catanzaro.

Haynes was originally hired in August 2013 as senior executive assistant to the president at a salary of $90,000. Then this summer, she received a promotion to chief innovations officer, bumping her annual salary up to $108,000. But she had not earned her degree from Duquesne University, as was reported on her resume. And a degree was a requirement of both her job description and her visa status.

This fall, Duquesne agreed to issue Haynes a different marketing degree come December. Then it changed course and said it would offer Haynes her degree effective Sept. 22. But a day later -- after Duquesne officials had talked to Catanzaro -- they agreed to retroactively offer Haynes her original degree in communication studies back to 2005.

Chattanooga State never acquired an official transcript -- as its policy requires -- and the unofficial transcripts Haynes submitted don't show that a degree was ever conferred.

Catanzaro says Haynes is his de facto number two on campus. Yet faculty members question what her role is at the college and what she has accomplished. And on Thursday, they said her hiring undermines the credibility of the college.

"My biggest concern isn't Jim Catanzaro or Lisa Haynes," said one professor, who didn't want to be named. "My biggest concern is Chattanooga State and the students of Chattanooga State."

While Haynes' position has received a lot of attention lately, math professor Joyce Smith said Catanzaro has a long history of questionable decision-making.

"Standard operating procedure," she said.

Smith and another faculty member filed a lawsuit against Catanzaro in 2004 after they were transferred to distant campuses. They called it retaliation for criticizing Catanzaro's decisions and projects. The suit was settled out of court.

She said Catanzaro has been a visionary leader and has done many good things for the college. But she said his decision- making, especially in the hiring of Haynes, makes him a liability for the college.

"I do think this is big," she said. "He has made himself the face of the college and now that he's got some smudges on his face, the college is in a bad light."

Contact staff writer Kevin Hardy at khardy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.

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