More tension as Mass. Bay provost quits

The provost of Massachusetts Bay Community College abruptly resigned yesterday after little more than a year on the job, following months of turmoil on a campus that has seen the loss of six deans, none of whom has been permanently replaced.

It was not clear whether Steve Berrien, who was hired last August, left voluntarily or was forced from the number two position at the Wellesley-based college of 5,000 students. He could not be reached for comment.

Deepening the tension at MassBay, the union representing faculty at the state's 15 community colleges censured the school's president, Carole Berotte Joseph. Joseph, who took over in March 2005, has provoked ire because of her sweeping reorganization at the school and because of what some faculty see as her abrasive style.

Joseph declined to comment yesterday on whether she had pressured Berrien to leave.

"He resigned; he did not get fired," Joseph said in a telephone interview. "I have no further comment. This is a personnel matter."

She called an emergency faculty meeting for Monday to discuss transition plans and named Carla Mazzarelli, vice president for planning and institutional effectiveness, as interim provost.

The president's supporters say she has made the college more responsive to students, but some faculty members said the provost's departure increases their concerns about the president.

"The sudden decision of Dr. Berrien to leave the college, or to be asked to leave the college, reflects the overall instability within the college administration that this faculty has been concerned about for many months, and to which the president seems unwilling to hear or work collaboratively with us to rectify," said Joseph W. O'Neill, president of the MassBay Professional Association, the union that represents the college's faculty and professional staff.

"The president in the last few months fired every academic dean and associate dean, rearranged every academic department and division, and we were left to open the school year with no experienced or permanent academic leadership," he said. "Berrien's departure adds to the confusion and increases the lack of confidence many of us have in the administration's vision of the future and ability to deal with the day-to-day issues."

Joseph declined to respond to the criticism, but she had previously told the Globe she is trying to curb the college's shortcomings.

This summer, the state nursing board blocked the college's nursing program from admitting new students over fears it lacked sufficient administrators and faculty. Critics on campus blamed the move on Joseph's reorganization.

"This is an institution that has been stagnant and needs strong leadership to improve," Joseph told the Globe this month. "I am holding people accountable, and in the past there was none of that. Some people don't like it."

The MassBay changes sparked outrage at other community colleges in the state. Joseph LeBlanc, president of the Massachusetts Community College Council, called the symbolic vote to censure Joseph unprecedented.

In a statement accompanying their vote to censure, the union said that Joseph has made appointments of co-workers from a previous institution to administrative positions without a competitive search; held a scholarship gala without accounting for proceeds intended for the scholarships; and failed to establish a student judicial board or student grievance process.

"What's happening on that campus is unbelievable," LeBlanc said. "It's the first time in our history that we have taken such action. We're gravely concerned about the future of that college."

Mazzarelli, the incoming provost, said she supports the president's changes.

"My plans are to continue the operations of the department and to continue to move the college forward," she said. "We will continue to keep lines of communication open with the various factions, and we will continue to press forward on the agenda to make MassBay the institution that we know it can be."