Amid bullying charges, LCC Foundation asks Board of Education chair to relinquish gavel

Lane Community College Foundation has written a letter to the college’s Board of Education asking that Zachary Mulholland, chair of the college board, temporarily step down as chair to clear the way for an investigation into accusations he has verbally abused and bullied LCC’s president.

The foundation’s letter comes in the wake of an April 2 meeting of the Board of Education during which the board’s vice chair, Kevin Alltucker, read an open letter in which he accused Mulholland of verbally abusing and bullying LCC President Stephanie Bulger. Alltucker began reading his letter about three hours and 10 minutes into the meeting, shortly after 10 p.m.

Reading from his letter, Alltucker said: “Based upon my professional opinion, the chair is a bully who is misusing his chairmanship role to intimidate the president.”

Mulholland did not directly respond to Alltucker’s charges at the meeting, but said he respected Bulger and suggested that the key issue was a strained relationship between him and Alltucker.

“But I don’t want the community to assume that everything that was raised (in the letter) is valid from my perspective, and there’s no more points that I can make sort of on a play-by-play basis,” Mulholland said.

Mullholland did not respond to an emailed request for comment from Lookout Eugene-Springfield.

Alltucker said in an email to Lookout he could not offer additional comment because the matter is under investigation.

Jenna McCulley, LCC’s senior advisor for strategic communications, said April 17 that the college has referred the matter to outside counsel for “support on navigating what next steps might be.” 

The foundation’s letter 

The foundation’s letter to the board is dated April 15 and was signed by Steve Wildish, president of the LCC Foundation. 

“The past few months of discussions among the members of the Board of Education suggest that there are issues of board leadership which must be addressed,” the foundation’s letter reads in part.

The letter continues: “Specifically, interactions between the Chair Mulholland of the Board of Education, other board members and the President need further investigation.” The foundation called for “a prompt and independent review of the specific complaints regarding the Board Chair.”

The Board of Education has authority over establishing policies governing the operation of the college and for adopting its annual budget. Its members are publicly elected and serve four-year terms.

The Lane Community College Foundation is a separate entity. It’s a nonprofit organization that raises private funds to support the college. 

Alltucker’s letter

In the letter Alltucker read at the April 2 meeting, he said he attended biweekly agenda-scheduling meetings that have included Mullholland and Bulger. 

“During these meetings,” Alltucker’s letter said, “the board chair has become increasingly verbally abusive to the President, often attempting to bully the President by raising his voice and using profanity. The chair has repeatedly used language that is offensive, derogatory and profane, often challenging the President’s positions with condemning and dismissive statements.”

Alltucker said he spoke to Mulholland “numerous times” in an attempt to ask him to change his behavior, to no avail.

Alltucker cited a March 27 meeting at which he said Mulholland “repeatedly raised his voice and swore at the President. My opinion was that the chair created an unsafe and hostile environment, and I was concerned about the President’s well-being, so I asked the meeting to end immediately.”

At the April 2 meeting, Mulholland overruled a point of order from board member Denise Diamond and allowed Alltucker to read the rest of his letter.

After that was done, Mulholland said: “I don’t feel like I can respond to all the points that were brought up in the letter directly. … This is probably not the time or place.”

But Mulholland said he respects Bulger “and much of the work that she does is not just good, but exemplary.”

He also suggested issues raised in the letter reflected a strained relationship with Alltucker.

“There’s much more to be said about the dynamics between myself and my vice chair that I think led to the moments during that (March 27) meeting that were tense,” he said. 

Mulholland addressed Alltucker directly near the end of the meeting: “Kevin, while I disagree with some of the points you made, I will take it into consideration and try to do some soul-searching to see areas that I may have acted inappropriately.” 

Board policy

The April 15 letter from the foundation to the Board of Education said board policy requires its members to maintain “high standards of ethical conduct” and to “respect others and act with civility.”

The letter includes an attachment, a copy of a board policy outlining a code of conduct for board members. The policy calls for a complaint of board misconduct to be referred to an ad hoc committee of three board members “not subject to the complaint.” The committee then completes a “fact-finding process” to determine the validity of the complaint. A board member can be censured by the board — an official expression of disapproval — for misconduct. 

But to trigger that process, Alltucker or other members of the board may need to determine his letter — which was read during a portion of the April 2 meeting reserved for board member questions and comments — is officially intended as a complaint. 

The Board of Education met April 16 for a work session in Florence, but took no action. 

The board has scheduled an executive session for 6 p.m., April 23. Executive sessions are closed to the public. 

The foundation letter also noted that LCC is in the middle of a “substantial campaign aimed at supporting new facilities, programs and students at Lane Community College. The guidance and support of LCC President Bulger is integral to this campaign.”

The letter concluded: “Under the circumstances, the Board Chair should hand the gavel to another member of the Board of Education during this investigation. Over the past three years enrollment has rebounded and confidence in Lane Community College is growing. Resolving this matter within a short period of time will keep the college on a growth trajectory and permit the completion of a successful community campaign to position the College for success.”