FRESNO, Calif. \u2014 Faculty in the State Center Community College District have announced a unanimous \u201cvote of no confidence\u201d against Chancellor Carole Goldsmith in a revolt that has spilled out into public view.<\/p>\n
Union leaders say Goldsmith\u2019s leadership in the college district has fostered a \u201ctoxic autocratic culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
The State Center Federation of Teachers announced the vote \u2014 which was taken last week \u2014 on Monday during a press conference. The vote followed months of concerns from faculty on top of a recent climate survey.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder Goldsmith’s leadership, the district’s legal expenses have exploded,\u201d Keith Ford, the faculty union president, said. \u201cA team of bullies has enacted a culture of retaliation in fear, and ignoring faculty expertise and silencing college voices. Faculty morale is at an all-time low.\u201d<\/p>\n
The union pointed to a spike in lawsuits and alleged First Amendment violations as reasons to back their push for Goldsmith\u2019s immediate removal. They say allowing her to stay until her planned retirement next September would be more costly for the district.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe needs to go. She needs to go now,\u201d Ford said. \u201c10 months is too long.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goldsmith announced her retirement effective September 2026 last week, hours before the union voted. In a written statement to KVPR, Goldsmith said the union\u2019s vote does not reflect the district\u2019s positive trajectory under her leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe State Center Community College District is strong and thriving,\u201d Goldsmith said. \u201cEnrollment is at record levels, finances are solid, and student success continues to rise\u2026While we respect employees\u2019 right to express their views, the best place to resolve issues is at the bargaining table, not through political tactics. We remain committed to bargaining in good faith and moving forward together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goldsmith added that her retirement timeline was chosen to ensure continuity for students and major ongoing initiatives and was made on her own terms. The State Center Community College District comprises four colleges and over 50,000 students.<\/p>\n
Goldsmith was joined by top Fresno area leaders when she announced her retirement last week. And several officials praised her work in growing investments and student support for the college district.<\/p>\n
The union plans to present its resolution against Goldsmith to the California Community College Board of Governors on Tuesday. They will request Goldsmith’s immediate dismissal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe faculty consistently and broadly report on a culture of retaliation and fear under Chancellor Goldsmith, who is accused also of cultivating an \u2018invasive culture of intimidation and retaliation\u2019,\u201d Ford, the union president, said Monday.<\/p>\n
Both sides are scheduled to return to contract negotiations later this month. The union is also hosting a public town hall on higher education on Dec. 9 to gather input from the community on the future of the district.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. \u2014 Faculty in the State Center Community College District have announced a unanimous \u201cvote of no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[7,33096,112,114,113,36214,36215,33551,35853,2328,4486],"class_list":["post-59484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-california","tag-carole-goldsmith","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-keith-ford","tag-no-confidence","tag-state-center-community-college-district","tag-state-center-federation-of-teachers","tag-union","tag-vote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}