DATE: Tuesday, August 5, 1997               TAG: 9708050104

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  180 lines

AS TCC CHIEF PACKS HIS BAGS, LOCAL OFFICIALS DECRY HIS OUSTER

``Philosophic differences,'' says the deposed president of Tidewater Community College.

Nothing personal, says the state community-college chancellor who axed him.

An outrage, say local business, political and college leaders.

Larry L. Whitworth, president of the four-campus TCC for six years, wasn't offered his job back when his contract expired last month. So as the new school year approaches, he's thinking about a month-long trip west with his wife, a job search and a possible return to teaching . . . at another Virginia community college.

He'd rather be negotiating with local public schools and private businesses to come up with new academic and vocational programs at the 18,000-student, two-year college. Other folks wish he was doing that, too, including the chairman and members of TCC's governing board. They're fuming - particularly that officials in Richmond didn't ask them what they thought of Whitworth's work.

``I think it's a tremendous loss to the community to have him leave this job,'' said Harvey L. Lindsay Jr., a commercial real-estate businessman who worked with Whitworth in developing the new downtown-Norfolk campus.

``For this to come out of nowhere is shocking and reprehensible for those of us who volunteer our time and efforts,'' said Dave R. Iwans, a board member of the Tidewater Community College Education Foundation, which raises money for TCC.

``Larry Whitworth is a personal hero of mine,'' said an unhappy Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim.

The hero is clearing out of his office by Aug. 15. State community-college Chancellor Arnold R. Oliver offered Whitworth other jobs within the system, but Whitworth took another offer: a year off with salary followed by a return to teaching for five years, except that under his contract the first year can't be at TCC.

``Yeah, it's a surprise. But not really,'' Whitworth said in his downtown office not long after his departure was announced last month.

``I have very significant philosophic differences about the function and purpose and mission of the community college. (Oliver) believes we're a state institution with 23 local branches. And I think we're a local community college with an office in Richmond that handles some of the accounting functions and coordinating functions.

``My responsibility is to this community. What I have tried to do here is figure out how the community college can serve Portsmouth, Norfolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach best, and to do that. And I think I have done that well. But what I haven't done is provide enough deference to the whole Richmond thing.''

Oliver said it'd be inappropriate to say exactly why he removed Whitworth as president of TCC, other than to say it had nothing to do with personalities, and everything to do with state community-college system policies and procedures. But he didn't disagree with Whitworth.

``I work with 23 presidents,'' Oliver said. ``Each one is a distinct, forceful individual. Each has his or her own style, and they should. I expect that each president . . . be a strong and aggressive advocate for the institution that she or he leads.

``And they also have an absolute responsibility to carry out that legacy within the system's structure, and to support and further the system with its single governing board.''

Whitworth was hired in 1991 by TCC's local governing board - each community college also has its own - but a year later Oliver became chancellor and such decisions began to be made in Richmond, with local recommendations accepted.

Whitworth, who came here from a Pittsburgh-area community college under local control, rubbed some here and in Richmond the wrong way with his aggressive style. He drew fire during his tenure from his Richmond superiors when he complained directly to business and political leaders about lack of funding for TCC, and lobbied for more.

At the same time, though, Oliver joined local leaders in praising Whitworth for his successes, including the downtown Norfolk campus, the Visual Arts Center in downtown Portsmouth and technological advances in classes and in the college's administration. Whitworth also raised TCC's status and profile with local cities, and convinced the cities to contribute more money to the school.

``One of the problems with a centralized system is that you don't get the resources of the local community, and the college is not as responsive as it should be,'' Whitworth said. ``It takes more than state funds.

``If I hadn't been working with the local community, and the chancellor here said, you know, `Hit the road,' you wouldn't have heard a peep from anybody. But the locals feel they have an investment. They feel they have a right and a responsibility to do and make some of the decisions.''

They feel cheated, the ``locals'' said.

``Very, very disappointing; a loss of a very effective leader,'' said Iwans, who's also first vice president of the Downtown Norfolk Council which, a week before Whitworth's ouster, honored the college president with its Downtowner of the Year Award.

``Clearly, I think he was too good for a bureaucratic organization,'' Iwans said. ``But I think the hardest part for the business community and the academic community is that they really embraced this president, and had absolutely no word. . . . Is this a community college or is this not a community college?''

Running local schools from Richmond won't work as well, Iwans and others complained. Iwans added that feeling voiceless will make it tough on volunteers like himself - and on recruiting a new president who'll be as effective.

``I think it makes it difficult for the system,'' businessman Lindsay said. ``It just doesn't make sense to me that they did what they did. I really don't know any of the details, but it's very sad.''

``Dr. Whitworth had an unusual amount of energy and vision for a community college,'' said Palmer S. Rutherford Jr., who heads the TCC Education Foundation's board. ``He has left the college in very good shape, and we will certainly try to carry on his legacy. But there is no question we have been hurt by his untimely and, frankly, unjustified termination.''

Students, many of them part-timers who work, largely are more interested in getting the classes they need. ``The effects probably will be more noticed with the administration than with the students,'' said Tony Adams, last year's student-government president at the Virginia Beach campus.

Faculty members, not all of whom agreed with Whitworth, are understandably anxious about the pending change. Chancellor Oliver will appoint an interim president, with a permanent replacement to be hired by next summer after a nationwide search.

``The faculty that I have spoken to are disappointed that things didn't work out with the powers-that-be,'' said Doris O. Jellig, an English and speech professor at the Virginia Beach campus who appreciated Whitworth's defense of faculty pay. ``I would say that the faculty is in limbo, wondering what's next.''

So are local officials. Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf praised Whitworth's efforts to involve communities with the college, and was shocked that he was being forced to leave.

``We feel that he was a very positive influence,'' Oberndorf said. ``Dr. Whitworth was more willing to do a `hands-on, let's-all-work-on-this-thing-together-to-make-this-a-reality.'

``I just look forward to knowing their new selection, and will be most anxious to work with them . . . .''

Norfolk Mayor Fraim said city political and business leaders talked several times with Chancellor Oliver to try to save Whitworth's job, ``but that didn't seem to matter.''

Whitworth ``not only had a vision for an inner-city campus, he had a strategy for accomplishing his goal, and not too many people bring that to the table,'' Fraim said. ``I have every confidence that the (Norfolk) campus is going to flourish, but it's just a shame that Larry won't be a part of it.''

Oliver said Tidewater Community College long has had ``an excellent reputation'' and would continue to prosper. He added that he saw no difference in the overall goals of TCC and the statewide community-college system. Centrally controlled systems are used for two- and four-year colleges in several other states.

The main benefits of such systems, Oliver said, are shared resources and funding equity regardless of whether a college is in a poorer or richer part of the state. He agreed that there are negative tradeoffs, ``and I think that is a very interesting and continuing philosophical debate. But that's clearly not the structure we have in Virginia.''

It should be, Whitworth argued.

``We work with the local companies, working with the cities. All of this is important for a community college, to have really a community orientation,'' Whitworth said.

``Nobody ever said, `Don't do it.' And I'm not sure I would've paid any attention if they had. Because it is important, it's critical to the delivery of quality education. We could not - we cannot - do this strictly on state money.

``What we do has a very direct impact on the local economy, on businesses. And so having quality equipment, facilities, labs, makes only a difference to Hampton Roads. It doesn't make any difference to Richmond or Northern Virginia.

``I do think it's more important to have local people contribute. There's a philosophic issue here. There's a principle of motivation. When you pay, and you help to make some of the decisions, you're much more involved, and it's much more meaningful.''

Whitworth said he's proud that TCC enjoys increased respect and partnership with local cities, and regrets that he won't be around to finish such projects as a joint vocational-education program with Virginia Beach public schools and a river-pilot program with a local private training school.

The 56-year-old said he loves teaching and had planned to return to it - just not this soon. He'll first look for another college presidency outside of Virginia, but if he winds up back in a classroom teaching business management as before, he'll use his TCC experience as a case study.

In the meantime, he worries that the forward ``energy'' of TCC could diminish while waiting for a new full-time president, at a time when marketing and technological changes - such as teaching classes long-distance by computer - should be pursued. He also worries that the community connection could be lost if not continually cultivated.

Through the 15th, Whitworth is working on the administrative needs for a new school year he won't see.

``Larry Whitworth will land on his feet,'' businessman Lindsay said. ``Someone will be getting an excellent person. But I don't know if that's true of the Tidewater Community College system right now.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot

Larry L. Whitworth's six-year tenure as president of Tidewater

Community College ends Aug. 15.

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