by P.D. Lesko

THE PRESIDENT OF Washtenaw Community College describes the faculty’s no confidence vote in her leadership as akin to being hit with a sledge hammer. The reasons for the no confidence vote surround Dr. Rose Bellanca’s alleged refusal to collaborate with the college’s faculty on governance issues, as well as complaints about a pervasive lack of transparency on the part of the community college’s administration and a climate of fear. After The Ann Arbor independent published its July 23 piece about fears that Dr. Bellanca was so unhappy with the student newspaper that she was preparing to close it, this newspaper received several phone calls from WCC faculty and staff. Callers urged The A2Indy to press on with our examination of WCC’s administration, finances and the hiring of multiple vice presidents by Dr. Bellanca. One thread ran through all of the discussions: Dr. Gus Demas and his employment by WCC at the rate of $500 per day, plus mileage between his home and WCC. It’s a 146-mile round trip, at $0.56 per mile, and it means Dr. Demas is paid $81.86 each day he commutes from his home in Romeo, Mich., according to a document showing his hours and mileage calculations from Jan. 2014.

There were multiple allegations that Dr. Demas’s work-for-hire contracts were negotiated in such a way as to keep WCC’s Board of Trustees from having to vote on them. Trustees are required to vote on contracts for services which cost $50,000 or more.

A Freedom of Information Act request submitted to WCC’s VP of Human Resources Douglas Kruzel was answered quickly. We requested copies of Dr. Demas’s contracts, performance reviews, P-card (purchasing card) receipts and his W-2s.

Dr. Demas worked along side WCC President Rose Bellanca at Macomb Community College and St. Clair County Community College. He held the position of provost at St. Clair. After faculty there held a vote of no confidence in him, Demas resigned. While his most recent contract calls for him to be employed for three months, according to sources at WCC Dr. Demas has an office  with a fine view, near that of Dr. Bellanca’s, on the second floor of the WCC Student Center.

The most recent contract describes Demas’s work: “Dr. Demas will assess the college’s current efforts in the area of Post-Secondary Readiness and Student Success.” Dr. Demas is expected to serve as the “primary liaison” between K-12 superintendents and Bellanca, the contract says.

WCC faculty, who use the Freedom of Information Act to get public records concerning WCC’s employment of consultants, obtained Dr. Demas’s contracts. After scrutinizing the records provided them by the college, the faculty concluded, “There is no public evidence of any work done for the benefit of the college or its students.”

The Ann Arbor Independent asked to see copies of Dr. Demas’s evaluations and/or performance reports. None exist, according to the WCC FOIA officer. There is no written record of Dr. Demas’s goals and whether he has accomplished them.

However, Dr. Demas’s contract calls for him to “assess the college’s current efforts in the area of Post-Secondary Readiness and Student Success.”

Student success is a buzzword which addresses the issue of whether WCC students obtain degrees. County taxpayers pay $345 per $100,000 in taxable home value to support Washtenaw Community College. That millage is due for a renewal vote in 2015.

In 2012-2013, county taxpayers paid $45.9 million to WCC officials. In return the two-year college’s President Bellanca graduated just five percent of enrolled students in two years and 15 percent of students in three years. The average cost to students who did graduate with a degree from WCC was $31,704.

Under Dr. Bellanca’s leadership, county tax payers give over $3,800 per student enrolled (12,000), but that cost jumps to $25,500 per degree completion (1,800). At Alpena Community College the cost to tax payers per degree completion (597) is $4,340 and the cost to county property tax payers per student enrolled (1,991) is $1,301.

With a graduation rate and degree completion costs such as these, under the auspices of his contract, Dr. Demas should be a very busy man.

No one knows for sure. His direct supervisor, Dr. Bellanca, has not evaluated his performance in three years, but has paid him $120,000 since 2011.