Garza Takes Leave from ACE to Lead New Organization

WASHINGTON — Hector Garza, vice president of the American Council on Education's (ACE) Division of Access and Equity programs, will take a two-year leave of absence to start a new organization to encourage partnerships between colleges and elementary and secondary schools.
Garza, who also served as director of ACE's Office of Minorities in Higher Education, will become the first president of the new non-profit organization — the National Council for Community and Educational Partnerships. His leave of absence will begin January 1, 2000.
ACE officials say they will begin a search immediately for a director of the Office of Minorities in Education, which publishes the influential Annual Status Report on Minorities in Higher Education and hosts the " Educating the Nation" conference.
Earlier this month, Garza's office hosted a conference for presidents of color in to promote unity among the three minority higher education associations — the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, the Higher the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.
Under Garza's leadership, the office also held workshops for colleges to help educators craft affirmative action policies and programs that could survive legal challenges.

Minister's Nomination to Head SUNY Campus Stirs Controversy
NEW YORK — The Rev. Calvin O. Butts, pastor of one of New York City's largest and most influential churches has been formally nominated to be president of the Old Westbury campus of the State University of New York (SUNY). If his nomination is approved, Rev. Butts will remain as pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church.
According to The New York Times, Old Westbury's College Council, an advisory board, issued its recommendation earlier this month to the chancellor of SUNY. The chancellor, John W. Ryan, said he would probably approve it and send it to the board of trustees for approval.  The board was to take up the nomination later this month so that Butts could assume the post by the start of the fall semester.
But the nomination has stirred controversy on campus because it came just eight days after the search committee held its first meeting. The faculty senate has charged that the search was rushed and has political overtones because of Rev. Butts' ties to New York Gov. George E. Pataki. The governor appointed Butts as an unpaid member of the board of the Empire State Development Corporation, a state-financed economic development agency.
The faculty senate sent a letter to Pataki criticizing the college council for violating SUNY's guidelines for selecting presidents. Those guidelines call for a national search and the development of a list of 20 candidates. Gretchen Johnson, president of Old Westbury's senate also questioned the timing of the nomination, as it comes just as the state legislature passed a law allowing nearly 200 acres of the 600-acre campus to be transferred to the university's foundation for leasing to private sources.