Tumultuous Tenure

CHICAGO — Dr. Charles Green's resume was im-pressive. He had served as president of the Hous-ton Community Colleges system for five years, before that, president of one of the prestigious Maricopa Community Colleges in Phoenix for nine years and, prior to that, as a dean at Inver Hills Community College in Minnesota.
But suddenly in 1995, he found himself without a job and "trying to figure out how to pay the bills." The phone wasn't exactly ringing off the hook with job offers, in part, because of a much-publicized spat with his last bosses.
Houston trustees forced Green to step down from his $158,000-a-year job as the top administrator at the nation's second-largest two-year institution, blasting him for not whittling what they considered to be a bloated administration.
Though Green contends he did nothing wrong, he feels the stigma of what happened in Houston haunted him. Eventually Green accepted several consulting jobs here before joining the city's public school system in 1998.
He likes his job as assistant director of career opportunities. But truth be told, he misses working at community colleges. "I would like to get back. I'm good at that work," he says. "Just because I got a divorce from one community college doesn't mean I don't have a lot to offer."
Green's plight is not that uncommon these days.
So what's the next step for a college president who has been unceremoniously shown the door? How many presidents are willing to jump back in the "sack" with another board after a rocky romance with a previous one? And if they are willing, how hard is it to hop to another college presidency?
That depends on many variables, higher education experts say. But with the rise and fall of college presidents becoming a much more public affair, landing another gig after a tumultuous departure isn't getting any easier.
Some say they don't care to lead a college again. But for those who are willing and able, there is often a long and tortuous road to redemption.