Bosley's plight featured in Sunday's New York Times

The New Jersey section of Sunday's New York Times (April 9 issue) included an article written by Bill Finley titled "No News is Bad News for Adviser." The story chronicles the conflict between Prof. Karen Bosley and Ocean County College Pres. Jon H. Larson.

Unfortunately, the story has not been posted to the New York Times' Web site so I can't link to it. Until I can find an available online source, I'll include some of the article here:

...Over the years, the staff of the newspaper, The Viking News -- which is published 12 times a year -- has included some aggressive reporters who have kept close tabs on the college's administrators. But Ms. Bosley, 63, says she never told her students what to report, nor did she advise them to write uncomplimentary articles about Dr. Larson. On the other hand, she said, she never discouraged them from taking on difficult subjects.

''Being Viking News adviser has been my favorite part of the job," said Ms. Bosley, who was paid $4,856 this year as the newspaper's adviser. ''It has given me great satisfaction to help young people to use their First Amendment-protected rights to develop and practice good journalism by producing a quality collegiate newspaper.''

Here's another excerpt:

This is not the first time Dr. Larson has been involved in a dispute while serving as a community college president. When at Luzerne, he was sued by the associate dean of human resources, Susan Merkel, who accused him of demoting her because she refused to lie on his behalf at the termination hearings of teachers and employees he wanted removed.

Ms. Merkel, who eventually reached an-out-of-court settlement with the college, also claimed that Dr. Larson had instructed her to place false and derogatory material in the files of some employees. ''Jon Larson is a bully,'' she said. ''He intimidates people, and he doesn't make any secret of it. He would mention a person's name and say he wanted that person to retire. I'd say I didn't think that person was ready to retire. His response was, 'I'll meet with them for five minutes, and when I'm done with them they will be ready to retire.'''

In 2000, the faculty at Luzerne passed a vote of no-confidence. About a month later, Luzerne officials announced that Dr. Larson would be leaving after he and the college had failed to agree on a new contract.