JERRY AND DR. ZAVALETA'S REVISIONISM OF TSC HISTORY

By Juan Montoya
First of all we want to welcome Dr. G. F. McHale-Scully back to the blogosphere after a fortnight of rest and detoxification in the bosom of his family in Califas.

Jerry is a piquant modicum to the cyber buffet locally and we have always welcomed a diversity of taste.

But sometimes – in his zeal to please old friends (?) – the good Dr. engages in what can be charitably called historical revisionism. He has done so in one post of the maybe two dozen he has released form his pent-up creative deluge that was on the verge of coming over the top of the creative dam while he wasn't writing.

We refer to his paean (or is it BJ?) to Dr. Tony Zavaleta (one T), a trustee at the Texas Southmost College and former provost under the infamous Dr. Julieta Garcia, where he remained until he was found to have promoted his wife to a position and salary she didn't deserve. After the Fab Four (Adela Garza, Kiko Rendon, Trey Mendez, and Rene Torres) gave Julieta and the UT System the boot, Zavaleta ran for trustee and got elected.

Jerry says – with his usual hyperbole – that "Zavaleta is synonymous with education in Brownsville," and that when he ran for trustee "he promised that he would not only help the junior college rise from the ashes, but he would also lead the historical institution in a new direction. He has been true to his word."

Now, those of us who were in the anti-UT System-pro-TSC barricades for the turbulent and long years don't recall seeing Zavaleta anywhere near the front lines. We never read anything by him or heard any firebrand speeches of his in defense of the community college, for that matter. In fact, he silence emanating from his cubbyhole in Julieta's Ivory Tower was deafening.

Jerry's fable goes to say that when he took his seat on the board, "he immediately demanded transparency and accountability from the failing TSC President Lily Tercero.'

Well, no. We have seen the Zavaleta requests for information on the administration of the college's business, and the requests – while admittedly voluminous –  didn't really demand other than request, something any trustee (Ruben Herrera is a prime example) can ask.

And they all – except for Dr. Rey Garcia and Art Rendon – held the recalcitrant and paranoid Tercero's feet to the fire. They didn't need Zavaleta's "vast experience as an academic and administrator."

By the time Zavaleta came on board, it is safe to say that the majority had some notion that Tercero was grossly incompetent.

And no, Zavaleta did not "spearhead"  a majority to terminate Tercero. If anything, he came to the realization after the othershad. After that decision had been made and the former president was fired, she filed a suit for wrongful termination.

"I've known Dr. Z for a long time," said Tony Gray, State Representative Rene Oliveira's longtime administrative aide. "There was a minority of trustees who were more worried about Tercero than Brownsville students. For Dr. Z it was a no-brainer. In order to open the door for our kids, he had to close the door on Tercero. She was simply over her head."

Who cared about the "minority" – Garcia and Rendon – when their opinion didn't amount to a pile of piloncillo in the final vote to terminate?

And Zavaleta, who protested and complained long and loudly that he, with his "vast administrative and academic experience," had not been appointed to the executive committee, was merely one of seven votes when they – and here Jerry is right – in a rare show of unanimity... settled on Dr. Jesus Roberto Rodriguez.

Those of us who have been on this road with Jerry for the better part of two decades know he has a penchant for hyperbole, so Gray probably didn't know that he had made a statement on the McHale post attributed to him that follows.

"A new day is dawning at TSC and Tony deserves his share of the credit," continued Gray. "The college is finally stretching its wings. And Tony has only just begun. He is fighting for the much-maligned nursing program. He is battling for free tuition for all students. And he is envisioning four-year programs at the junior college. Tony has certainly been a positive addition to the TSC board."

There are seven votes on the board. There are at least four who have stuck together on most issues to guide the college back to its original mission, not anything like Zavaleta's old TSC-UTB regime. Can Zavaleta learn to be a team player, or does he have to make like the Lone Ranger on the board? Ke-mo sah-bee?

Do Jerry and Zavaleta realize that Tercero and her legal counsel will pounce on any tidbit – however fanciful that may be – they can get to try to show that there was an alleged conspiracy and that a foregone decision on Tercero's departure had been even before the hearing was held to determine her tenure at TSC? Whose side are they on?

Welcome back Dr. But even you have to admit this BJ on Zavaleta to heal the rift between hermanos de leche is a bit overdone.