Paxton out at Iowa Central
Board expected to accept his letter of resignation todayBy ABIGAIL McWILLIAM, Messenger news editor
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Fact Box
BIOGRAPHY OF DR. BOB PAXTON
Bob Paxton's relationship with Iowa Central Community College began on a high note in November 1994 when his hiring was announced by the school's search committee.
"He has one of the finest set of credentials I've ever seen," said Larry Ebbers, a consultant to the search committee from the Iowa Association of School Boards. Paxton emerged from a search that began July 11, 1994.
From a field of 59 applications from 28 states, Paxton was one of four candidates chosen for a community visit.
In his initial interview with The Messenger, he said the first priority on his agenda was establishing a relationship with the faculty, staff and board of directors. Next in line, he said, was addressing the problem of sagging enrollment.
The former vice president of instruction at Cowley Community College in Arkansas City, Kan., Paxton had also served as dean of student services from 1988-1990.
He came to Cowley after serving almost six years at Colby Community College at Colby, Kan. He was director of admissions, an administrative intern and a counselor at the school.
Enrollment at both schools increased substantially during his time at the institutions.
Paxton also has background as a program director at an adolescent treatment center in Colorado and as a part-time psychology instructor at Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs.
His resume included pages of professional honors, scholarships and presentations.
He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin in 1989 with a doctorate in educational administration and community college leadership. Paxton obtained a master's degree from Fort Hays State University in Kansas in 1979 and earned a bachelor of arts degree from Nebraska Christian College in Norfolk in ministry and counseling in 1978.
CHRONOLOGY OF PAXTON'S TIME AT IOWA CENTRAL
November 1994: Dr. Robert A. Paxton was hired as president of Iowa Central Community College, succeeding Jack Bottenfield. Paxton has previously served as vice president of instruction at Cowley Community College in Arkansas City, Kan. Paxton was one of 59 applicants for the position. Upon assuming the presidency, Paxton identified boosting enrollment, marketing and recruitment efforts as among his top goals for the community college.
August 1995: Iowa Central enrollment jumped from 940 to 1,334 full-time students, the first of several record-breaking enrollment increases during Paxton's tenure.
June 1997: Paxton was recognized as a "Distinguished Graduate of the Community College Leadership Program" at the University of Texas. Paxton was one of 17 community college leaders recognized nationwide based on significant contributions made to the community college movement at the local, state or national level.
August 1998: Paxton received the 1998 Outstanding Chief Administrator award from the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees. Also, the first of four apartment-style dormitories was completed on the Iowa Central campus. Eventually, Iowa Central would include 12 such facilities, with three more currently under construction.
January 2001: The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation began looking into possible grade falsification for Iowa Central football player B.J. Van Briesen. Van Briesen confirmed that he had been inaccurately certified to play for Iowa Central in 2000 for courses he didn't complete during the summer academic session.
January 2002: Paxton, along with Iowa Central Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Development Tom Beneke, Athletic Director Dennis Pilcher and head football coach Kevin Twait, were indicted in conjunction with the Van Briesen incident. Paxton was charged with two counts of felonious misconduct in office, falsifying public documents and tampering with records.
March 2002: Charges against Paxton were dismissed without prejudice, under the condition that he accepted responsibility for the incident. Beneke, Pilcher and Twait pleaded guilty and, according to court agreement, were placed on administrative probation, received unpaid suspensions of two weeks and were ordered to perform 60 hours of community service.
August 2003: Iowa Central Homeland Security Training Center opened. The facility trains law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel.
March 2007: Iowa Central received a $3 million building donation from the Crimmins family of Fort Dodge. The building, which will become the Crimmins Complex, is at 1142 14th St. S.W. near the Des Moines River.
June 2007: Voters approved an $18 million bond referendum for Iowa Central to fund several projects, including a $10 million facility to house the community college's bio-science and health science programs and several infrastructure and facility upgrades. A previous attempt to pass a bond referendum failed in December 2006.
September 2007: Iowa Central enrollments increase 4.4 percent to 5,731 students. Enrollments are also expected to increase for the 2008 fall semester, based on preliminary estimates.
July 2008: A photo featuring Paxton and several unidentified people surfaced. The photo showed Paxton holding a small beer keg over the mouth of a bikini-clad woman, prompting outrage among area residents.
Dr. Bob Paxton, a man who was a professional success as president of Iowa Central Community College, but whose controversial photo stirred community outrage, is resigning.
According to Iowa Central Board President Mark Crimmins, he met with Paxton Wednesday and both parties agreed on Paxton's departure. A search process for Paxton's replacement will begin immediately, Crimmins said.
''Dr. Paxton has always told me that he would resign if his continued presence would adversely affect the college in any way,'' Crimmins said. ''He is keeping true to his word.''
The photo, which was published in The Des Moines Register on Saturday, shows Paxton on July 4 at Lake Okoboji holding a keg above a young woman's head.
''The photo shows him in his personal life,'' Crimmins said. ''He didn't violate any laws or policies that I'm aware of. It's because the photo has so adversely affected the college. That's why it's become an issue."
The two have negotiated a severance package that will likely be approved by the Iowa Central board at a 5 p.m. meeting today, Crimmins said.
He declined to comment on the severance package until the full board had the opportunity to discuss and approve the deal. The board will also vote on Paxton's resignation.
At press time, Paxton had not returned a phone call to The Messenger.
Paxton's 13-year career at Iowa Central is decorated with many achievements from boosting sagging enrollment to helping land an $18 million bond referendum to fund many projects - including a bio-science program at the community college.
However, a transcript-fraud scandal that erupted in 2002 was hard to overcome.
A former football player, B.J. Van Briesen, was reportedly given credit for courses he didn't complete to make him academically eligible for the 2000 season.
After a year of investigation, a grand jury indicted Paxton; Tom Beneke, vice president of enrollment management and student development; Dennis Pilcher, athletic director; and Kevin Twait, the head football coach.
Paxton was charged with two counts of felonious misconduct in office, falsifying public documents and tampering with records. All charges against Paxton were dismissed.
Meanwhile, a legal struggle with a former instructor at the college continues.
The Iowa Court of Appeals recently ruled that a lawsuit Mary Conrad filed against the college must go to trial again. The case spawned from the 2002 scandal, with Conrad alleging that the college and Paxton interfered with her career at that time. No trial date has been set.
For now, a majority of the faculty and staff are standing behind Paxton as a successful college president, said Teresa Jackson, director of theater at the college.
According to Jackson, Paxton held a faculty and staff meeting Monday, where he apologized for the reflection his controversial photo made upon the college.
''He was heartbroken that he had hurt us through his actions. Nobody doubted that,'' Jackson said. ''The faculty and staff met his talk with a standing ovation. We are not condoning the photo, but we're not condemning him as not being able to do his job."
Jackson admits that most people know Paxton has problems. She said his dedication to the college led to the detriment of his family and personal life.
''He hasn't always been perfect,'' she said. ''But he's always been an amazing leader.''
Contact Abigail McWilliam at (515) 573-2141 or amcwilliam@messengernews.net
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VTwinJim
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09-04-08 3:07 AM
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I here you loud and very clearly.I sure do.
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thendrickson
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09-02-08 4:58 PM
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Let's see, the Board is full of Paxton faithful, they failed to include a common clause in his employment contract to the detriment of the college and the community it serves and the benefit of Mr. Paxton. I wonder how many people missed the fact that ICCC healthcare is self funded, meaning $400,000 is not even close to what this will eventually end up costing the college and it's community, which of course is not just Fort Dodge.
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VTwinJim
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09-02-08 4:26 PM
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thendrickson... Looks to me that he made friends of the board. You know like kind's of people seem to stick together. And I do very much agree there was a time. And I might say a good time.
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thendrickson
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09-01-08 11:35 PM
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There used to be a time when even the affluent had standards for at least public behavior and if you crossed the line you were shunned by even your own kind. Now it seems people are so desperate they'll overlook the fact that you have the morals of a sociopath if they get a little something out of the deal. When Paxton falsey accused the good professor of being negative, what he meant was she wanted him held accountable for the crimes he ultimately admitted committing. Her boss completely refuted everything paxton said about her which is why he wanted the evidence suppressed that he did. Too bad he won't have to pay a dime out of his own pocket. How the board ever got itself into this spot I hope is something we'll find out and make sure it doesn't happeb again.
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VTwinJim
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09-01-08 9:26 PM
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thendrickson-- I have been dragging my feet so to speak on here and not posting as they say. People will tell you on here that you have a right to your opinion, but in the next sentence they will turn around and hammer you for saying it. Funny how fickle people can be.. Yes she should be entitled to some back pay at the least that's for sure. He may or may not have been good at some thing's where the ICCC is concerned, but in my book it should be easy to replace him with someone that will be better suited to do good for the school as well as the community. I mean if he couldn't hold himself up to the same standards that he put on the people at the College, teacher's as well as students. Well then really what and how much good did he really do.
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thendrickson
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09-01-08 8:26 PM
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People never like to hear the truth Jim. The next question to be answered is how much the college is going to have to pay a certain professor, seems Mr. Paxton called her boos and was able to get her fired unlawfully. And now that the suit has been reinstated and the evidence Paxton wanted thrown out is back on the table, better get the big check book out, although i hope she insists on going to court and nailing them to the wall.
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VTwinJim
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09-01-08 5:46 PM
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thendrickson It's a shame that people on here are beating up on you and not even reading what your saying. You have more than made your case. Your doing all right in my book. I have read all the post's from start to finish. And your right the man was always in the public eye if he couldn't perform in the Public spectrum then he should think about the people that he was paid to represent. Not to mention how we should all act to make our family proud of us out in public. It's called acting with character. It has been obvious to me for some time that he needed to go. He was not acting like a person should in his position . He did not show good moral character in my opinion.
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thendrickson
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09-01-08 11:16 AM
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You seem to have very flexibile standards when it comes to determining what crosses the line and it seems to be dependent on whether the poster is supporting Paxton and the Messenger or not. Just think of all the journalism students who will be discussing the Messenger this semester as an example of a paper being one big paid for infomercial.
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Carol_Foltz
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08-28-08 8:15 PM
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Anderson: That decision was not made in the newsroom. In reality, though, I'm not sure exactly how we would verify identities for people who sign up here. We can't ask for social security numbers, proof of address or anything like that. We can't even stop people from signing up more than once, as at least two people have proven after their original accounts were disabled for cause. All I can do is spend time looking at the comments for each story, and also looking at the comments individuals have made, and deleting what seems to me to cross the line. I'm not perfect, I'm just doing the best I can. -Carol Foltz
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Anderson
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08-28-08 6:21 PM
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Again, Comment Editor: Could you clarify the reasoning behind the care with which the Messenger verifies identities of its "letters" writers and the anonymity accorded those who comment here? Perhaps if so many posters weren't in hiding more civility and cogency would prevail.
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Anderson
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08-28-08 6:05 PM
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Didn't know there were so many philistines in the ICCC area. How many of them have pulled themselves back from personal disaster in worse situations? Something in the Good Book about casting the first stone, I recall. (Also wonder how many bloggers here were making excuses for Clinton way back when?) The accolades due Paxton were spelled out quite well in today's Messenger, for he turned ICCC 180 degrees when it was at its nadir. ICCC was a 24 hour job for Paxton and his family probably paid a price, a situation seen many times during ten years counseling over-achieving parents and their problem children abroad. I wish him well in the future; just hope ICCC fares half so well as it did under his tutelage (but hope it puts less emphasis on importing social misfits to satisfy rah-rah tastes for success in team sports). I thought in loco parentis went out when we made 18-year-olds adults, so why not view them as such and fault THEIR parents if they come up short?
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boldopiniondodger
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08-28-08 6:05 PM
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Uh oh, the FD attitude is already rubbing off on 22tall.
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22TALL
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08-28-08 5:54 PM
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*whispering* is she the one that walks around by the school?
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22TALL
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08-28-08 5:48 PM
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The Messenger seems to have won...they caught the story of the year all by themselves. YEA MESSENGER!!!
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FDFATONE
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08-28-08 5:48 PM
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YES gman I did! Overwhelminly
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Gman77
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08-28-08 5:46 PM
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Come on you guys! Enough with the slams. Have we worn out the Paxton debate? Did anyone win?
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22TALL
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08-28-08 5:46 PM
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That is a very unhealthy condition to be in. They do sell otc for probs like that. :)
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22TALL
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08-28-08 5:41 PM
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what's the deal w/ hatin on twinkies...I love twinkies
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FDFATONE
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08-28-08 5:40 PM
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and boldoblimpo you know i love you baby with your turkey legs and bad breath
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FDFATONE
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08-28-08 5:38 PM
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geeze gman don't be such a sissy ....here do you need a kleenex
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22TALL
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08-28-08 5:37 PM
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Bold?? I thought you guys just said it was fdfatone's fault when all I see is you guys bashin on him when he's not here to defend himself. Have you no shame?
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jmogler
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08-28-08 5:27 PM
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Agreed sorry Gman
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Gman77
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08-28-08 5:23 PM
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22tall, this happens everytime fdfatone comes on here. Sorry about that. You know people we should just ignore him and not give him the satisfaction. agreed?
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22TALL
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08-28-08 5:10 PM
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I didn't realize the people of FD have so much hatred. Boy I'm glad I just moved here. You guys suck!!
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jmogler
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08-28-08 5:06 PM
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What's the matter FDFATONE you go running with your tail between your legs.
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