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Roland "Chip" Chapdelaine

By Brandon Reid
Assistant Editor

Former Rock Valley College (RVC) President and current L.A. Trade Technical College President Roland “Chip” Chapdelaine remains at the center of an investigation into the finances of the tech college’s foundation.

Results of an audit of the foundation’s finances released May 21 showed $99,676 in checks made out to the head of the college’s foundation may have been forged.

As reported by Abby Sewell in a May 22 Los Angeles Times report: “The auditors had handwriting experts review the checks and other documents. The experts concluded that dozens of checks bearing Trade Tech President Roland ‘Chip’ Chapdelaine’s signature were not actually signed by Chapdelaine, although auditors wrote that they were ‘unable to render an opinion’ as to who signed them. The questionable checks totaled more than $137,000. The bulk of them were payments totaling $99,676 to the foundation’s head, Rhea Chung.”

Chung has been on administrative leave since January after a previous Los Angeles Community College District audit raised concerns about bonuses and perks paid to her. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is also investigating the alleged forgeries.

The Los Angeles Times has reported questionable payments to Chung included a $22,000 annual bonus and a $1,500 monthly car allowance not permitted by district policy. Additionally, Chung was paid $2,000 a month to run a youth orchestra funded by the foundation. Her contracted salary is $113,460.

According to the May 22 Los Angeles Times report: “In a written response contained in the final audit, Chung said that Chapdelaine had been aware of all the payments and that she had personally witnessed him sign some of the contested checks.”

Chung’s attorney, Mark Geragos, said in the Los Angeles Times report that the alleged forgeries were not forgeries because Chapdelaine had authorized others to sign for him in his absence.

The Los Angeles Times report also said: “The handwriting experts who reviewed the contested checks concluded there were ‘no indications to suggest’ they were signed by any of the four college employees Chapdelaine had authorized to sign checks for him.”

In a follow-up report May 22 on the Los Angeles Times’ website, Chapdelaine said in an e-mail to the paper that other employees were not authorized to sign checks for him. He said only three individuals could sign foundation checks — himself, Chung and the chairman of the foundation board.

“[The other employees] were authorized to sign only such college documents as travel vouchers, reimbursement forms, grant applications, various reports, etc.,” Chapdelaine said in the e-mail published on the Los Angeles Times’ website. “When such documents were signed in my absence they would sign using their name with a notation that they were signing for me or signed my name with a notation using their name or initials indicating they were signing for me.”

L.A. Trade Technical College’s Academic Senate voted 17-1, with six abstaining, in asking for Chapdelaine’s resignation April 25. According to an April 26 report by Sewell in the Los Angeles Times, the no-confidence vote in Chapdelaine was the first in the college’s history.

Chapdelaine, who has been at L.A. Trade Technical College for five years, announced in April he plans to retire in June 2013.

Chapdelaine was hired as president of RVC in 1997 and served until he was terminated in a 7-0 vote by the RVC Board of Trustees Jan. 13, 2003.

Chapdelaine’s termination at RVC came after a series of articles by former RVC physical science laboratory manager and Rock River Times reporter Jeff Havens brought to light the mismanagement at the college. The articles drew an unsuccessful libel lawsuit by former RVC Trustee Donald B. Johannes and also earned Havens an Illinois Press Association award for the state’s best investigative news series.

After leaving RVC, Chapdelaine served for about a year as president of Cuyahoga Community College’s East Campus in Cleveland. Prior to his tenure at RVC, Chapdelaine served as president of Cumberland County College in Vineland, N.J.; vice president of Mohave Community College in Kingman, Ariz.; and associate professor of biology, cluster and division chairman, acting dean of students, acting director of staff development and dean of instruction and academic affairs at Howard Community College in Columbia, Md.

From the May 30-June 5, 2012, issue