Former Ocean County College president to remain on as $150K, part-time consultant

TOMS RIVER - On the same day Ocean County College was warned that its accreditation was in jeopardy over leadership and governance issues, its Board of Trustees signed a contract with outgoing President Jon H. Larson to keep him on as a part-time consultant at an annual salary of $150,000 for at least the next year.

Although the new president, Pamela Monaco, was “generally aware” that the board was negotiating a contract with her predecessor, she did not know the exact terms of the agreement until she took office two days later on July 1, said Board Chairman Jerry J. Dasti.

Nevertheless, Dasti noted that Larson’s consulting services would be at Monaco’s “sole discretion.”

A copy of the contract was obtained by the Asbury Park Press under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act. Under its terms, Larson’s employment as a consultant began for a term of one year, the same day Monaco started as president and a day after Larson stepped down as the community college’s chief executive officer, following 23 years in office. Larson and the board also have the option to renew the contract for a second year, if both sides agree.

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Larson is required to “average” a 20-hour work week. He will retain his health and dental benefits, carry over his sick and vacation time (40 hours of sick leave and 80 hours of vacation time for the 2024 fiscal year), and keep his college-issued mobile phone, laptop computers and a printer. He will not have an office on campus nor an assistant, unless Monaco determines such assistance is needed, according to the terms.

Larson’s powers and duties are to be determined by Monaco. However, the written agreement lays out a specific role for Larson that “shall include but not be limited to” the following:

• Advising Monaco, on an as-needed basis, regarding college history and operations.

• Assisting the college, at the direction of Monaco, with the continued development of partnerships between OCC and Egyptian universities.

• Travel to Egypt on behalf of the college to facilitate and finalize partnerships between the college and Egyptian universities, on an as-needed basis and at the discretion of Monaco and the Board of Trustees.

• Appearances and presentations at significant college events.

• Assisting with special projects on an as-needed basis as assigned by Monaco.

For more than a decade now, Larson — whose top-down leadership style often butted heads with other constituencies on campus, including a long-running feud with the faculty union — had been attempting to break into the higher education market abroad to make up for falling revenue streams as local enrollment here declined due to changing demographics. Previously, Larson had been working on a similar initiative in China. Currently, there are 8,000 students enrolled at the college, of which 3,040 are full time.

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In Egypt, OCC has developed relationships with Ain Shams University, the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport and Ahram Canadian University, all in Cairo.

“At this point in time, there is no planned trip for Dr. Larson or Dr. Monaco to travel to Egypt on behalf of the Ocean County College,” Dasti said. “However, in the future, if a situation arises which would require Dr. Monaco, or someone acting on her behalf to travel to Egypt, Dr. Monaco, in her sole discretion, can request Dr. Larson to appear on her behalf.”

In an interview with the Press covering a wide range of subjects related to her vision for the college, Monaco was asked about whether the continued presence of her longtime predecessor was a challenge moving forward.

“It’s an unusual relationship, I will say,” Monaco replied. “But, he has decades worth of experience here. And, he absolutely loves this college, and it’s an opportunity for me to learn from him, to hear some good guidance.”

A native of Washington, D.C., and a 1981 graduate of George Washington University, Monaco received her doctorate in English and theater from Catholic University in 1995. Her career in higher education has spanned the United States, working in Mississippi, Maryland, Kansas, California, Florida, Massachusetts and Illinois. She was also a Fulbright scholar, spending a year in Estonia.

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Her most recent position was vice president of academic and student affairs at Wilbur Wright College in Chicago, part of the city’s community college system. While in Chicago, Monaco enjoyed the arts and volunteered with a group at the Cook County Jail that provides inmates with storybooks so they have something to read to their children during visiting hours.

In Ocean County, Monaco was named Larson’s successor in December. Under the terms of a three-year contract that expires in June 2026, Monaco will receive a base salary of $194,636 — subject to renegotiation next year.

Larson, whose last base salary as president was $277,224 before he stepped down on June 30, was never going anywhere. The terms of his final contract — negotiated in April 2022 — made clear that he was expected to stay on as “counselor to the new president” through July 2025 with the details to be negotiated later.

“Some things will work and some things won’t,” Monaco said of the arrangement. “I think we are all committed to the fact that he will provide this – be a consultant as needed. But at the same time, the understanding (is), it is a new president … for new leadership, and we will work that out.”

When asked how the college could continue to justify retaining Larson as a consultant when the college’s accreditation was jeopardized at the end of his watch, Monaco answered: “And that is an excellent question for the Board of Trustees because they are the ones that have worked with him and negotiated this contract.”

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On June 29, the college received a notice of noncompliance from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education that its accreditation may be in jeopardy because of insufficient evidence the institution had met certain standards in how the school is governed and administered.

Federal regulations allow for a college or university to be in a state of noncompliance for up to three years while administrators work to remedy the issues, but a monitoring report to chronicle the college’s corrective actions is due in January.

No specific issue with the administration was identified in the documents available to the public, but during a meeting of the Board of Trustees last week, member Stephan R. Leone said concerns were raised about how the college evaluated its president and whether it had a functioning senate — issues he said he thought had “merit.”

“I don’t think this is a surprise,” Leone said. “I think the issue was we became defensive about it rather than constructive about it. And that’s what we’re going to do now.”

During her first remarks before the board as president on July 13 and addressing the accreditation issue head on, Monaco reiterated that she was not Jon Larson.

“I think it’s most important to emphasize that this is collaborative work, that the entire college will be involved with this: faculty, staff, students, in terms of we all are concerned about accreditation. We all have ways that we can make improvement. We need to hear the voices and input from all of these different constituencies. So one of the first things that we want to do is to provide professional development for the Board of Trustees. This includes me, and I will explain that. For 23 years, you have been used to working with Dr. Larson in a particular way. … And I’m a new person," she said.

Monaco told the board that the American public “has the lowest confidence in higher education in decades” and “we have to be able to be responsive and to know how to move forward.”

She said she wanted to bring in experts from the outside to evaluate the college’s administration and appoint a consultant to examine its governance structure.

“Obviously, there is some problem here, and I think it becomes essential for us — but again, I’m going to just keep using this as my mantra — that we look forward,” Monaco told the board. “There have been other structures in the past. We’re not going backwards with any of those.”

Later, in the meeting, as the discussion continued about the internal steps that were being taken to address the accreditation warning — the establishment of working groups and liaisons — Leone interjected: “I assume that Jon Larson will not be part of this process?”

“That is correct,” Monaco replied.

Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Former OCC president to remain on as $150K, part-time consultant