DR. DCONTROVERSY FOLLOWS EX-SSU CHIEF TO NEW YORK

After being ousted as president of Sonoma State University 12 years ago

amid accusations of mismanagement and battles with faculty, Peter

Diamandopoulos has rebuilt his career to become the second highest paid

college president in the nation.

The distinction, however, has brought scorn from many quarters and prompted

calls for his removal as president of New York's Adelphi University, an

8,000-student commuter college on Long Island.

Diamandopoulos' troubles at Adelphi didn't surprise William Poe, a

professor of history at Sonoma State. Poe was chairman of the university's

Academic Senate in 1983 when state trustees pressured Diamandopoulos to resign

or be fired.

''Once every couple of years someone calls from Adelphi looking for advice

on how to get rid of him,'' Poe said.

In recent weeks, a New York Times editorial urged Diamandopoulos' removal

and New York Magazine questioned why a man in charge of such a small-time

college -- ranked among the bottom 25 percent of schools nationally by U.S.

News & World Report -- should be paid $200,000 to $350,000 more than his

counterparts at the more prestigious Ivy League schools.

Asked why Diamandopoulos is receiving $523,636 in salary and deferred

bonuses, Adelphi press officer Vince Passaro said, ''He's good, that's why!''

The bigger criticism facing Diamandopoulos, however, is his

administration's spending habits in the wake of staff layoffs, budget cuts and

plummeting enrollment.

The spending is under investigation by the New York Attorney General's

Office and many of Adelphi's faculty are hoping it leads to a criminal

indictment that will result in his ouster.

Diamandopoulos, according to published reports, has increasingly insulated

himself from students and faculty members who recently voted 131-14 demanding

he be fired.

He refused to be interviewed for this article.

''Naw, he's not talking to anybody,'' Passaro said. ''He did a couple of

interviews. He's done. He doesn't want to do anymore.''

While Poe said he hasn't tracked Diamandopoulos' career, it's been

well-publicized. ''It certainly sounds like he's trashed what used to be a

pretty good community college,'' Poe said.

Diamandopoulos' tenure at Sonoma State was not without his supporters,

particularly among community leaders who credited him with changing the

long-standing Granola-U image of the campus since its creation in the early

1960s.

When Diamandopoulos came to Sonoma State University in 1977, the

Harvard-educated philosopher was leaving a post as dean of faculty at Brandeis

University. He said his goal as president would be to turn the liberal arts

institution into the ''Brandeis of the West.''

But seven years later, Diamandopoulos' Ivy League dreams for SSU were put

to an end.

His decision to resign under fire set off a jubilant celebration among

faculty members who had gathered in SSU's foreign language department amid

tables of champagne and hors d'oeuvres awaiting word of his departure.

His resignation came after three censures, one vote of ''no confidence'' by

SSU's faculty, battles over curriculum, accusations he appointed personal

favorites to key positions, the first layoffs in the university's history, a

drastic drop in student enrollments and amid reports he referred to a

well-heeled trustee of the 19-state college and university system as ''a

Jewish bitch.''

Trustees, however, said their decision to dump Diamandopoulos rested more

on a secret report, commissioned two months earlier by trustees to investigate

allegations of mismanagement by his administration. It was described by one

trustee as the ''key document'' to determine whether Diamandopoulos should

stay or go.

Just two years after his face-saving resignation, the flamboyant and

controversial ''Dr. D,'' as he liked to be called, resurfaced as president of

Adelphi University, a commuter college on Long Island that had 11,000 full-

and part-time students when he arrived. It now has 8,000.

Again, Diamandopoulos promised great expectations for the private liberal

arts college.

Ten years later, Diamandopoulos, 67, is listed as the second highest paid

university president in the United States in a survey by the Chronicle of

Higher Learning. He is paid an annual salary, including deferred bonuses, of

$523,636 -- nearly $65 for every Adelphi student.

Only the president of Boston University, John Silber, is paid more at

$564,020. The presidents of more prestigious schools, such as Harvard, Yale

and Columbia, make $200,000 to $350,000 less.

Diamandopoulos' compensation is nearly eight times the $70,000 salary he

received at Sonoma State and more than three times the $150,000 starting

salary he accepted when he took the Adelphi job in mid-1985.

His nearly full-length photo was featured in a $20,000 full-page New York

Times ad last week that touts the educational excellence of Adelphi and says

of Dr. D: ''From the day he took the reins, Adelphi has never been the same.

He didn't offer education theory...he applied shock therapy.''

His braggadocio has resulted in other ads being placed in the New York

Times and other publications that compare Adelphi favorably with Harvard,

calling the latter ''The Adelphi of Massachusetts.''

And most recently, the Crete-born Diamandopoulos is rumored to be

considering a run for the presidency of his homeland.

But the size of his salary and at least two residences set aside for his

personal use has angered many on a campus so financially strapped that copy

paper is being rationed and tuition, now $13,500, rose 60 percent in just five

years.

Diamandopoulos' tenure at Adelphi is looking hauntingly like his aborted

stay at SSU.

Ten years after Diamandopoulos' arrival, Adelphi is struggling with

layoffs, enrollment has plummeted 25 percent, the administration has been

accused of mismanagement, the faculty has twice overwhelmingly demanded that

Diamandopoulos be fired and both sides fight over the curriculum.

But Adelphi's 24-member board of trustees -- many recruited by

Diamandopoulos -- continue to back him. Two trustees in a letter to the New

York Times said he has restored the nearly bankrupt campus of 10 years ago to

financial stability in its 100th year of existence.

''Adelphi is today at the forefront of educational innovation. All of this

is due directly to the leadership of Mr. Diamandopoulos. The real story at

Adelphi is the story of a university in the strongest financial and academic

condition in its 100year history,'' said Ernesta Procope and Peter Goulandris,

chairwoman and vice chairman of the trustee's executive committee.

The two also claim the university's faculty has prospered under

Diamandopoulos' leadership. The workload for professors dropped from four to

three classes a semester while pay rose 74 percent over his 10 years, they

said.

Passaro said Diamandopoulos' well-publicized troubles are nothing more than

a fight ''over the governance'' of the university with a unionized faculty.

While Diamandopoulos has insulated himself from the faculty, refusing to

meet with the Faculty Senate just as he did at Sonoma State, Passaro said the

bottom line is a simple one: ''The faculty is pissed off because they don't

run the university.''

Passaro said efforts by Diamandopoulos to reshape the university's

curriculum and require a broader range of study by students has angered the

faculty.

''It requires them to do more research and work, and it diminishes the

power of academic departments. That does not go over well with the status

quo,'' he said.

Poe said he's not surprised by that argument -- similar to one

Diamandopoulos used in the early 1980s to characterize his battle with SSU's

faculty.

''He always was a snake oil salesman. He has always been able to impress

people who didn't know the subject he was talking about. It's always easy to

talk about whipping a lazy staff into shape,'' Poe said.

While support for Diamandopoulos remains strong among the board of

trustees, his tenure could be threatened by an investigation of the Attorney

General's Office to examine financial dealings faculty leaders hope will lead

to his downfall.

Biology Professor Gayle Insler, who also heads an anti-Diamandopoulos group

called the Committee to Save Adelphi, said Diamandopoulos and the university

are under investigation for secret purchases of a $1.2 million Manhattan

apartment in 1993 and a $401,000 luxury Garden City condominium in March, the

latter which bears the president's signature on its deed.

Passaro said the Upper East Side Manhattan apartment is for the president's

use when he's in New York on business and the Garden City condominium was

bought for visiting faculty, not the president as some faculty members have

contended.

Those two residences are in addition to the a 68-year-old, Tudor-style home

provided near the campus for Diamandopoulos. In comparison, Diamandopoulos

received a housing allowance of less than $1,000 a month during his stay at

Sonoma State.

Insler said the purchases of the apartment and condominium only came to

light this summer ''when a group of faculty found them after searching through

public records.''

For Insler, state funds used to supplement Adelphi's budget are the key to

hopes for a presidential ouster -- should it be shown Diamandopoulos used the

funds for ''private enrichment.''

The campus' annual operating budget of $85 million is 90 percent reliant on

student tuition but also receives about $1 million annually in state aid.

Diamandopoulos' salary, and those of other top Adelphi officials, only

became public last year after the university, after years of litigation with

the Internal Revenue Service, lost its battle to protect the salaries from

public disclosure.

Insler said while the faculty was surprised when their first call for

Diamandopoulos' dismissal was summarily rebuked by trustees five years ago,

they are not surprised anymore.

Last year, Diamandopoulos and trustees traveled to Greece for what Passaro

said was the board's annual retreat. Neither Diamandopoulos nor board members

would identify who paid for it.

''He came here with ideas and promises about transforming the school to one

with a better reputation. He had a five-year honeymoon while we waited for

that to happen,'' Insler said.

''But he has not improved the university. Our enrollment is so low, we are

worried we won't last another two years,'' she said.

In its official statement of support for Diamandopoulos, the trustees'

executive committee states: ''Adelpi today is at the forefront of educational

innovation....We intend to compensate the president for his services at a

level that will ensure his continuing leadership of the university for many

years to come.''