Bermuda College?s troubles can be directly attributed to the College president and vice-president, ousted staffer Michael Bradshaw said yesterday.

The pair presided over a dysfunctional organisational culture and president Michael Orenduff refused to act when vice-president Larita Alford was derelict in her duties, Dr. Bradshaw charged.

Dr. Bradshaw called upon College Board Chairman Raymond Tannock to ?hold a complete and comprehensive internal inquiry?.

?There must be a serious policy problem when we reflect on the many issues that have gone on at the Bermuda College,? he said.

?Mr. Tannock must lead his board to understand what went wrong with the performance of the College?s leadership such that these events occurred.?

Asked whether he thought the source of the problems with the College?s senior management was incompetence, failure to communicate properly or that the leadership did not like each other, he said: ?All of the above and a few others.?

And, Dr. Bradshaw, still in the midst of negotiating a severance package, accused College vice-president Larita Alford of undermining his career development and the College?s accreditation project.

But he gave an unqualified ?yes? when asked if he would ever work for the College again and said parents of students considering entering the College have no cause for concern.

?There?s absolutely no more reason for concern about sending your children to Bermuda College in the fall than you would have in sending your children to Princeton or Dalhousie,? he said.

?There are a lot more positives in Bermuda College? while other institutions abroad face many issues that are not faced at the College.

?The lecturers have performed sterling duty,? he said. ?The administration and support staff has been absolutely excellent. In fact I?m speaking on their behalf because they have had to do this in the midst of turmoil and strife at the top.?

He said he had been saddened to leave the College and encouraged journalists to continue to probe the Island?s only tertiary institution.

?Unless we, the people of Bermuda whom we educate and whose welfare we must champion, address the situation at Bermuda College with an intent to resolve them and not sweep them under the carpet, there will be far sadder days for the Bermuda College and the country,? he said.

Dr. Bradshaw ended his career at the College on Wednesday after serving more than 22 years.

His last post was as co-ordinator of planning and accreditation since 2002 and he had been working with American colleges to formalise accreditation to help Bermudians moving on to American institutions and to help attract American students and funding here.

But in March he was told that his job was going to be abolished.

He has been in negotiations since that time.

His criticisms included what he said was little progress on plans for technical education.

?There was a reorganisation in May 2002 followed by overseas consultants and external supervision and grand plans for the division (of Applied Science &Technology),? he said.

?But in June 2004, you and I know nothing except that a group of at-risk students (mostly male) has had its needs acknowledged by the Bermuda College system and then ignored.?

He added that the reorganisation had also envisaged separating Hotel and Business Administration into two separate and independent units to cut costs and eliminate duplication, but the leadership had abandoned those plans and implemented a ?re-merger? last month ?almost in secret.?

Dr. Bradshaw also pointed to the ?decimation? of the Information Services department ?where at least six Bermudians were displaced... and the rancour has never been resolved?.

?I could open up other leadership failures such as the absence of any movement or substantial improvement in the physical facilities and other amenities of the Academic Resource Centre, despite the institution declaring itself to be student centred,? he added. ?When physical upgrades were made they were to make lecturers? offices superior to what is found in grant-funded research institutes and all the students got were some picnic tables.?

Turning to his own situation, he said he was being forced out of the College as a result of ?failures of senior management, i.e. of the College president and Vice President.?

He said while he co-ordinated the project and reported to Dr. Alford, she ?failed to communicate with me or respond to any of my communications about the project?, missed a critical meeting without explanation or apology and then jetted off on holiday for more than a month.

?It would seem that she had abandoned all the plans that were set for the summer as regards this project that she had acclaimed shortly before,? he said.

He repeated previously reported charges that Dr. Alford refused to conduct a performance appraisal after his first six months in the post and then had to be ?dragged into doing it and then did it five months late?.

Dr. Bradshaw said that she reneged on an agreement on arrangements for his future career development in educational planning and also had to be leaned on by the president to rewrite his job description when his responsibilities were ?unilaterally? changed.

?When requested by the president in November 2003, she still had not done it two months later and the president eventually gave her a draft he personally made with instructions to complete the task by January?s end 2004.?

But by May, he said, Dr. Alford had not produced the job description and the president was forced to do it himself last month.

?I pointed out to him that it was almost exactly the same as that of six months earlier. He agreed and noted that he had done both of them.?

He added: ?The outgoing president stands indicted because he has been aware of all of this and has done nothing. Anything of which he claims to be ignorant can only be because he has refused to hear. He has had ample opportunity to allow himself to be informed.

?Instead, Dr. Orenduff has apparently not communicated with the Vice President about these matters because he could only ever tell us at meetings that he was uncertain what she knew or had said. Dr. Orenduff is leaving us and a new president is on board soon.

?I know something of the pedigree of our new president and look forward to great things for the Bermuda College and those associated with it under his stewardship.?

Asked whether he agreed with Opposition Senator Leonard Santucci that black men at the College are victimised, he said: ?It is unfortunate if it?s true. I think it?s unfortunate that the situation should be such that Leonard Santucci should ever have to think that.?

When asked Dr. Bradshaw said that there were no performance issues the senior management could point to during his tenure at the College, and he could not be accused of having an agenda as the College had done in response to criticisms from other former employees.

But he said: ?There have been some instances ... of a false accusation which was proven to be false. And I can think of a beginning of a second false accusation (both instances) I believe were intimidation and attempts at victimisation.?

He said both the president and the vice-president had praised him for his performance on the accreditation project.

?I have been forced out... I want to help people understand. It?s not sour grapes.?

By speaking out, he was ?putting himself on the line?, opening himself up to public scrutiny and could even jeopardise his severance agreement, he said.

?My agenda is the Bermuda College... My agenda is beyond the Bermuda College as it now stands. If my agenda was Michael Bradshaw, I?d take the money and run,? Dr. Bradshaw said.

?I am doing this for all of us because other people have done this for me. That?s why I?m here, that?s my agenda.?