A whistle blower's ouster.(Headline)

Philip Pergola arrived on the Massasoit Community College campus as a bright-eyed 22-year-old, eager to teach business and constitutional law. July 1 would have marked the tenured professor's 39th year at the college. Hundreds of students have taken his courses and many faculty members have formed strong relationships with the likable professor. In August 2002, Charles Wall, president of the college, asked him to become the chief financial officer of the institution, to help untangle a few financial messes. He gladly accepted, hoping to strengthen the college he loves. "Massasoit Community College is important to me," says Pergola. "It's my home; I grew up here."

But after research Pergola did that questioned whether some of his faculty colleagues were being paid too much, he became deeply unpopular--and now he says he's being forced out for being a whistle blower. The hassles, Pergola says, are rooted in a report he drafted last year, which indicated that several faculty members were getting paid extra for teaching part-time courses, while failing to carry full teaching loads. The report, meant to be internally distributed, was leaked to the news media and to members of the faculty. Since that time, Pergola says it's been a rocky road--a road that culminated in a letter indicating that he was being terminated as chief financial officer. "I was trying to find missing money," an emotional Pergola said. "We were losing close to $1 million each year." He believes that questions he raised in his report are the main motivation for the dismissal.

"I initially brought the problems to President ...