In November 1991, a study was conducted to assess the corporate culture and state of communication at Victor Valley College (VVC), in Victorville, California. The study was designed to determine the extent to which "trust" or "distrust" existed at VVC, and whether the lack of communication on campus was real or perceived. Study methodology involved individual and group interviews, observations from meetings, the administration of two assessment instruments, and a review of meeting minutes, policies, and other documents. Conclusions emanating from the 5-month study included the following: (1) the president's management style was closer to autocratic than participative, although he was working to change this; (2) there was significant confusion over the roles of the Faculty Senate and the Faculty Association, with current leadership styles of the two groups fostering territorialism and adversarial relations with management; (3) lack of communication between departments and divisions and adversarial attitudes between classified and certificated staff contributed to a weak culture; (4) there was no shared vision of VVC's future direction, with the staff and faculty often failing to realize their important role in shaping that vision; (5) administrators were perceived as spending too little time out among employees; (6) the filtering or blocking of information flow occurred both upwards and downwards, and occasionally by design; (7) verbal communication took place primarily in meetings, and then usually as information sharing rather than discussion; and (8) outside of meetings, there was a heavy reliance on written communication. Suggestions for improving the campus climate are given. Appendixes include the survey instrument and verbatim responses. (MAB)