SAN MARCOS ---- The veteran MiraCosta College professor whose program in auto body repair was eliminated by votes of both colleagues and the board said on Wednesday his fight is over. It ended with the ruling of an administrative law judge that the college's action fell well within the law.

The judge also ordered the college to offer the professor, Jack Haywood, a part-time post that will enable him to continue teaching the craft to a group of more than 25 students who are close to completing the program and qualifying for a certificate. In the spring, the college must also offer Haywood a job teaching welding, a course the students would need to complete their studies, said Elizabeth Reed Feyzbakhsh of the state Office of Administrative Hearings,

The judge's decision came in a 10-page report that followed two days of hearings on campus on April 30 and May 1. The report was released recently by the college. In an interview Wednesday, Haywood said he has decided not to appeal. "I've come to the end of my patience about this," he said.

College spokeswoman Bonnie Hall said the college proposed helping students who were well along in their studies complete the program.

"The judge upheld the findings of the district in terms of proceeding with the elimination of the program," Hall said, "and agreed with the district's plan to help students finish."

Haywood waged a pitched public battle with the college last winter to keep the program, arguing that whatever problems officials may have had with him as a personality and as a teacher, ending auto body collision repair at MiraCosta would harm many young Hispanics from low-income backgrounds who both enjoy the work and feel they can make a decent living at it. He also beseeched the Oceanside City Council for its support.

He faulted MiraCosta's reliance on state figures to arrive at a key justification for shutting the program: That there was little demand in the marketplace for auto body repair people. Haywood said state officials made their assessment based on contacts with only a few potential employers in the region and he flooded the MiraCosta board with letters from auto body shops in San Diego County that were looking for help.

In November 2002, a curriculum committee voted to end the program, a move that last winter was upheld by both the academic senate, which is the governing body for the professors, and the MiraCosta board of governors. Haywood, who'd been at MiraCosta 27 years, was notified in March he would be losing his job and $110,000 annual salary. He appealed to the state.

In her findings, Feyzbakhsh noted that about half the students in the program were hobbyists, rather than people training for a career. She also said many students took the course over and over again.

The judge also noted that college officials used the data bank of the state Employment Development Department, a "standard measure" of labor market demand, to determine that more trained graduates were needed in the field of auto technology than auto body repair.

"It is clear," the judge wrote, "that (Haywood) is well liked and respected in his field. It is also clear ... that there is a segment of the community that is passionate about auto collision repair, restoration and customization. While these factors should be considered, they are not determinative."

Feyzbakhsh added that the action to end the program was not a personnel issue and the decision "constituted a valid exercise of (the college's) discretion."