HACC faculty vote 'no confidence' in community college's president
Faculty leaders are requesting the contract for HACC's president not be renewed or extended.
HACC faculty vote 'no confidence' in community college's president Faculty leaders are requesting the contract for HACC's president not be renewed or extended. Check out this story on ldnews.com: https://www.ldnews.com/story/news/education/2020/01/11/hacc-faculty-vote-no-confidence-community-college-president/4443037002/
Nora Shelly, Lebanon Daily News Published 3:40 p.m. ET Jan. 11, 2020 | Updated 5:02 p.m. ET Jan. 11, 2020
A majority of Harrisburg Area Community College faculty who participated in a December ballot voted "no confidence" in the school's president, according to media statements released Saturday.
Of the faculty members who voted, 70% expressed concern with the direction HACC's president, Dr. John Sygielski, and other leaders are taking the school, which has campuses in York, Harrisburg, Lebanon, Lancaster and Gettysburg.
Kathleen Adams Pratt, president of the Faculty Organization, said in a statement the vote is not a "divorce" from the administration, but an "opportunity for a fresh start in which faculty are partners in thoughtful planning and collaborative decision making."
HACC has seen enrollment decline over the years, and has recently made moves to cut costs, including getting rid of mental health counselling for students and downsizing its campus in downtown Lebanon.
Harrisburg Area Community College's Lebanon Campus pictured on August 25, 2015. (Photo: Jeremy Long—Lebanon Daily News)
According to Pratt's statement, 80% of full-time faculty and 37% of vested adjunct faculty voted in the poll, meaning 53% of total faculty voted.
Faculty leaders are requesting the administration take several immediate actions, including working with all stakeholders to restore mental health counselling to campus and complying with "shared governance policies" related to furlough, retraining, reassignment and tenure.
Faculty leaders are also requesting the contract for HACC's president not be renewed or extended, according to Pratt's statement.
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Pratt said in the statement that concerns expressed in the no confidence vote include the administration making reorganization decisions without enough planning or transition time to minimize the impact on students.
A prolonged ignoring of "procedural justice" has created "an unnecessary environment of chaos, anxiety, low morale and dysfunction," according to Pratt's statement.
Sygielski said in separate statement that he is aware of the no confidence vote, has met with faculty and plans to create a college-wide committee to address concerns.
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"This action by faculty is regrettable, because the One-College reorganization and other measures are being taken to ensure HACC avoids becoming another statistic in the nationwide trend of college closings," Sygielski said in the statement.
The one-college reorganization is an effort started by HACC in 2019 that was projected to be completed by December 2020, according to a HACC news release. Faculty leaders are demanding the administration stop all reorganization efforts until all constituency groups can be consulted and a formal plan agreed upon, according to Pratt's statement.
HACC's Board of Trustees chair Tom Richey said in a statement that he and the rest of the trustees "stand united" with Sygielski and the rest of his cabinet. The statement notes that Sygielski's contract was renewed in December through 2023.
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