Greenfield Community College's faculty and staff union is scheduling votes of no confidence in the school's president and provost. They say that those top administrators actively hid a scathing report about diversity, equity and inclusion at the college.
Dusty Christensen, who also reports for NEPM, first reported this story in the local news outlet The Shoestring. He joined us to talk about his reporting.
Kari Niiri, NEPM: So let's start from the beginning here. Faculty and staff are accusing GCC President Michelle Schutt and Provost Chet Jordan of suppressing a consulting firm's report that reflected poorly on them. Where did this report come from and what did it say?
Dusty Christensen, reporter: The report emerged from this consulting firm's work on campus over the course of last year. The firm was hired after Greenfield Community College had two failed searches for a diversity, equity and inclusion director, or DEI.
And so, the college brought on this firm, which is called RE-Center. It's a Hartford-based firm. And they began canvasing on campus. However, before they were able to finish their work, before they were able to interview students, the college terminated their relationship with the consulting firm early. The college says that they weren't happy with the process as it played out, and some of the the methods of the firm.
The firm eventually turned over a report to the college — soon after their contract was terminated in November — that had a number of concerning incidents detailed in it. There were several alleged racist incidents, including one top administrator, when referring to an art exhibit on campus that included the N-word in its title, using the full title — including the slur — four times in front of these consultants. The report also questioned campus leaders' commitment to DEI work on campus and to creating a DEI office that had enough power and influence to actually make changes at the college.
The college ended its contract with the consulting firm at the end of last year. So why is it only now coming to light?
That is a question that a lot of people are asking, including Greenfield Community College Professional Association, that's the staff and faculty union on campus. They say that the college administration essentially tried to bury this report and has been keeping it secret for months.
Initially, the union submitted a public records request, presumably after learning of the report's existence. And the college administration denied them, saying that the report the consultants sent was an "opinion" document, is how they described it, and said it was unsolicited and therefore was not to be disclosed publicly. It would taint the college's ongoing DEI work, is how they described it to the union.
So eventually the union kept pushing for a chance to see this report. And it's my understanding the college eventually allowed them to see it in person, although the version that they saw was a heavily redacted copy of the report. But in one way or another, the college's union eventually got their hands on a full, unredacted copy of the report, sent it to their membership. And this is what has sort of generated a lot of turmoil on campus after it basically sat on the president's desk for months and people didn't know about it.
So GCC's Board of Trustees met in an emergency meeting Monday to discuss the revelation of this report's existence. What was their reaction?
There were a couple trustees who had some really tough questions for President Michelle Schutt. They wondered why they were only just now learning about this report's existence. There were also some tough questions about some of the incidents contained within the report. The allegations of racist behavior towards the consultants or racism that emerged during the consultants' canvasing.
There were other trustees who said that the college needs to be moving forward in its diversity, equity, inclusion work and that the board needs to also be doing the same, bringing on a more diverse board and committing to that same work themselves.
So the faculty and staff union has moved to hold votes of no confidence in the president and provost. When will those take place and what would it mean if it passes?
Those are going to be scheduled within the coming days, and it's my understanding union members will have a week during which they can vote. It's unclear what would happen if those pass. I know at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently, they had no-confidence votes in their top leader, the chancellor, and it essentially just amounted to them expressing frustration.
It's ultimately the board of trustees that makes any decisions about hiring or firing. So we'll be paying attention as these votes move forward. There certainly is a lot of — especially of the union's leadership who are upset. They say that there's been a culture of secrecy, of deception, evasion, and downright stonewalling on campus for a while now, and that this is just the latest incident from the top administrators.
