Mercer County Community College’s Faculty Association kept pressure up at the May 23 Board of Trustees meeting, reminding members why they made a unanimous vote of no confidence in college President Dr. Jianping Wang on April 11.
One of the issues the faculty members stressed during the open comment portion of the meeting was the number of costly lawsuits facing the college, which they attribute to Wang’s poor leadership, lack of ethics, and tendency to shift blame.
The suits include a whistleblower case made by the Security Chief, a related case with AIG Insurance, and a civil suit being pursued by former Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. J. Brandon Shaw. The Shaw case was recently reported on in the Chronicle of Higher Education on June 24.
In the whistleblower suit, the Security Chief, Michael Flaherty, alleges that after he alerted the college that it was out of compliance with crime data reporting and handling of sexual harassment claims, the college “strong armed a subordinate female [security] employee into making a knowingly false complaint of sexual harassment against Mr. Flaherty, even though the female employee explicitly stated that she did not want to do so.”
The claim goes on to allege that Dr. Mark Harris, Vice President for Finance and Administration, and Monise Princilus, the Executive Director of Human Resources and College Compliance told the female employee they would not pursue a sexual harassment case against a different guard unless she first made the false claim against Flaherty.
In a related case, reported on in the New Jersey Law Journal, the insurance company, AIG, alleges that is not responsible for covering the college’s costs in fighting the Flaherty case because the college had not complied with a policy provision regarding the timeline of when the insurer needed to be notified of a potential suit. They argue that the college was required to notify them at the outset, meaning when the incidents that Flaherty says prompted him to come forward were originally documented. According to the Law Journal reporting, MCCC is fighting the insurer over the matter, arguing that the college complied with the policy.
The last lawsuit brought to the attention of the Board relates to the recently fired Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. J. Brandon Shaw who is suing Mercer on allegations that President Wang racially discriminated against him in his firing.
As reported by diverseducation.com, “Shaw alleges that MCCC and Wang would not have terminated him if he were not African-American, which is a violation of New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination. The ousted executive’s lawsuit includes additional claims that Wang made public remarks demonstrating a bias against African-Americans and other comments referencing African-American stereotypes…”
Shaw is seeking “reinstatement to his position as vice president of MCCC, a trial by jury, punitive damages and other relief as the court deems just and proper.”
During the Board meeting, English Professor Dr. Edward Carmien drew a line between the cases, suggesting that in tandem the three demonstrated Dr. Wang’s failure in leadership.
Dr. Dylan Wolfe, professor of Communication, told the Board they needed to proceed “without any additional delays to suspend President Jianping Wang until an objective evaluation of administrative conduct can be completed by an independent investigator.”
Since the Faculty Association’s vote of no confidence, Board of Trustees Chairman Mark Matzen has continued to voice support of Dr. Wang, focussing on her positive impact on enrollment and finances, accomplishments that faculty assert are not fully supported by the evidence.
Matzen has maintained, “We have as a board, confidence in the president. She has done some amazing things, moved us in a strong direction, financially and academically, both on the budget side and on the Foundation side,” as reported in an earlier VOICE article.
Matzen reiterated this sentiment both in a full College Assembly on May 16 and more recently in a June 14 report on NJTV, though in the latter case he added that the Board was looking into the faculty concerns and “We’ve already started to put some changes in place. I can’t say which changes they are right now.”
Faculty members at the May 23 meeting said they were not convinced that their concerns are being taken seriously.
Among those who voiced such doubt and raised additional points were Mathematics Professor Jamie Beth Fleischner, Engineering Science and Civil Engineering Technology Professor, Dr. James Maccariella, and Biology Professor Ron Smith.
Faculty Association members said they would continue to come to the board meetings to and urge the board to find new leadership.
Dr. Carmien told The VOICE, “For the foreseeable future, [we will] continue to make our message known. The college is suffering and our statement of no confidence is known, and we want a change in college leadership.”
UPDATE: Faculty did attend the June 20 Board of Trustees meeting in significant numbers to maintain the pressure, although many do not teach classes in the summer sessions.
