Thread by @paulacweston

From Monday night's Mott Community College Board of Trustees meeting. The meeting is more than five hours long. It hit all kinds of current cultural talking points, and not in good ways.

In comments, some of the highlights.

https://twitter.com/paulacweston/status/1618008956915580939

The most disturbing thing about the night was the inescapable undercurrent of racism. Two very right-wing trustees were elected last November, and word had somehow circulated that they want to fire Mott's first Black, female college president. 1/

Thankfully, several members of the Flint community came out to speak in support of Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea, Mott's president. Their words were preemptive strikes, and some members of the board feigned indigence and insisted that this wasn't a topic on the agenda. 2/

Yet the board returned repeatedly to the topic of reviewing Walker-Griffea's performance, which is their obligation -- but it was the way in which it was discussed, like a thinly veiled threat. Walker-Griffea addressed the board toward the end, gave them a portfolio to back up 3/

her work, and handled all of it with poise and professionalism. The board hemmed and hawed about not intending to replace her, but newly elected chair Andy Everman made a point of telling her that he wanted a copy of that portfolio. 4/

At 1:40:09, former board chair Anne Figueroa sounds the alarm about some off-the-record deals that were floating around in December 2022 -- before the new Board had been seated -- to reinstate former Board attorney Jim Delaney. 5/

Figueroa, who lost her seat in last November's election, cautions the Board about the need to comply with the Michigan Open Meetings Act. Figueroa says that Delaney called her in December "asking for concessions, asking to make arrangements...about who was going to be ..." 6/

"...in what position." In other words, the incoming Board -- before even being seated -- was trying to do business in violation of the Michigan Open Meetings Act. Figueroa says that Delaney mentioned the president of the college. Perhaps this is where rumors of replacing 7/

Walker-Griffea originated, at the Board's December retreat in advance of the new year's business -- and before new members had been sworn in.

Such attempts, if true, are as unethical and disturbing as they are illegal. 8/

Again, I'm grateful to the public that showed up in support of Dr. Walker-Griffea and I'm glad that BWG -- as we like to call her -- wasn't blindsided by the Board's intent. Everman faking ignorance of December's backdoor discussions is low. He was a Trustee 2005-2011 and was 9/

re-elected in 2017. During Monday night's meeting, he was voted in as chair to replace current Board member Art Reyes in that position.

So, to summarize this point, the new Board met in December to plan to replace the Mott president without cause AND replace 10/

current Board attorney Amberly Brennan -- who is excellent -- with former Board attorney Jim Delaney, who posts things like this on his Facebook page.

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Coffee break. Back with more in a bit.

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*indignance, not indigence

Autocorrect strikes again. Ugh.

Back for a tweet before returning to work. I'm stealing moments when I can to write this thread, and I'm sorry about that. Deadlines.

Another screen capture from Delaney's Facebook page.

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Screenshots illustrate something of Delaney's character -- and Delaney is the former Board attorney that new Board members wanted to re-install, while also calling into question the job performance of Mott's first Black, female president.

The subtext seems obvious to me. 14/

More later.

#highereducation

/15

To clarify: Everman isn't newly elected to the Board. The Board elected him chair Monday night.

Sorry for the long break. Work deadlines met, so now I return.

As I said, the most disturbing thing about the meeting was the undercurrent of racism and what feels like a hard lean to the right by members newly elected to the board and existing members interested in

16/

expanding their relevance by siding with new, vocal members intent on sweeping change. Three existing members -- Art Reyes, Michael Freeman, and John Daly -- do not appear to be swayed by the politics of the moment and look to be acting in good faith on behalf of the College. 17/

I draw this conclusion from the block voting among Everman, Janet Couch, and two new members, Wendy Wolcott and Jeffrey Swanson. I know little about Swanson. This is his bio on the MCC website.

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Swanson's daughter lost the 2022 GOP primary for state representative in Michigan's 68th district. From her campaign page:

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Jeffrey Swanson campaigned with Wendy Wolcott.

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From Wolcott's campaign.

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She campaigned on a "return to Medical Freedom."

MCC has never required employees or students to be vaccinated against COVID. Never.

In fact, Mott is the only college in Flint that has never mandated the COVID vaccination.

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Wolcott also promised to "increase campus safety."

2021 (the most recently available) crime stats for Mott.

23/

mcc.edu/public-safety/…

Wolcott also pledged to "Ensure Board Transparency," a promise she's alleged to have broken before she was even seated.

This story was published after I began this thread. I would have cited it when I first mentioned Figueroa's comments.

24/

mlive.com/news/flint/202…

Wolcott lists a number of organizations for which she has volunteered, which is admirable. She also mentions her son, Matt Smith, a member of a local K-12 public school board.

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In March 2020, Smith called Houghton County Clerk Jennifer Kelly and threatened to kill her dog. The story is wild. Note that Smith never apologized for terrorizing Kelly.

26/

mininggazette.com/news/2022/01/s…

It should be noted that the Davison School Board voted to censure Smith and there have been attempts to recall him. He is still a member of that board as far as I know, as well as the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the ELGA Credit Union.

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Another odd moment that reinforces that the Board is taking a hard-right turn happens at around 4:04:20, when Board relations coordinator Jordan Keyser reads in a public comments portion of the meeting something submitted by a resident from Davison, which says, in part

28/

that the "taxpayer" who wrote in supports "a new wave of leadership" and that it's "time we start putting the focus on education, not social issues." The writer said that Mott "has been infiltrated with a certain political party."

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The taxpayer wrote that the party they allude to uses Mott as a "springboard and training ground" and said that anyone wanting to be a "lobbyist or social Warrior" should "resign this place."

So.

There's that.

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The video shows goes beyond providing evidence of the Board's right-leaning intent, does more than provide credible accusations that the Board attempted to circumvent the Michigan Open Meetings Act, and does more than expose the barely hidden hostility directed at

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Mott's Black, female president. The politics, potential crime, and racism aside -- (wow) -- there are two other issues that are problematic.

One is the language used by chair Andy Everman, who was caught on a hot mic using misogynistic, profane language.

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After a the effort to remove Amberly Brennan as the Board attorney failed, during a recess in the meeting, Everman discusses procedure with Jordan Keyser and says, "If you've got a problem with that, don't be a pussy and not say anything to me."

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We're making the news for all the wrong reasons, and for this meeting alone.

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mlive.com/news/flint/202…

To sum so far:
racism
right-leaning political agenda
possible crime committed
misogynistic slur

The last thing to bring up -- and certainly not the only remaining thing I *could* bring up -- is the way the special meeting to open the session went.

Wow.

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The whole thing begins at 23:40 (that's minutes and seconds) into the video, when then-chair Art Reyes called a special meeting to order. The meeting quickly devolves, with open incivility and an alarming lack of understanding of Board procedure on display.

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For about seven minutes in which Reyes and Everman go back and forth about procedure, with Reyes attempting to maintain order and procedure and Everman working to attempt to have the Board attorney rather than Reyes run the meeting.

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At 29:54, Everman says, "The motion was to have the Board attorney run the meeting. That's my motion." To Janet Couch, the trustee seated next to him, he says, "OK. Second it," but the transcription says, "okay suck on it," and honestly, both could be accurate at that point.
38/

Some highlights from that special meeting:

30:08, Reyes explains procedure to Couch who snaps, "You don't have to tell me what to do."

34:59, John Daly points out how this special meeting violates the Open Meetings Act. (Hint: it's linked to the two new Trustees.)

39/

37:16, Michael Freeman discusses the possible violations of the Michigan Open Meetings Act "that was perpetrated by Wilcott, Swanson, Couch, and Everman."

40:44, in response to Freeman, Couch says, "I think that requires us to get our own attorney."

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43:50, Everman begins a contentious line of thought about the First Amendment trumping the Michigan Open Meetings Act. It's a wild two-minute ride prompting the Board attorney to say, "You cannot deliberate outside of a public meeting. That's the bottom line."

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The special meeting was adjourned at 49:51 after a roll call adjournment vote, with only Everman and Couch voting no. Even Swanson and Wolcott -- apparently convinced by the Board attorney that the Michigan Opens Meeting Act is a real thing -- voted to adjourn.

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Oh, Reader, if you have come this far, I want to thank you. It's 1:49 a.m. EST Thursday, and I have spent a great deal of time this week digesting everything that happened in Monday's meeting.

The first Board of Trustees meeting of the year, and it was shameful.

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Recap:

racism
right-leaning political agenda
possible crime committed
misogynistic slur
naked incivility
hard-to-miss incompetence

But ... there were many moments -- long stretches, even -- that showed Mott and our community in a positive light.

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I am especially grateful to the members of our local community who showed up in support of Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea and who showed up to support Mott, period.

I'm grateful to my many colleagues, too, who provided ample evidence of collective dedication and competence.

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Watching Mott staff and the Executive Committee do their jobs at that Board meeting with complete professionalism and collegiality after sitting through hours of incivility and tension brought a lump to my throat.

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I don't know what will happen going forward, but I know this: the Board of Trustees is elected to serve the public, and Mott employees will hold them to that. Everyone at Mott welcomes responsible oversight.

And we'll be watching the watchers.

/end (for now)