CCP board preparing to oust its president

Community College of Philadelphia’s board of trustees is preparing to vote Thursday to oust its longtime president when his contract expires in June.

Donald Guy Generals, who has led the college for nearly 11 years, said the board told him in December of the intent not to renew his contract, even though he said he got an above-average evaluation with no problems noted other than some vague interpersonal issues with board members.

Now the board, Generals said, appears poised to vote on the nonrenewal at a special meeting at 8 a.m. Thursday. The meeting agenda states it is being held “to make a decision regarding the president’s contract.”

» READ MORE: After battling faculty union, president ponders CCP’s future at his 5-year mark: ‘We want to make our students well’

Generals said the move is unjustified, given the college’s progress in enrollment since the pandemic, fundraising, recent settlement of a contract with the faculty and staff union — which avoided a strike — and other accomplishments.

“There’s no objective reason that they would be doing this. I have no idea what that’s about,” said Generals, 69, who has led the college since 2014. “I’m preparing for the worst. … I might have to defend myself and my reputation.”

That the board is choosing to force him out amid turmoil in the federal government, including the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education, is “utterly ridiculous,” Generals said.

» READ MORE: CCP board unanimously approves presidential hire

Board chair Harold T. Epps did not return a call for comment. Kyle Anderson, a senior principal at Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies whose areas include crisis communications, returned a call on Epps’ behalf and said he would have no comment before the meeting.

Several other board members either did not return calls or declined to comment. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker did not immediately respond to a request for comment through a spokesperson. The city provides funding for the college.

Junior Brainard, copresident of the faculty and staff union, said: “We look forward to working with Dr. Generals or the next president to ensure that the college fulfills its recent agreements including to negotiate a free public transit benefit for students.”

The trustees’ board held at least three meetings to discuss Generals’ contract that were not properly posted or acknowledged, in violation of the Sunshine Law, Generals said.

The board’s lack of comment, Generals said, “speaks volumes.” He suggested board members hired an outside communications consultant to “basically cover up their mess.”

Under his contract, the board would have to give him 60 days’ notice and a year’s pay if members vote to terminate him without cause, he said.

Generals came to Philadelphia from Mercer County Community College in New Jersey, where he was vice president for academic affairs. His hiring early on drew pushback from faculty concerned that he had not been a president before, and had once worked for a troubled for-profit college in New York that had closed.

» READ MORE: CCP faculty and staff union reaches tentative agreement, averting a strike

His early tenure was rocked by contentious contract negotiations with the faculty and staff union that dragged on for more than half of his first five years.

But he went on to lead the college through the pandemic — he notes that there were no layoffs during that time and that employees continued to get raises even though the college saw a drop in enrollment.

Since the pandemic, enrollment has rebounded to 12,400 credit students and 1,381 noncredit students this spring, the highest among community colleges in Pennsylvania, Generals said.

Also during his tenure, CCP saw its first alumnus named a Rhodes scholar; Hazim Hardeman got that distinction in 2017. It also started the city-funded Catto scholars program championed by former Mayor Jim Kenney, which covers tuition costs not covered by other aid and money toward food, books, and transportation for up to three years for eligible students.

The college launched a branding campaign last year, with billboards that say “Rise from Within.” And the school last month settled a new contract with the faculty and staff union after more than 14 months of negotiations.

Generals noted the college’s 2022 opening of a career and advanced technology center in West Philadelphia, its recently signed $2.7 million contract with the U.S. Navy to train welders, and its student nurses’ 100% pass rate on certification exams this year. In October, CCP began a new program to train municipal employees, at Parker’s request.

“I was able to get that up and running in six months,” Generals said.

The college has seen more than $100 million in capital improvements over the last decade and has raised over $50 million in the last four years, he said.

“All the indicators of a successful community college are there,” he said.

The Urban Affairs Coalition in November gave him its community leadership award, he noted. He also served as a vice chair of Parker’s education transition team and had cochaired Philadelphia School District Superintendent Tony B. Watlington’s transition team when he arrived.

His contract, he said, called for an annual evaluation, which he was supposed to receive in July but did not get the first draft of until November, and only eight of 15 board members participated. Typically, when a college is not going to renew a contract, a president is given a year’s notice, so the executive can look for another job and the college can search for a replacement.

“We made a life here,” he said of his family, “and, boom — just like that.”

Members of CCP’s foundation board, which raises money for the college, have been asking questions about the board’s intentions and getting no answers.

“My concern is a lack of transparency,” said Andrea Sanders, a member of the foundation board executive committee. “I understand that we can’t discuss personnel matters … but at least we could have been given some idea if there was trouble on the horizon with Dr. Generals. We heard absolutely nothing.”

Sanders said based on his work and what she knows, she would like to see him remain president.

“His accolades speak for themselves,” she said.