By The Collegiate Staff
The words communication and transparency were uttered 18 times during two meetings with the Grand Rapids Community College Executive Leadership Team, following campus-wide concern and commotion regarding the administrative leave of the college’s 11th President, Charles Lepper. While uncertainty festered around campus, students expressed the desire for more communication. But despite this, across three major campus events – the president’s resignation, an altercation between an assistant women’s basketball coach and a student athlete and federal forces threatening to strip the campus of DEI programming – college administrators could not be reached for comment at least 26 times throughout the 2024-25 school year, as recorded by the student newspaper.
As a college, GRCC has positioned itself as an institution that “provides relevant educational opportunities” and named responsiveness, integrity and accountability as some of its core values. However, by not going on record, the college has deprived its student journalists of valuable educational experience. And by not having such conversations, the college is not embodying its values of responsiveness, integrity and accountability.
When the GRCC Board sent out an evening announcement that the president of the college was placed on leave, The Collegiate asked why. But after more than a month of reporting, more questions have seemingly been asked than answered, and administrators and board members have been unreachable at least eight times.
GRCC’s mission statement includes this line about responsiveness: “We anticipate and address the needs of students, colleagues and community.”
The campus community has made it abundantly clear what they need through the top-level turmoil: communication. Yet, despite repeated statements of a commitment to transparency, there is a lack of substantive information being relayed. The president has resigned and no one is telling the campus community why. In fact, when Lepper was initially placed on leave, he wasn’t even provided a reason. To be responsive and to meet the needs of a community, there must be rapport, and rapport can only be built through two-way conversation. Not all conversations can be filled with praise, but there is only room for growth through honesty.
We believe, with the acknowledgement that we don’t have knowledge of all the legal ramifications, that now that the ink has dried on the separation agreement, the Board of Trustees must formally explain why Lepper’s tenure was so short. Without communication on such a vital topic, GRCC runs the risk of continuously losing staff and faculty. During the September board meeting, former Executive Director of Human Resources Christine Coon shared that 67 people had separated from the college between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024 and the mass exodus has continued since. People with an interest in succeeding Lepper may be hesitant to apply to a college where so much remains unknown and there is an ever-present distrust of executive leadership.
In addition to campus-wide concerns, institutions of higher education across the country are trudging through unknown waters as the Trump Administration carries out attacks against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts and revokes visas from international students.
Many across campus were concerned about how these decisions from Washington may affect our Grand Rapids campus. When The Collegiate tried through a series of stories to provide resources and knowledge to the campus community, administrators could not be reached for comment 10 times.
While no one can be guaranteed certainty during times filled with so many unknowns, students could be better equipped to know that they will be able to continue their education. The administration can inform the campus community with knowledge of rights and resources, such as whether or not the college is sharing their info with ICE, and what to do if ICE comes to our campus. Everyone across campus would benefit from a better understanding of how to navigate current events. By doing so, educators could have more knowledge of how they can continue to teach their curriculum. With more information, GRCC’s 58 international students would have more of an understanding of the future of their education and could make informed decisions about whether or not they want to return to school in the fall. But informed decisions can only be made through consistent communication, and no one is talking. A direct example of this was seen in the April 23 conversation between students and staff who gathered to discuss the recent executive orders with members of the executive leadership team at the Woodrick Center. Students thought they would hear answers on how recent executive orders would impact their studies, but were instead guided into a conversation about the pros and cons of the Rise Up and Achieve Program. The frustration in the room was admissible, as some attendees left the conversation in tears.
We want to acknowledge that this situation has been fast-evolving, but we also want to stress that sometimes it’s okay to admit you don’t know, as the executive leadership team has done during some listening sessions. Continuing to speak up is both virtuous and courageous. There is value in the community that can be sustained through uncertainty.
The college has defined integrity as “(taking) personal responsibility for our words and actions.” But responsibility cannot be taken for words that are never uttered.
In the instance where an assistant women’s basketball coach and a student-athlete got into a physical altercation on Nov. 2 and top athletic officials were placed on administrative leave. The Collegiate was unable to get comments from college administrators eight times. Instead, reporters resorted to contacting coaches from rival colleges, the venue the team played at, the police department in the Wisconsin Dells where the games took place and the National Junior College Athletic Association, but were still unable to get answers
The college defined accountability by saying, “We set benchmarks and outcomes to frame our decision-making, measure our performance, and evaluate our results.” Whereas the Oxford Dictionary defines accountability as “required or expected to justify actions or decisions.”
We believe a better, more accountability-centric approach would have been to get out in front of the issue on first inquiry and acknowledge responsibility regarding the incident. College officials cannot always control what their students and employees do, but they are responsible for the administrative response.
As journalists, we believe that no good comes from the unknown. GRCC’s lack of communication has led to an unclear path forward, and, for the most part, the reason for the silence is unknown. Students want to enjoy coming to school as much as they can, and faculty want to enjoy coming to work.
GRCC’s newest tagline is “Together, we’ve got this,” but aside from unanswered questions, what do we have?
