CWI faculty say they have no confidence in CWI president

NAMPA, Idaho (AP) - The faculty at the College of Western Idaho say they have no confidence in the community college’s president, Bert Glandon.

Senate Faculty President Stephanie Ritchie Breach told the college’s Board of Trustees on Tuesday that a poll of the college’s 146 faculty members found that most of them had no confidence in Glandon or the former interim provost, John King.

Ritchie Breach said faculty members fear they will face retaliation of they question the decisions of senior leaders, and that it no longer feels like students are a priority.

“In the past, it has felt like students were the priority,” Breach wrote in the letter. “It does not feel like that anymore. More and more our college feels like it is moving towards a public ’for-profit’ institution.”

Both Glandon and King were out of town and could not be reached for comment. King, who was appointed the interim provost in December, was replaced last week by new provost Denise Aberle-Cannata. King will remain with the college for a few more weeks to help Aberle-Cannata transition into her new role, college spokesman Ashley Smith said.

In a prepared statement, Board of Trustees Chairman C.A. “Skip” Smyser thanked Ritchie Breach for her comments related to the faculty poll, but he said he couldn’t discuss personnel matters.

Glandon was the president of Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Oregon, when he was named the inaugural president of the College of Western Idaho in July 2009.

The college has weathered blows in recent years. It went to voters in 2016 and again in 2018 asking to borrow money for construction projects in Nampa and, in 2016, for a proposed Boise campus. The bond measures failed, and the Board of Trustees said that it would not put the bond to a vote again this May. Meanwhile, its student body has steadily grown and is now at about 30,000 students.