Opinion: CCC trustees right to proceed with caution, objectivity

Trustees at Clovis Community College on Monday spent 90 minutes privately discussing employee letters of “no confidence” aimed at college President Charles Nwankwo.

Following that executive session, trustees voted to hire a third-party investigator in hopes of learning what prompted the letters before deciding if they will take action against the CCC leader they hired at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

No doubt some college supporters and staff were disappointed trustees left Nwankwo to continue his day-to-day duties while the investigation is ongoing. Trustees could have suspended him with pay, especially since three different employee groups, including the Faculty Association, have apparently lost trust in his leadership abilities.

Here’s a vote of support for the trustees’ proceeding with caution and objectivity, even as they recognize the seriousness of these allegations.

No leader can accomplish anything without support from those he’s supposed to be leading. But the letters were surprisingly vague in their allegations and trustees have privately expressed surprise there was a problem. A thorough investigation by a neutral party is clearly in the best interest of all involved.

The only specific allegation made in the letters occurred three weeks ago; the Professional Employee Association of CCC claims Nwankwo “engaged in threatening, verbally abusive, and retaliatory behaviors towards a tenured employee.”

That seems a good place for the trustees’ investigator to begin the work. Trustees believe they know the employee’s identity, though it is not revealed in the letters.

The broader allegations also are troubling if proven to be true.

“President Charles Nwankwo has consistently shown, through his behaviors and actions that demeaning employees, both publicly and privately, will continue unabated and without deference to knowledge, facts, or statute,” the PEA letter reads.

The Faculty Association letter reads in part, “The campus climate is not one in which employees feel safe, respected and free from retaliation.” The Faculty Association offered 33 votes of no confidence, 0 votes of confidence, 5 abstentions and 5 faculty members not voting, its letter to trustees reads.

The Support Employee Association of CCC’s letter begins by alleging the president “has proved himself to be incompetent in his role as an administrator and has demonstrated a remarkable degree of unprofessionalism in his conduct.”

Nwankwo has declined to respond to the allegations against him.

An outside investigation should be able to provide perspective on the issues between CCC’s employees and their president, and it should help trustees decide whether the “no confidence” can be corrected, perhaps through better communication.

This summer, hopefully, will be enough time for the investigation to be completed so that CCC can get past this hurdle before classes begin in the fall.

— David Stevens

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