By Paul Jordan
Mott Community College (MCC) was very fortunate to enjoy two decades of relatively harmonious leadership from its two most recent presidents, Dr. Richard Shaink and Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffia. Unfortunately, we are now in a period of drama and intrigue.
In my opinion, the majority of trustees on Mott’s current Board have failed in their duty to conduct the public’s business in a transparent, ethical, and legal manner. The result has been to substitute secrecy, doubt, and speculation for what would normally be an open and straightforward presidential search process in which the college’s stakeholders are fully engaged.
A new college president needs to take office with the support of a consensus of the trustees – preferably on a tide of community support and with the advantage of widely recognized relevant experience and skills. If interim president Shaunda Richardson-Snell is promoted to be the next president of MCC, as things stand today, that will not be her situation.
For the sake of the college and its vital role in the community, even at this late hour, the Board should reverse course and hire a professional search firm to identify the best candidates for consideration to succeed Dr. Walker-Griffea.
How we got here
It is not only in physics that nature abhors a vacuum. People will fill a vacuum of information with guesses built on whatever facts can be gathered, and the facts surrounding the advancement of Ms. Richardson-Snell are disturbing.
With no experience in higher education either in teaching or administration, Ms. Richardson-Snell was selected as interim president over seemingly more credentialed and experienced candidates in July 2024. (She holds an MBA and has served in the finance departments of a corporations including GM and Delphi.)
One candidate, former MCC vice president Jason Wilson, had already served as acting president during Dr. Walker-Griffea’s lengthy sick leave and was serving as acting interim president at the time of Richardson-Snell’s appointment. Nonetheless, he was passed over with virtually no explanation as to the Board’s reasons for selecting Richardson-Snell instead.
Prior to Ms. Richardson-Snell’s appointment, the Board had taken the unusual step of lowering the educational requirement to be considered for the position of interim president from possession of a doctorate to possession of only a bachelor’s degree. This made Ms. Richardson-Snell qualified based on her academic credentials.
Further, even though the Board officially declined to share the interview questions in advance with the interviewees for the interim president position, during the interview process, it seemed that somehow Ms. Richardson-Snell had the questions in advance and had arrived prepared with a binder of written responses to them.
How the questions were conveyed to her remains a mystery.
Playing politics
Despite a tradition of non-partisanship on the Mott Board, politics has become a powerful subcurrent among the trustees. Prior to the November 5, 2024 election, an anonymous (and hence illegal) card addressed “Dear MAGA voter” was circulated in support of certain MCC trustee candidates.
Two of those three candidates, current Board President Jeff Swanson and Trustee Candice Miller, were elected.
A mailer received by some Genesee County residents ahead of the November 2024 election. The mailer did not list any authorizing body or financing disclosure, as required by election law. WWG1WGA refers to the QAnon slogan, “Where We Go One, We Go All.” (Photo provided by Paul Jordan)
Also around mid-autumn, the public learned that a pastor who founded The Body of Christ and the Public Square, an organization based in devoted to expanding the influence of conservative Christians in public institutions, was actively promoting the elevation of Ms. Richardson-Snell to become the college’s permanent president.
In a now-removed newsletter, the pastor wrote to “Friends of BOCPS” that Ms. Richardson-Snell “is a good Christian woman and a sturdy conservative” and concluded his message by urging people to lend support to her at MCC Board meetings. “And remember, if Shaunda is pushed out a relatively rare footing for conservative values in Michigan higher education will have been lost–and it will be our fault.”
Where we are now
After hiring Ms. Richardson-Snell as interim president, the Board initially decided to engage a professional firm to conduct a nationwide search for the college’s next president – a task to be supported by funding help from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
But then it suddenly reversed course.
At a regular Board meeting on Nov. 18, a motion was made to offer the position of president to Ms. Richardson-Snell. That motion was defeated, and planning proceeded to interview three search firms at an upcoming special meeting. Due to a medical event, the meeting was then adjourned to Nov. 25.
At the Nov. 25 meeting, Trustee Swanson moved to reconsider the previously defeated motion to offer the position of president to Ms. Richardson-Snell. Trustee Janet Couch then moved to offer the position to Richardson-Snell, and Trustee Swanson – who had voted against the motion on Nov. 18 – seconded Couch’s motion. The motion passed on a 4-3 vote with the support of then-Board president Andy Everman, and trustees Wendy Wolcott, Swanson, and Couch. (A majority of at least four is required to pass any motion.)
However, the Board’s attorney, William Brickley, subsequently resigned rather than write the requisite contract.
In a legal opinion he provided to the Board, Mr. Brickley determined that Ms. Couch had a conflict of interest that was known to both her and Mr. Everman, who also failed to communicate the conflict to his colleagues before the vote, rendering it invalid.
As is now known, Mr. Everman had been aware that Trustee Couch’s daughter, a realtor and former high school classmate of Ms. Richardson-Snell, had earned a commission from selling a house to Ms. Richardson-Snell, thus violating a Board policy on “Conflict of Interest.”
That policy states in part that:
“A Board member shall be considered to have a conflict of interest if the Board member or other person in a familiar or otherwise significant relationship to the Board member has existing, or potential financial, or other interests, which impair or might reasonably appear to impair the Board member’s independent, unbiased judgment in the discharge or his or her responsibilities to the College.”
The policy goes on to state that when a Board member determines a possible conflict of interest exists, “the Board member shall disclose the potential interest and thereafter shall abstain from participation in both the discussion of the matter and the vote thereon,” and that “all Board members” have the responsibility to ensure that the Board is made aware of “situations that involve personal, familial, or other business relationships that could be of concern to the College.”
Neither Ms. Couch nor the Board’s then-president informed the Board of Ms. Couch’s possible conflict of interest. So, the former Board attorney opined, Ms. Couch violated policy by offering the motion and voting on the motion, and the former Board president violated the policy by not informing his colleagues of the property transaction and potential conflict of interest.
At least one formal complaint about this was lodged with current Board President Swanson, but after the passage of months, no determination has been forthcoming. Since then, a new Board attorney, Sean Fitzgerald, has been hired and a contract to offer Ms. Richardson-Snell the college presidency is seemingly being finalized.
MCC needs to get back on track
The current process to hire MCC’s next leader is fatally tainted. It cannot have a good outcome.
As we all know, if you drive down a blind alley the only option is to back up. To faithfully discharge its duty of care for the college, the only responsible avenue is for the Board to declare that the offering of the position to Ms. Richardson-Snell is null and void, and for it to hire a reputable search company to engage to find the best available candidates to be the next president of Mott Community College.
Paul Jordan is a retired social worker who worked in community mental health, served on the Flint School Board, and taught social work at Mott Community College for over 30 years.
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