Dr. Ellen Kennedy, current president of Berkshire Community College (Tricia McCormack)
By Bec Rapacz
The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to recommend the appointment of Dr. Ellen Kennedy as interim president to the Commissioner of Higher Education. Pending approval, Kennedy will begin serving on July 1. Kennedy would postpone her retirement for a year to fill this role, after 14 years as Berkshire Community College president.
Kennedy was present via Zoom at the board’s April 22 virtual meeting. She briefly introduced herself, answered questions from board members, and then left prior to the vote. She acknowledged the tumultuous year that 4Cs has been through and spoke on how she wanted to listen to the community should she be selected.
“I don’t take lightly what you’ve been going through this year,” she said. “Should you vote to recommend me, I want you to know that I am not here to paper over what happened or to move past it too quickly. Institutions heal when people feel heard, when leadership is present and transparent, and when trust is rebuilt through actions, not words.”
Board Chair Tammy Glivinski-Saben said at the meeting that the board is continuing to work toward a clear and constructive future in the aftermath of recent revelations related to former 4Cs President Dr. John Cox.
“The immensely challenging situation that has come to light over the last six months is not over,” she said. “… The report has been with the board for less than a week before the news reports began… We have not yet been able to even address the recommendations before us. The work ahead is significant, and we all will need to move forward together.”
A recent Boston Globe article reported that despite finding that “Cox’s actions did not qualify as sexual harassment, gender-based harassment, discrimination, or retaliation,” investigators did “recommend the college should take further action to determine whether Cox violated other policies or laws.”
Patrick Stone, director of strategic communications and marketing, said in an email days prior to the board meeting that the Board was discussing recommendations to implement.
Prior to deliberations and Kennedy’s introduction, Glivinski-Saben acknowledged two letters sent by Cape Cod Community College Association President Michael Bejtlich and multiple other professional committee and union members. The letters provided requests for faculty input in the process of selecting an Interim president, as well as continued transparency and input regarding a long-term search for a permanent president. They emphasized the importance of allowing the college community to be a part of a public process, considering what it has been through in the past year.
Glivinski-Saben opted not to read the letters, despite Bejtlich’s request for the first letter to be read publicly for the board members “and the public to hear.” She declined to delay the vote, as the first letter requested, and stated “further, it calls the integrity and transparency of the board and college leadership into question… I don’t believe that it is in the best interest of moving the institution forward, and I strongly believe that it conflicts with the issues at hand.”
In response to the board’s dismissal of the letters, Bejtlich said in an email after the meeting, “I think the Board response was tone deaf, condescending and dismissive. They lost a golden opportunity to take a pause (even for the sake of mutual respect) and briefly delay the vote in order to hear the concerns of college community members. In their clubby hubris, they clearly think they know better.”
