Edison State College’s Embattled President to Resign

April 27, 2011, 5:09 pm

Saying that “it’s wise to go out on top,” Kenneth P. Walker, embattled president of Edison State College, has decided to resign in 2013, reports The News-Press, in Fort Myers, Fla. Also on Tuesday, the college’s Board of Trustees agreed to a plan to reinstate G. Steve Atkins, a former vice president for academic affairs, who had raised allegations of racial discrimination in the hiring of a dean.

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edisonlover

To “go out on top,” Dr. Walker would have had to resign years ago. Any time after a vote of no-confidence doesn’t exactly qualify as “on top.”
unseenhand

“Go out on top”? Think about it: a vote of no confidence from the faculty of 4 campuses. Public calls for immediate resignation. Offer to reduce personal compensation in response to campus and public outrage. Dismissal (with buy out) of number one problem colleague (after first a very questionable hiring process, then reassignment to take him off any campus and then attempt to bring him back). Investigations in-house of racial issues, faculty’s public description of a “climate of fear,” and of students granted degrees without completion of base requirements. Search process for a new president starting almost immediately. Refusal of faculty union to sit at the table with presiden’ts “problem child” vp if he is sent to bargain. Finally, return of the vice president who resigned rather than follow the practices that created the climate of fear–and now, with Board’s faulty decision to allow the president to stay two more years we will watch as this reinstated vp struggles to work with the failed president over that period. And we don’t know yet any details of how the Board’s agenda and final action, including resignation and buy-outs, came to be when the president’s agenda for the same meeting included an EXTENSION of his own contract, goodies for his favorite problem colleague, and NO comment allowed the college faculty. The president’s published agenda was replaced mere hours before the Board meeting–good, but what happened?

And nobody is looking, yet, into budget oddities, grant money expenditures, the scandal of so few full-time faculty and an over the top use of way too many adjuncts (low pay/NO benefits) to keep the four campuses in operation, And will there be even self-examination of why the Board, for decades until this week, approved everything the president placed in front of them?

So, does all of this sound like going “out on top”? That statement is one last (we hope) sign of a total disconnect from reality.
willynilly

The “go out on top” comment is just regular and standard nonsense talk for which Walker is noted. It was actually another “nonsense” comment that launched the final act of his long “Edison Play” that actually overran any posible interested audience. His fatal mis-speak actually came in an interview with a Chronicle reporter who prepared an extensive feature that appeared in The Chronicle several weeks ago. At the heart of the matter were strong faculty misgivings over Walkers hiring of a long standing personal friend, Dr. Browder, who was no more than a K-12 administrator with a poor history and reputation for cut-throat management actions; and zero experience in higher education. After Browder’s game came to an end and he was shown the door as Lee County Superintendent, his friend Walker, bailed him out and gave him a “kushy” well paid position at Edison. But Browder was not content to just sit on his “cushion”. He couldn’t resist the temptation to see if his old “cut-throat’ practices would wok for him again in higher education. So away he went, targeting highly regarded and esteemed Edison staff with conditions and requirements that they would not tolerate. As a result, and without any hope that Walker would redress the situation, they resigned, one at a time. But each time, Browder would offer himself as the logical replacement – and stupidly Walker complied. Twice Browders work load was adjusted and huge salary increases were given – Browder quickly went to work to remove the next person ahead of him on the organizational chart. Not long after another highly effective administrator resigned the faculty had no choice but to step into the middle of this instutionally destructive game. It should be noted that such a step was very risky for faculty – Edison does not have a tenure system. At the outset, the faculty wanted to work with Walker, behind the scenes, avoiding a public blowup. The faculty intent was to allow Walker to finish his long tenure with dignity and appreciartion for his work in growing the institution. The faculty goals were to restrict the role of Dr. Browder as it interfaced with the teaching and learning transaction, having him assigned to non-academic relared functions; and, secondarily seek to persuade those key administrators who had resigned, because od Browder, to return to the College. Groups of faculty met with Walker privately for an extended period of time, attempting to achieve the afore stated goals. When it became apparent that these meetings were no more than dancing sessions – dancing arount the issues – and Walker was just delaying, with no intent to redress faculty concerns, the vote of “no-confidence” was taken and the situation hit the publics attention right between the eyes. So “The Chronicle” telephones Walker and does its interview. Walker tells “The Chronicle” that he doesn’t know what the issues are all about – that the faculty blind sided him and went public and he doesn’t have a clue. All of that was no more than bald-faced lieing – what the hell did Walker think all those face-to-face sessions with faculty were all about – planning the Christmas party? Once the newspapers got their hands on the situation, they dug out the salary and perc data for Walker and Browder and now enter the public outrage. Soon after, Walker finally agreed to get Browder far, far away from faculty and to work on recovering the administrators who should never have been pushed to the point of resignation. But Walker could not save himself. His untruthful remarks to The Chronicle” caused the faculty to lose total respect and trust in him. When he finally realized the end had come for him at Edison, he decided to “go out on top” but it has been left to conjecture “on top of what”. At the end, one positive has surfaced, Dr Atkins will rescend his resignation and be reinstated – a just and proper end to this mess.