President, trustee at odds over leak
The college president and a member of the Board of Trustees are at odds.
Terry Calaway, college president, believes his privacy was invaded. Benjamin Hodge, trustee, finds Calaway’s interpretation of the Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA) offensive.
The controversy centers around a list of more than 50 on the table budget cuts distributed at a closed door executive session for Calaway’s evaluation at the Feb. 19 trustee meeting. A week later, Hodge provided the information to Jim Sullinger, reporter, The Kansas City Star.
Sullinger put some of the hot button items on the list, such as outsourcing of the bookstore and food services, on his blog, http://primebuzz.kcstar.com, on Feb. 27.
Calaway posted a response to Sullinger’s blog on the college’s e-mail news service for employees, InfoList, on March 3. He stated that the list was “misinformed and without context and is ignorant of the process the college is following to consider budget reductions.”
Sullinger defended his blog post by questioning the college’s compliance with the KOMA.
“Many of the things on that list had nothing to do with specific personal or specific employee things,” Sullinger said. “Many of these are policy issues that may affect a number of people, but they are policy.”
Calaway says he never received a phone call from Sullinger until after the blog was posted. He considers his evaluations to be sacred, and that is why he responded in such a public manner.
“I said that very clearly to Ben. I feel a person’s evaluation is a very private issue. Of course now it is not,” Calaway said. “He has basically taken it into the public domain.”
Hodge said some faculty members are criticizing him for not objecting to the handout during the executive session. He does not apologize for what he calls a simple mistake.
“I’m not perfect, I didn’t think of it at the time. I admitted that publically,” Hodge said. “Politicians don’t like to admit they made a mistake, but the obvious implication is that I now know better.”
For Calaway’s evaluation, board members were asked to rate him and provide comments for various categories. The deadline to complete all reviews was Feb. 4. Hodge provided his on Feb. 18, the day before the meeting, Calaway said.
Hodge commented “Let me see this year’s final budget proposal, and then whether there is a tax increase.” Calaway took this as a request for the information that Hodge later leaked.
“The question is, why was it leaked?” Calaway said. “It really wasn’t the KOMA. That isn’t why he leaked it. If it was the KOMA, he would have gone public right out of the box. Ben’s picture would’ve been on Sullinger’s blog, not mine.”
Chris Christensen, program director, Financial Aid, feels Calaway was unfairly judged for information that was not even developed.
“What was put out there was just ideas. Nothing [was] made concrete, nothing was put into action yet,” Christensen said. “So for Calaway to be judged by the things said in the blog was premature.”
Hodge feels the only way to know how employees are feeling about the leak is through gossip, which he refuses to be a part of.
“I don’t get to know many employees on a personal level,” Hodge said. “Only if I were actively involved in the gossip mill, which I have no interest in being, would I know what people are thinking.”
Ten candidates are vying for four open positions on the BOT at the April 7 elections. Calaway believes that played a role in the leak.
“Ben is in campaign mode. Ben is a politician running for office,” Calaway said. “He is looking for something that could give him press coverage, and he is getting exactly what he wanted… This is political. This isn’t about anything else, this is political.”
While he feels the public had a right to know the information, Hodge rejects the label of whistleblower.
“Perhaps I am [a whistleblower] unintentionally,” Hodge said. “But I really do not believe this information was the least bit controversial. It is no disrespect to employees, but if you were surprised by anything that’s in there, I’m surprised.”
Online Exclusive: Terry Calaway speaks
Online Exclusive: Ben Hodge speaks