Dive Brief:
- Broward College is again searching for a new president after the public college’s previous leader, Gregory Haile, resigned suddenly last year amid pleas for him to stay.
- The Florida college is looking to place a candidate by July 1. In a pamphlet about the open position, Broward said it is searching for “a well-experienced executive administrator with proven public institution experience.”
- Until recently, Barbara Bryan, a consultant and former administrator at Broward, served as interim president. After beginning in October, Bryan told the board during a March meeting that she didn’t wish to renew her contract, which expired April 3.
Dive Insight:
Haile’s sudden departure has left a vacuum in leadership at Broward. His choice to step down was met with an outpour of support from those who wanted him to remain and for the college to work to keep him, with some even asking the board to reject his resignation.
The supporters included the then-chair of the Broward College Foundation, Craig Farlie.
“I stand before you today to ask you to do whatever is in your power to convince President Gregory Haile to change his mind and continue to lead the college going forward,” Farlie said at an emergency session in September following Haile’s resignation.
Farlie said losing Haile amid a major fundraising campaign would be “absolutely devastating,” contending that his departure would be “destabilizing” for the college and its foundation. Farlie left the foundation in November, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Board members at the September meeting were at a loss to explain Haile’s departure. They said they had not asked for his resignation and were as surprised as anyone on campus by it.
At a later meeting in September, Haile, who began in 2018, didn’t address his reasons for leaving but expressed gratitude for having served. He said that turning in his resignation letter was “probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
In September, Inside Higher Ed reported that the trustee’s chair had pressed Haile about his outside board appointments before he resigned.
The South Florida SunSentinel also reported numerous points of tension between Haile and a board that included members newly appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, including accreditation issues, the decision to cut sports and labor pressures.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Haile currently serves as deputy chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and as a director for financial firm BBX Capital.
Founded in 1960, Broward has some 4,000 faculty and staff. Between fall 2017 and fall 2022, the college’s total enrollment fell 26.2% to 30,057 students, more than two-thirds of whom are Black or African American or Hispanic/Latino, according to federal data.
Broward hired Myers McRae to help with its presidential search. The board has appointed Donald Astrab, vice provost for academic operations, as its acting president, according to public television and radio affiliate WLRN.
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