Petition Calling For Wenatchee Valley College President's Ouster Circulates Online
The online petition was started two days ago and comes on the heels of an internal survey that shows historically low morale at WVC
A Change.org petition calling for trustees of Wenatchee Valley College to deny the renewal of WVC President Dr. Faimous Harrison’s contract has picked up 32 signatures in the two days it has been online.
The petition, addressed to Chair Paula Arno Martinez, Vice-chair Steve Zimmerman, and Trustees Tamra Jackson, Wilma Cartagena and Phylicia Hancock Lewis, calls on them to “restore competent, transparent, and community-centered leadership” at the college.
It was started by an individual by the name of M. Alexander on Change.org.
“Under the leadership of Dr. Faimous Harrison, WVC has suffered extraordinary staff and faculty turnover, low morale, and a deep erosion of trust and accountability,” they wrote. “Repeated warnings about his leadership have been ignored.”
Alexander alleges Harrison’s decisions do not prioritize the needs of WVC students, employees or the wider community and blames the recent spike in turnover on “toxic management and culture of blame that starts at the top.”
Nearly 50% of WVC faculty, staff and other employees have left since Harrison became president – 25% in 2023 alone.
The petition comes on the heels of recent employees satisfaction surveys showing historically low morale going public. I got those reports via public records request and published them earlier this month.
You can see them and read the full article here:
Internal Survey Reveals Low Morale, Trust in Administration at Wenatchee Valley College
In the first employee satisfaction survey taken by Wenatchee Valley College faculty, staff and administrators since Dr. Faimous Harrison became president in 2023, WVC employees report that morale on the college’s two campuses has never been so low.
I reached out to the petition starter via Change.org for comment on this story but did not hear back by publishing time. If they do respond I will add their remarks to this article.
And I will continue to follow this story as the deadline for Harrison’s contract renewal this December approaches.