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The Howard Community College board is pushing back against calls to remove President Daria J. Willis in response to anonymous online message board comments criticizing her, The Baltimore Banner reported.
“The Board of Trustees is aware of a website that has published alleged grievances against President Daria Willis,” the board wrote in an email message to the campus community last week, the same day as a closed-session meeting on personnel matters. “We denounce this and any other efforts to defame Dr. Willis, who, with her senior leadership team, successfully carries out the board’s vision of supporting students and our surrounding communities.”
Trustees also described some posts on the message board as “racist, vitriolic, and regrettable forms of online bullying.”
The message board included more than 70 posts from commenters, many of whom identify themselves as Howard Community College employees. The site says it’s a platform for those “who have been abused and silenced by the current administration at Howard Community College.” Most criticize her leadership style or point to issues such as low employee morale and high staff turnover. Some refer to Willis, the campus environment and hiring processes as “racist.”
Jarrett Carter, the college’s vice president of external affairs, communications and advancement, posted that the message board was “leveling racist, sexist lies against our board of trustees and our president.
Willis, who has been president since 2022, posted on X that she’s “not going anywhere.”
On Friday, the board also announced the departures of three board members, Chair Sean Keller, former vice chair M. Shafeeq Ahmed and immediate past chair Christopher Marasco. Two will leave the board “immediately” while Ahmed ended his time on the board in August. It’s unclear whether the departures are related.
