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Dr. Donald Guy Generals
On April 10, the CCP Board of Trustees voted to relieve Generals of his duties, placing him on paid administrative leave until his contract expires in June. The decision came just two weeks after the college announced a tentative agreement with the Faculty and Staff Federation, which represents college employees.
"I've asked, 'Give me an objective reason why you would not renew my contract,'" Generals said during a recent interview with WURD radio host Solomon Jones. "I think there's still a lot of work to be done. I've crafted a vision that I thought was the vision we should be heading towards. Having been in higher ed and community colleges for 40 years, I think I know the field quite well."
Generals' departure comes during a challenging period for higher education institutions nationwide. His tenure at CCP, which began in 2014, has been marked by several accomplishments, including the launch of programs for returning citizens, housing solutions for students, dual enrollment partnerships with high schools, and vocational training initiatives. Under his leadership, CCP also partnered with the city to create the City College for Municipal Employment last year, aimed at preparing students for careers in local government.
"We have a full complement of workforce development programs out in West Philly on Market and 48th streets. We just landed a $2.7 million agreement with the Navy pipeline project," Generals noted, defending his administration's performance. "All of the objective factors, as to what relates to a good college are there."
Board of Trustees chairman Harold Epps acknowledged some of these achievements in a statement, highlighting "five semifinalists for the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, the first cohort to graduate from the City College of Municipal Employment and three consecutive years of semester-over-semester enrollment growth."
One of the most notable milestones during Generals' presidency came in 2018 when Haziz Hardeman became the first CCP graduate to earn a prestigious Rhodes scholarship after transferring to Temple University.
