Just one day after he welcomed students and faculty to campus during the annual fall convocation, Stillman College President Ernest McNealey was removed from his position by the Board of Trustees.
On Thursday, McNealey delivered a message of preparing for personal success in the face of adversity during the ceremony. He reported the state of the private college, with an operating budget of $27 million, as good, but tempered comments highlighting the national decline in student enrollment and financial difficulties.
He also cited an increase in denials in student loan requests. “While certainly there are storm clouds on the horizon, we can see silver linings in those clouds,” he told students and faculty.
McNealey called the national statistics depressing, but said Stillman will continue to pursue its goals despite adverse conditions.
“We will continue to search for the next new thing that circumstances say we cannot do and do it,” McNealey said.
On Friday afternoon, the college released a brief statement naming Peter Millet, provost and vice president for academic affairs, as interim president.
Millet came to the college in the fall of 2012, formerly serving as dean of education at Tennessee State University and as a Mellon assistant professor of psychology at Connecticut College.
