The decision of the Morehouse College Board of Trustees not to renew the contract of Morehouse President John Wilson in its meeting over the weekend was not unexpected, given grumblings about Wilson’s perceived heavy-handed tactics when it came to personnel matters. What was seemingly unexpected, however, was the exclusion of student and faculty trustees from the meeting at which the decision was made.
The decision to exclude student trustees from the meeting over the weekend was “blatant disrespect towards the student body,” says student trustee and Morehouse Student Government Association President Johnathan Hill.
As a result of the decision to bar student trustees from the meeting over the weekend, Hill and the two other Morehouse student trustees, Moses Washington and Johntavis Williams, have filed a lawsuit seeking to ultimately nullify the board’s actions over the weekend via a temporary restraining order against board chair Robert Davidson.
“Whether [Wilson’s] contract was to be renewed or not, we just feel like student voices should be in the mix,” Washington says.
“When no one else is on campus, the students are here. We pay more than $40,000 a year to attend this institution, so you must have the input of key stakeholders, including us, and the faculty trustees, if you want to make changes to this institution because it affects us primarily.”
Following a Morehouse Faculty Council meeting yesterday at which Wilson was present, Faculty Council Chair and Morehouse College Department of Sociology chair Derrick Bryan released a statement on behalf of the Morehouse faculty expressing dismay over the actions of the Board of Trustees over the weekend.
“We, the faculty of Morehouse College, strongly object to the decision by the Board of Trustees not to renew the contract of President John S. Wilson without explanation and without the inclusion of faculty and student trustees in the discussion and decision,” the statement reads. “The faculty also expresses concern regarding the timing of the Board’s decision. We demand an explanation and will investigate these decisions.”
