Opinion | A rising Broward star suddenly has to ‘move on,’ but why? | Editorial

In just a few years, Gregory Haile has done much to lift up Broward College.

Many people in the wider community are proud of him. That’s a rarity in Broward, where true leaders are scarce. They often are unappreciated or become mired in controversy.

The school that was once a lightly regarded “Junior College of Broward County” in the 1950s and was known for decades as BCC, Broward Community College, has provided career and educational opportunities for generations and today has a student body of nearly 60,000 on three campuses. The school has won multiple Aspen prizes for educational excellence.

Under Haile, Broward College has steadily evolved to meet the needs of a highly diverse, mobile and economically stressed community. Its “Broward UP” innovation provides free workforce training and student support services online to individuals in 11 underserved zip codes. The college serves as a bridge between an emerging workforce and employers needing skilled workers.

So it came as a shock, as Haile seemed to hit his stride, that late Wednesday he said he wanted out and abruptly announced his resignation in a letter.

“It is now time to move on,” Haile wrote to the five-member board of trustees, giving a 120-day termination notice as provided for in his contract.

Tension in the air

Haile did not respond to phone and text messages. But his letter suggested tensions with a new board at a time when Florida’s higher education system faces unprecedented upheaval.

“Three board members were appointed in the last six months, and the board as a whole is new, with no board member yet to have served a full term,” Haile wrote.

The board is new. Beneath the surface, there are problems.

The chairwoman of the board of trustees, Alexis Yarbrough, told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board that student enrollment has declined by 28% under Haile and the board has pressed him for a plan to reverse that trend. She described enrollment as being in a “nosedive,” with “no plan to fix it.”

Yarbrough also cited potential budget shortfalls that were averted only by a surge of federal pandemic relief money; the lack of a long-range college marketing plan; Haile’s failure to hire a chief operating officer; and a lack of transparency by senior members of Haile’s staff which she said has improved over time. She said the staff was not used to the new board’s greater level of oversight.

Haile, 45, had been Broward College’s general counsel and vice president for public policy and government affairs when trustees hired him in 2018.

The board that hired him was led by appointees of former Gov. Rick Scott, and now it’s controlled by appointees of Gov. Ron DeSantis — a big difference. DeSantis has pledged to rid Florida campuses of “wokeness.” He cleaned house at New College of Florida in Sarasota and helped orchestrate the hiring of a political ally, former state Rep. Fred Hawkins, at another state college.

In March, DeSantis appointed three new Broward trustees: Cindy Kushner, Mario Zanotti-Cavazzoni and Yarbrough. The board called an emergency meeting Thursday and declined to accept Haile’s resignation after several community leaders pleaded with Haile to stay. Haile did not attend.

A sense of ‘dysfunction’

Dan Lindblade, CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, was among those urging Haile to remain. The business leader sees “dysfunction” between Haile and the trustees.

“Business issues can be challenging, especially while dealing with them in open meetings,” he said in an email to the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board. “Clearly, there is dysfunction between the president and trustees. For President Haile to resign and trustees claim to not have any idea why is a disconnect. The business community wants this ironed out with Haile so we can continue to focus on developing talent.”

Frmr county administrator Bertha Henry to Broward College trustees: "We just experienced a tremor. We hope it's not a precursor to an earthquake:… You can fix this. we hope you will. No one expects a new board to deconstruct the progress (of college) we need you to fix this."

— Scott Travis (@smtravis) September 14, 2023

“We just experienced a tremor. We hope it’s not a precursor to an earthquake,” former Broward County Administrator Bertha Henry told trustees. “You can fix this. We hope you will.”

Former state Sen. Perry Thurston of Plantation said: “We can’t afford to lose Greg Haile.”

Yarbrough suggested a “cooling off period” to give Haile time to reflect, but she said Saturday that Haile has not responded to her request for a meeting.

For Broward College to lose its leader now is doubly difficult because of festering turmoil at nearby Florida Atlantic University, where DeSantis allies abruptly stopped a presidential search that was in its final stages amid manufactured claims of “anomalies” with the search.

It appears Haile’s departure is inevitable. He’s still president, because trustees haven’t accepted his resignation, but he’s not working, is not returning trustees’ calls and the college has cut off his access to its email system, Yarbrough confirmed Saturday.

“We’re in a very strange place,” Yarbrough said.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writer Martin Dyckman and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at .