Tuesday afternoon, the campus was shocked to hear of the departure of Dr. Emily Lardner. Dr. Lardner has been with the Highline since 2019, rising to the office of Vice President of Academic Affairs.
A staff-wide email was sent to all Highline faculty from Highline’s president, Dr. John Mosby alerting us to the news that Dr. Lardner was no longer with the college, and Liz Word, Dean of Academic Pathways and Student Learning Resources, would be stepping up as acting Vice President until the interim Vice President can begin. More information will be forthcoming.
Wednesday morning, another email was sent in response to the news from Dr. Enrique Quintero, a part-time faculty member in English Language/Career and Academic Prep who stated, “It is disturbing to me that you have decided to terminate one of your best administrators, because she understood that poor or good performance has nothing to do with the color of the skin of the performer. Unfortunately, it seems that you disagree with this principle…This is a bad precedent.”
Dr. Quintero said the message sent by the move is “detrimental” and implies “That the quality of our labor — which defines our creative condition as a species — is less important than the accidental coloration of our skin when it comes to the assessment of our job performance at our college.”
When reached for a comment, Dr. Quintero said, “In my opinion, Dr. Lardner was terminated because she understood that poor or good performance has nothing to do with the color of the skin of the performer. On the other hand, the current administration seems to favor the idea that skin pigmentation can be used as an antidote to occlude questionable work habits and work ethics.”
As a disclaimer, Dr. Quintero wanted to disclose that Dr. Lardner is his spouse, and the student body should be aware of that fact.
When asked to comment, Dr. Mosby said, “At this point, I’m not able to comment any further regarding this personnel matter.” In the initial email announcing the departure of Dr. Lardner, he said, “I want to thank her for all the hard work in the division and campus wide through the years and wish her well.”
Word did not comment on the departure of Dr. Lardner, but said, “At this time, I am in an acting role for a few weeks until an Interim Vice President is named. I will be happy to give you a quote at that time about the transition.”
Dr. Lardner had no comment about the matter at this time.
Last year, Dr. Mosby went on medical leave, leaving Dr. Lardner and Dr. Jamilyn Penn to work together as co-acting Presidents. At some point during their partnership, it was announced that Dr. Penn would be solely acting President until Dr. Mosby’s return.
Prior to joining Highline in 2019, Lardner served as the Vice President of Instruction at Grays Harbor College. Her Highline profile says, “From 1996 to 2017, Emily worked at the Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education, a public service center at The Evergreen State College, where she collaborated with postsecondary faculty, staff and administrators throughout Washington state and nationally to implement strategies aimed at improving student success.”
Dr. Lardner’s directory page was very quickly taken down, but remains on the Highline Leadership Team site. This story is still developing, and the Thunderword will watch carefully for updates to share with the student body.
