***The following letter was submitted by a faculty/staff member who wishes to remain anonymous. The claims and opinions expressed are their own and do not reflect the opinions of the ThunderWord or Highline College. We are publishing this letter in its entirety and original writing. The ThunderWord has not independently verified all of the claims present.***

For years, Highline College has prided itself on being one of the most diverse and inclusive colleges in the state of Washington. As a community college, fully one third of students (34%) are on campus to complete high school requirements, whether that is through Running Start or because they were underserved or struggling during their high school careers.

According to the Mission Statement, “Highline College creates anti-racist, equitable pathways in higher education to close opportunity gaps experienced by our students.” Further, the Mission Statement lists the following values: accessibility, accountability, cultural responsiveness and agency, environmental sustainability, equity-first focus, life-long learning, partnership with local and global communities, respect, social justice, student-centered approaches, transparency.

However, it takes very little to realize there are major cracks in the façade, and they are causing the foundation of the entire system to crumble. 

Highline has failed to follow through on at least seven of the above values when it comes to the working environment, which I will highlight here. Most of these issues can be traced directly back to a core group of over-paid administrators and the Highline College Board of Directors itself. 

Accessibility, Equity-First Focus, and Life-Long Learning

The employees at Highline are all familiar with Professional Development (PD) days, mandatory days when we must be on campus for “training.” These PD days have continually been criticized for multiple reasons, but in particular a lack of disability access and a lack of relevance to staff job descriptions. 

At our most recent PD day [Friday, October 17], a separate room was finally set aside as a low stimulation zone with automatic transcription of the speakers below, however most of what appeared on the screen was absolute gibberish that couldn’t be understood. This token effort was just that—a symbolic handwave at the many complaints that did little to solve the actual issues at hand, namely the struggle of neurodivergent employees or those with hearing loss or other challenges to handle the excessive stimulation and noise that comes from meeting in Building 8. Event organizers did not even inform employees this room was an option until the very start of the event. There were no signs, no announcements, it only spread through word of mouth between those in the know. If Highline wants their A for effort, they’re going to have to put in a lot more effort. 

Once again, most of the workshops were geared toward faculty and the process of teaching, grading, and advising students with a wide variety of needs, or using various technologies in the classroom. There was very little in the way of learning opportunities for employees not in that role. In one session I attended, the class was listed as full when I registered and I had to use the Zoom option. This wasn’t an issue for me, but once the class started I could see many empty seats in the classroom, and the audio quality was so poor that the first half of the class was completely unintelligible. The one class I’d actually wanted to take, that could have helped in my role, was therefore rendered useless. 

To once again speak to the accessibility issue, many classified staff have been denied the ability to work from home due to illness or other need, even when their role doesn’t require them to be on campus or other arrangements could easily be made. Instead, managers often demand an explanation or make the employee responsible for finding in-person coverage, which is not the employee’s duty or responsibility. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Mosby is not the only one absent from campus on a regular basis. Our VP of Human Resources, Melanie Lawson, does not even live in Washington State. Yet, the college flies her across the country regularly for meetings and covers all expenses (it could, therefore, be argued that Highline is also failing at their value of Environmental Sustainability, but I digress). I suppose the one benefit to this is that she is often the only reason some campus meetings are offered on Zoom, since she wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise. The downside, of course, for anyone who has brought a grievance or issue to her attention, is her penchant for hanging up on employees when she doesn’t like how a conversation is going, and her consistent silence when issues are raised about employee concerns at meetings. 

Another example of the inequality between staff and faculty on campus is the use of Professional Development (PD) funds. This year, faculty received a $200-250 increase to their individual spending limits across the board. For those unfamiliar with the process, a faculty member must fill out a PD request form, stating what they want covered, a description of how it will benefit their role, and then it must be approved by the chair of their department. Once any necessary receipts are submitted, they typically get reimbursements within two or three weeks. In some cases, they can request advanced funds or for an expense to go on a purchasing card, if they don’t have the up-front funds to cover it. This process is streamlined and in general, easy on everyone involved.

For staff, however, it’s a different story that involves flaming hoops and administrative acrobatics not seen since the days of P.T. Barnum. First, finding accurate, updated information on how to submit the correct paperwork, and what is required is a challenge. The PD website lists no information for staff, only faculty, and only for resources sponsored by the school or state. This means any staff member interested in furthering their learning must guess at the correct person to email, and at my last viewing, the information provided on the process was outdated.

While faculty PD funds can be used for nearly anything they can justify, staff may only request PD funds for degree seeking courses (and only at 50% reimbursement, even if they are taking them at Highline), or seminars/conferences through pre-approved programs or sponsors. Books and materials for classes or programs are not covered. 

 (I am in no way attempting to blame faculty for this inequality or take away from their allowed expenses, merely trying to point out the disparity between how the two groups are treated by the powers that be.)

Once the staff member as found the correct instructions and the correct person to contact, they must then fill out a PD request form (not the same as the one used for faculty). This must then be approved by their supervisor, and further approved by a committee of five administrators as to the “relevance” of the training to the employee’s current job description. Only then can the employee submit receipts—because all training must be paid for, up front, by the staff member. The process from first request to reimbursement can take up to eight months in some cases, and the employee sits in the dark through most of this as their request hangs in limbo, waiting for a mysterious “they” to give their approval. 

This is perhaps because the college sees staff PD as a sign the employee intends to move on, since even those who have completed extensive or advanced training are often ignored when related job openings appear on campus. These employees are not even granted interviews, and may not even receive rejection emails until weeks or months after the position has been filled, if at all. Instead, the college appears to prefer hiring outsiders that are either unaware of the political machinations and discord on campus, or bringing in friends of existing administrators, even when those people have no relevant experience or education. 

Accountability, Respect, Social Justice, and Transparency

By far, however, the greatest complaint among staff has been the lack of respect and transparency from the board of trustees and administration. 

During our extended bargaining period, personal insults were leveled at WPEA employees by Dr. Mosby, with the accusation that WPEA representatives had been disrespectful toward him by demanding meetings and negotiations that are part of his job description. However, Dr. Mosby has, for the last three years, shown a shocking lack of accountability, responsibility, empathy, and respect to Highline College, the students, and staff and faculty. While his health challenges have of course been great, his extended and repeated absences from campus are inexcusable. If his health is so poor that he cannot be on campus, meet the minimum requirements of his position (such as negotiating with staff members) and must repeatedly ask that staff and faculty donate their hard-fought PTO to him, then perhaps it is time for him to step down and find a replacement. As was pointed out in the “quarterly” meeting between Dr. Mosby and staff, he currently makes 8x his lowest paid employee’s wages, on top of receiving more vacation, sick leave, and personal days. 

His behavior at that meeting, held in August during summer break when most staff were not even on campus, was unacceptable. It was very clear to those attending that he planned to do his usual at meetings: say a few pretty, meaningless words he didn’t intend to back up, then leave without allowing anyone else to speak. Instead, he was taken to task by employees and WPEA President Amanda Hacker for failing to negotiate or take the needs of staff members seriously. Clearly offended, Dr. Mosby then claimed he was double booked for the second half of the hour-long meeting his office had scheduled, and attempted to leave.  After vocal outrage from attendees he finally consented to stay, leveling accusations at the crowd of “not acting right.” His entire demeanor was one of a petulant child faced with the “Big Meanie Pants” that is real life. It is now doubtful if these “quarterly” meetings will continue, or if he will once again hide behind his health issues and cancel or fail to schedule them altogether.

In fact, this was neither the first nor the last time Dr. Mosby failed to accept criticism (constructive or otherwise), show compassion for those working under him, or acknowledge his own privilege. Rather, he chose to point the finger at classified staff who currently make 26% less than peers in the same roles working elsewhere. I wonder what Dr. Mosby would do with 26% less income? What might the college do with that extra $69,628? In fact, if we took 26% of the pay from Highline’s top five highest paid roles (according to the most recent data from 2021), it would put a whopping $229,190 back into the budget, and each of those people would still make six figures, well more than any classified staff member. At a time when our budgets are being slashed, the Department of Education is being gutted, and an increasing number of employees are relying on the campus food bank and public assistance to make ends meet, think of what we could do with an extra (almost) $230,000 in our budget. How many equity programs could we sponsor? How many scholarships? Aid programs? How many staff positions could we afford to fill that have been empty for months? 

Instead, these same administrators have demanded that the lowest paid employees tighten their belts, both at home and on campus. While we labor in “sick” buildings with poor ventilation, broken HVAC, broken lights, and fight to get basic needs met, the people in charge bemoan the shortage of funds, the loss of grants, and then write metaphorical blank checks to themselves (according to the same website referenced above, Dr. Mosby received a 133% pay increase between 2018 and 2021, a number that continues to rise despite his absence from campus and failure to meet the minimum requirements of his job.

Meanwhile, the average Washington State employee receives a 2-5% step increase each year, and maybe a 2-3% COLA (but only if their contract is approved, ratified, and funded). Dr. Mosby, Dr. Pham, and Dr. Ezeonu all actively fought to block pay increases and back pay for classified staff during negotiations. Instead, they couched earned back pay—which they recognized we had earned and already worked the hours for—as a “retention bonus,” making an additional year of underpaid, overworked service a condition of payment, rather than relieving or mitigating the strain. 

To add insult to injury, recent comments by Dr. Mosby and members of the Board of Trustees have left employees feeling hurt and offended. Due to a lack of appropriate record keeping, these comments now only exist in the minds of those who were present, as the college has declined to record board meetings, to make them available later, or take sufficient minutes. 

At the July 24 board meeting, President Mosby asked the assembled group to take a moment to honor Charlie Kirk, a noted right-wing radical and gun activist, who stated that gun violence was the “cost of” freedom. It seems to me that being murdered was a cost he found acceptable for his family to pay. 

The statement was inappropriate. Not just as commentary on gun violence, but for many other reasons: Kirk was a noted racist and anti-feminist who disparaged healthcare and education, all things Highline supposedly supports. Second, there was no mention at all of the Utah Valley University students who witnessed the violence, nor of the school shooting that happened at the exact same time in Colorado. The shooter injured two students and took his own life. Where was the respect, the moment of silence, the honor for them? 

Dr. Mosby then took things a step further by not-so-subtly hinting that the then-ongoing WPEA contract negotiations were akin to gun violence, and that classified staff and the union were holding a metaphorical gun to his head. He once again centered himself in the situation, posing as the injured party and calling on staff and union members in particular to “act right.” In this case, we can infer that “acting right” meant falling in line rather than fighting for workplace dignity. 

Dignity in the workplace has been an ongoing issue, and is arguably the crux of this entire debate. In addition to lack of pay, Dr. Mosby and the board have floated the idea of sending WPEA members back to the general bargaining table, rather than negotiating the next contract cycle. This would result in multiple losses for Highline Employees, such as leave days that many depend on for their health, work-life balance, and caregiver commitments. And, once again, Dr. Mosby’s health was cited as a major reason for this. I say, once again, that if Dr. Mosby cannot maintain the basic functions of his job, then it is time for him to focus entirely on his health and step down. 

He is not the only one who has insulted the dignity and freedom of employees, staff and faculty alike. At Convocation, Board Chair Bowman, a pastor, turned the opening remarks into a sermon complete with Biblical quotes that many found inappropriate in a professional setting. Between scripture verses, he patted himself and Dr. Mosby on the back for the progress on contract negotiations (which they had actively blocked at every turn) and spoke at length about what a close, caring family Highline is, and how hard the administrators are looking out for employees. As anyone who has been deep in the job hunting trenches will tell you: any company that describes itself as a family is frequently just as dysfunctional and toxic. 

Finally, I would like to address the lack of sincerity and transparency from administration. They frequently find excuses not to make campus-wide meetings available on Zoom, despite repeated requests from employees working from home, out sick, with disabilities that make in person meetings a challenge, or simply unable to leave their desks. This gives the distinct impression that they don’t actually want employees to show up. Considering the aforementioned habit of Dr. Mosby and others to say pretty things they think employees want to hear, and then fail to even attempt to follow through, this is not shocking. 

Contrary to best practices for public meetings, Highline does not record meetings or make them available for viewing online. The meeting minutes are also bare bones at best. Once again, I refer to the July 24 meeting, which was not recorded even though it was streamed via Zoom. Though President Mosby spoke for about 5-10 minutes, there is no record of what was actually said in the meeting minutes, only a heading for “President’s Comments.” This intense lack of transparency and recordkeeping has further eroded the trust of staff and faculty both. 

Conclusion

In closing, I would like to once again call on Dr. Mosby, Dr. Pham, Dr. Enzou and the rest of the President’s cabinet, along with the Board of Trustees, to acknowledge the persistent, severe, and ongoing harm they have caused to faculty and staff, which has in turn negatively impacted the services available to and the experience of our students. I would also like to once again recommend that Dr. Mosby’s performance be publicly evaluated, with input from faculty, staff, and students, in a public forum if he chooses to continue in his role as president. While Dr. Penn has been appointed Acting President, this is a temporary solution at best and does not solve the fundamental issues, especially since she was selected by the same group of people who not only created these problems, but seem to have a vested interest in seeing it proliferate.

The fact that in 3,000 words I have only scratched the surface when it comes to staff concerns here at Highline points to a much larger issue that will come into play in the near future. We already know that employee turnover has been steadily increasing and many positions have gone unfilled or are being quietly pushed out. Between the lack of respect, the low pay, and the difficulty in negotiating or having our needs met or voices heard, I predict Highline will soon come to a turning point in which its most valued, essential, boots-on-the-ground, front line, student facing staff will be forced out. 

This loss of experience, expertise, and yes, even diversity, could potentially gut the college and severely undermine its entire mission statement. Dr. Mosby, Dr. Penn, Dr. Bowman: as people of color, how can you condone this? As educators, how can you allow this? As leaders, how can you endorse it and still look at yourself in the mirror? You need only to look back at convocation and the list of anniversaries to see the threat. Fewer people are sticking around for their retirement, and the ones that are still here are holding on by the skin of their teeth. You have fostered a toxic work environment, and then accuse anyone who attempts to leave or improve the situation of lacking commitment or dedication, or of picking fights and attacking you. 

Working with the classified staff and faculty of Highline College has been one of the great joys of my life. I love our students, I hold to our mission statement, and I believe in what we can do as a community. But that community can only survive if something is done about our entitled, bloated administration and the systemic problems they have caused. Honest reparations must be made. 

Now of all times, we must stand behind our mission statement rather than pander to a few petty men (and women) who don’t deserve the titles they represent.