Photo of Northwest Arkansas Community College (NWACC)
KNWA News Coverage Wrote:
Dozens of state lawmakers received an e-mail filled with accusations regarding greed and corruption at Northwest Arkansas Community College, prompting school administrators to respond.
"We did receive an email with some very unsettling accusations included in that email," Wyley Elliot, NWACC's vice president for Public Relations and Development. "We are in the process of turning that over to our lawyers and beyond that we don't have any other comment."
The email, sent by Matthew Holland, is addressed to the president of Northwest Arkansas Community College, but it was also sent to state and local lawmakers, the media and other faculty members at the school.
The letter claims the school bureaucracy is bullying and even "robbing" students.
Matthew Holland, who wrote the letter says he did so after meeting a woman he believes was expelled unfairly. Holland says he meant for the letter to be anonymous, but he left his email address at the top.
College administrators are concerned by the closing paragraph of the email, which reads:
"It is my opinion that you have several problematic employees on your roster that need to be dealt with. I also think you need to take a hard look at the direction your administration is heading. I sincerely hope you will take these matters to heart. Big things are on the horizon."Holland says he has no intention of doing anything violent, and the last paragraph is about society changing as a whole.
Whatever happened to this story? I saw it on the news and thought - finally someone is standing up to NWACC. But, somehow this story went no where. Must be the good-ol-boy connections.
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DeleteKNWA, you have all the facts. What are you waiting for?
ReplyDeleteOMG! NWACC tampered with my grades too. They make you think you're the only person being bullied, but now I see that there are so many more who have had same experience as me. That's terrible!
ReplyDeleteI hate NWACC.
ReplyDeleteKNWA - where are you? Thought you people do follow ups. I'm very disappointed in you!
ReplyDeleteAnd, KNWA? Where did you go? Is everyone really that afraid of NWACC?
ReplyDeleteAccording to an informant, NWACC officials have placed the school on (quote) "lockdown". Apparently the administration has instructed NWACC's IT department to locate all persons who received, either directly or indirectly, the citizen complaint sent to NWACC. It is my understanding that these individuals are to trace all e-mail chains in order to establish who has received the complaint and to whom they have forwarded the complaint. This reminds me a lot of China's state-sponsored media program. I would strongly suggest that teachers and students both restrict all communications to private e-mail accounts. I do not know what NWACC's policy is in regard to information sharing. This is the first time I've ever heard of a college doing something like this. According to the reporter I spoke with, NWACC receives letters like this "all the time". I'm curious why they would make such a big deal out of the situation.
ReplyDeleteObviously citizens have the right to communicate with publicly-funded institutions, teachers have the right to communicate with students, and student have the right to communicate with teachers. Both the United States Constitution and the Arkansas Constitution protect the right to express grievances. I will likely be filing a complaint with a number of state and federal agencies in regard to this matter. You may wish to communicate this situation to any colleagues. If NWACC opts to punish its teachers and students simply for discussing matters of public concern, I think there will likely be serious repercussions. I already know of three individuals looking to sue NWACC. That number could increase exponentially if the school attempts to retaliate against teachers and staff simply for exercising their basic rights. Perhaps NWACC's IT maneuvering could be tracked to see if any privacy laws have been broken or if any personal account have been hacked.