By Jacob Anderson-Kester
On April 21, The Evergreen State College hosted a virtual event where students were invited to ask questions of the three finalists of the ongoing presidential search. Michael Dumont, Catherine Kodat, and Lee Lambert spoke with a panel of students who asked questions about the candidates’ histories, their decision making skills, and their commitment to transparency in engaging with student voices.
Early last year, Evergreen’s Board of Trustees announced that they would begin searching for a new president, after Evergreen’s current president, George Bridges, stated that he would not be returning upon his contract’s completion in June 2021. Over the past year, Evergreen’s Board of Trustees and the Presidential Search Committee have been working with Karras Consulting in going through potential candidates and narrowing the field to three finalists. Karras Consulting has also been working with the City of Olympia in its Police Chief search. According to a media release by the City of Olympia, that search was recently paused due to a past use-of-force incident involving one of the final candidates that was unveiled by an internet search conducted by Olympian reporters. Dennis Karras of Karras Consulting said, “There are no excuses from us. . . This was clearly an oversight on our part.” As of April 29, the college has not released a formal statement on the matter.
The following is an overview of the three finalists, using materials provided by the college, answers from the student Q&A, and independent research:
Michael Dumont is a former U.S. Navy 3-star admiral who also has experience as a lawyer and in government administration. Notably, Dumont was vice director of Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon during the Trump administration. When Trump was agitating for war with North Korea on Twitter in 2017, Dumont’s statement on the details of an invasion of North Korea made the rounds in the media, including the Washington Post and BBC, and was cited by Congress members in a joint statement against Trump’s tweets. As well as detailing the bloody reality of such an invasion, Dumont’s statement advocated instead for the Pentagon’s position at the time, which reflected then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s policy of economic and diplomatic sanctions.
In the student Q&A, one student asked about his ability to listen to the input of different stakeholders in making institutional changes. In response, he cited his experience being a 1-star admiral when Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the military policy which prohibited discussion of sexual orientation, was repealed. He said that as a gay man, he found it important to advocate for training to change attitudes.
Dumont spoke favorably of the evaluation model, and stated that one would have to “make a compelling case” to convince him to switch to a more standard model of education.
Dumont does not oppose police presence on campus. He stated that it is important that the “right people are recruited” and that “the police are held accountable.”
Dumont has no experience working in higher education.
Catherine Kodat is the current provost and dean of the faculty at Lawrence University, a small liberal arts college in Appleton, Wisconsin. Kodat was previously the dean at Lewis & Clark College, a liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. She also has experience as a journalist, and as a scholar and professor in 20th century English literature. Kodat received a Ph.D. in English from Boston University.
Kodat’s time at Lawrence and Lewis & Clark oversaw considerable political turmoil. In 2015, Lewis & Clark faced a period of unrest after a series of racist remarks were posted on the now-defunct social media platform Yik Yak. This was exacerbated by an assault of a black student by three white males that occurred a few days after the postings. This culminated in a sit-in of an administration building on campus. Lewis & Clark’s student newspaper, The Pioneer Log, indicated that Kodat was present, spoke with the protestors, and pledged to hire diverse faculty and make the school’s curriculum more inclusive.
In 2017, student organizers at Lewis & Clark invited Jessica Vaughan to speak at their International Affairs Symposium, which has historically been an event where differing viewpoints are invited to engage with one another. Vaughan is the policy director at the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In an opinion piece submitted to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Kodat stood by the invitation, writing, “we need to respect both free speech and diversity.” Inviting Vaughan to speak was not without controversy. In an opinion piece submitted to the Huffington Post, Elliott Young, a professor of history at Lewis & Clark, argued that Vaughan and the Center for Immigration Studies’ history of spreading fake and misleading information meant that they “do not deserve to be legitimized by giving them a platform at a serious academic symposium.”
Kodat indicated during the student Q&A that Lawrence had been facing targeted attacks from alt-right groups and individuals, especially during the latest national election cycle. She offered this as an explanation for her stance on campus policing, as she felt that having a security force on campus offered some amount of protection from outside threats. This is strikingly similar to the statement George Bridges gave to the state legislature in 2017 in his request for assistance in training and funding for campus police, which has caused lively debate in Evergreen circles and within the pages of the Cooper Point Journal.
Lee Lambert is currently the chancellor at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona. Lambert was previously president at Shoreline Community College and assistant to the president for civil rights and legal affairs here at Evergreen. Lambert is an Evergreen grad, and went on to Seattle University to get his juris doctor.
Lambert’s accomplishments at Pima Community College include the expansion, reworking, and generation of various programs in the STEM sector, including their automotive program and a cyberwarfare range. Lambert claimed that since he assumed his leadership role in 2013, enrollment at Pima has increased from a then-500 to a current 1600 students.
Before Lambert assumed his role, Pima was placed on accreditation probation by the Higher Learning Commission. The report by the HLC cited problems that largely centered around Lambert’s predecessor, Roy Flores, and the Board of Directors, including eight sexual harassment allegations towards Flores that were not given an “appropriate investigation.” Other accusations arose, including from the Veteran’s Administration, who in a review of 50 of Pima’s veteran files found 27 discrepancies, such as bills to the VA for students who were no longer enrolled.
Pima has since been released from the probation, but evidence from local news sources indicate that the process has left several parties involved unhappy. In efforts to rectify the issues with the school’s VA records, Lambert hired Daniel L. Kester in 2014. Two years later, Kester resigned, and his resignation letter obtained by the Arizona Daily Star cited internal disrespect and a “clear lack of institutional will to support veteran students.” The college disputes Kester’s basis.
Leticia Menchaca, a former administrator at Pima, filed a lawsuit against Lambert and the district in 2015, alleging a due process violation and a breach of contract in their firing of Menchaca. Menchaca claimed that she was let go due to her protesting of discrimination. The case was settled out of court. David A. Katz, former faculty at Pima, filed a suit against Lambert and the college, also alleging violations of due process in his firing. In 2016, Judge Cindy K. Jorgenson found that Lambert could be held personally liable for Fourteenth Amendment breaches; the case was settled out of court. Imelda Cuyugan, administrator at Pima and one of the eight who accused Flores of sexual harassment, filed a suit under a due process violation, and in 2017 Judge Raner C. Collins found that Lambert had wrongly deprived Cuyugan of an annual contract.
