To the Bethune-Cookman University Students & Alumni:

I have worked for Bethune-Cookman University for seven years. As a mother of two beautiful children, I would like to say that I consider myself a passive individual at the workplace. For the most part, I do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. I do not get involved in matters that don’t pertain to me nor do I enjoy listening to the gossip that is spread on a daily basis on the campus. Sorry to say, I have reached a point of enlightenment because of some recent information I received. In most cases, I simply turn my head, but I don’t believe I can sleep at night with these new developments. The University is basically being run like a plantation. You have your house Negroes backstabbing the field Negroes, all for the sake of rewards. The rewards in the case of our University are positions within President Reed’s administration.

It was brought to my attention that the Deans of the School of Social Sciences and the School of Science, Engineering, and Math, along with a few others were recruited by President Reed to dismantle the School of Social Sciences. I have worked with some of these colleagues for many years and it just brings a terrible taste in my mouth to hear about the unscrupulous acts of the President and her cronies. Dr. Reed has formed her own personal team of flunkies to destroy the careers of those she believes is conspiring against her. I felt compelled to take this course of action, because I played a role in this without knowing what the President was planning. Dr. McCoy, Interim Dean of the School of Social Sciences, has offered me a Department Head position if I was willing to go on file and say that Dr. Russell Mootry, former Dean of the School of Social Sciences, and some of the other males in the School were misogynists. I told her that I didn’t experience anything directly, but it has been brought to my attention on several occasions. She told me I had said enough. I feel a great deal of remorse because I know that the charges made against these faculty members were false. From my understanding, all the women within the School of Social Sciences had a role to play in the President’s grand scheme. I was saddened to see Dr. McCoy smile once she told the School of President Reed’s decision to terminate these faculty members. First it was Dr. Mootry and now they have targeted the individuals who were close to him. I am willing to testify on behalf of these faculty members’ of the nature in which information was gathered to tarnish the careers of these faculty members.

The President, out of paranoia, felt the urge to fire these faculty members because they possess information that could expose her administration. They have confronted her on several occasions about the misdeeds of certain administrators (e.g. misappropriation of funds, theft on campus, the procurement process, sexual indiscretions, ghost workers). She believes that these faculty members will eventually use the information they have accumulated over the years against her. Keep in mind, these are faculty members who have worked very closely to the President and have assisted her with many projects and other efforts on the campus. They have supported her administration from the time she landed on the campus. The events of last week were unforeseen.

First of all, the President is in direct violation of the faculty handbook. No student (or person) has filed a written complaint against these faculty members. The President has initiated and conducted ad hoc interrogations in her office without cause or provocation. This is a clear violation of protocol. She coerced several students to go on file and provide information against these faculty members. Unfortunately, some of the students felt compelled to do so if they wished to remain at the institution. She provided students with money and promised other students funds for graduate school. Drs. Powell, Smith, Howse, McCoy, and a female investigator were present during these meetings. Also, she has recruited Rev. Dawson to conduct ad hoc interrogations throughout the campus. Rev. Dawson has agreed to conduct the investigations for political reasons to obtain a future position within her administration. Also, he was promised a big donation from the University to his church.

According to the faculty handbook, an investigation should go as following:

The person to whom any complaint of sexual harassment is reported should immediately report receipt of the complaint to the Office of Human Resources Management. The University will promptly establish a Committee to investigate any complaint of sexual harassment. Such Committee shall be selected by, and chaired by, the University Equal Employment Opportunity Officer. The Committee shall consist of not less than five members having no independent knowledge of, or evidence regarding, the complaint. The complainant may be required to prepare and sign a written statement describing the harassment for submission to the Committee, and other persons with knowledge of the complaint may be asked to furnish oral or written statements to the Committee as well. The Committee, in its discretion, may also employ the services of an independent investigator or consultant to assist with its investigation.

Every effort will be made by the Committee to conduct the investigation privately. The Committee, in its sole discretion, may exclude any third party (including without limitation, any representatives, agents, legal counsel, family members, or character witnesses) from Committee interviews, meetings, and the like, as it deems appropriate, and in order to maintain confidentiality where appropriate. Although the University will maintain confidentiality to the greatest extent possible, the University reserves the right to conduct such investigations as it deems appropriate, and to provide all affected parties an opportunity to respond to the complaint. Accordingly, the University cannot assure complete confidentiality.

The Committee shall thoroughly investigate the complaint, and shall issue a written report, including any recommended actions or sanctions, to the Office of the President. The Office of the President shall make a final decision as to any actions or sanctions to be taken in response to the complaint (B-CU Faculty Handbook, 21st Ed., Revised March 2009: pgs. 53-54).

In this situation, the President has already convicted these faculty members without offering due process and without acknowledgment of campus protocol. Complaints were never filed by students or faculty members. These are malicious acts on the behalf of the President to instill fear in the minds of faculty members who are still employed at the University. Altogether, students have not provided any tangible evidence that would suggest these faculty members had any type of improper contact with the students. President Reed is basing her decisions solely on hearsay, anecdotes, and baseless rumors. From my point of view, this is her own personal campaign to smear the names of those who stood up against her at some point in time and refused to show restraint when the President was in the wrong.

This comes to me as a surprise since I have been made aware of complaints filed against members of her administration and other faculty members. These individuals have yet to be investigated, or even to say the least, reprimanded. If she is going to conduct any investigations, it should begin within her own circle. To give you a few examples:

Dr. Hiram Powell (Assistant Provost) – for many years, there has been allegations of him sleeping with both males and females in the band and music departments. Two years ago, a survey was distributed throughout the campus and his name was included on many of the surveys as being notorious for sexual harassment and other sexual indiscretions. He continues to use his power to coerce students to sleep with him. He has also changed grades as a favor for sexual intercourse. An investigation was never conducted.

Dr. Mark Howse (VP for Assessment) – from close experience working with him, I can conclude that this man is a pervert. The things that I have heard from female students about him are beyond unprofessional and are unbecoming as a husband and father. He has slept with his work-study students, deposited monies into several bank accounts of students for sex, and has invited students on trips with him. In sum, he has turned some of the female students into prostitutes. He does all this uncaringly as his wife works for the University.

Dr. James Brooks (Dean, School of Arts & Humanities) – as a man of the cloth, some would find it hard to believe how corrupted this man is. The President of the University, in all actuality, enables this man. He has three sexual harassment complaints against him by female faculty members. He has already terminated one of them, relocated another to the School of Social Sciences, and has threatened the third one to leave if she is unhappy. Last week, the President terminated one of the female faculty members who filed the sexual harassment complaint against Dr. Brooks. Dr. Reed retaliated against this faculty member because she refuses to take the appropriate steps to fire Dr. Brooks. As of this date, no investigation was ever initiated.

Dr. Dorcas McCoy (Dean, School of Social Sciences) – this is another one who hides behind the pulpit. She has schemed her way to the top and has been rewarded for her allegiance to the President. She is power hungry individual who has backstabbed every single faculty member in the School of Social Sciences. She is only concerned about herself. When she was faculty association president, it was clear to everyone that she was being used by the President. She never addressed faculty interests or needs. During her tenure, she accomplished nothing, with the exception of providing administration access to the faculty association and the ability to infiltrate our meetings for the purpose of instilling fear and controlling the body. Many female students complain about how she stares at them in a sexual way. Also, they feel that she creates an intimidating educational environment by how she behaves around the students and the types of offers she makes to the female students. She has offered many students rides to their homes or hers, and has even offered to take them out of town. Sadly, she jokes about it with me. I never found it funny.

Dr. Janice Allen-Kelsey (Dept. Head, Sociology) – several students have reported throughout the years that she uses her classes to recruit the female students for sexual purposes. She hides behind this cloak of fulfilling motherly obligations to the students but in turn wants sexual favors for what she does for them. This includes taking them out to eat to restaurants, giving them money, and having sleepovers at her residence. She is locked in her office with the students as late as 11 pm on some school days. Out of jealousy, she has planted the idea in the heads of many students and other faculty members that the men within the School of Social Sciences are perverts. She has even gone as far as to use two female students to entrap one of the new male professors within her department. Students wrote letters to the administration, but there was never an investigation. The faculty member, in question, was a visiting professor. The administration decided to ignore the complaint in hopes that it will simply fade away once the visiting professor’s contract ends.

These individuals are within Dr. Reed’s close circle; therefore, they are protected. Instead, Dr. Reed has decided to retaliate against those faculty members who have brought these matters to her attention. She suggests that we have a caring community, but rather what she promotes is a hostile working environment that operates off of fear, witch hunts, smoke screens, etc. Her oppressive leadership has caused many to suffer. If anyone is assertive enough to disagree with the President, they have essentially committed career suicide. Her own administration is afraid of her. She makes decisions without sound judgment. Without a doubt in my mind, she suffers from some bipolar disorder or anxiety. She is obviously a paranoid delusional accusing many faculty members throughout the campus of conspiring against her. Some of these faculty members include, naming a few, McKenzie, Oli, Fennelly, Been, and Negron. In all previous incidents, there was never any tangible proof that her allegations were true. In terms of these faculty members who have recently been terminated, the same applies.

Dr. Reed’s time at Bethune-Cookman University has been nothing but turmoil. I know as I say this I am speaking on the behalf of many members of the college community. I have seen too many good people get pushed into submission and/or terminated from employment. She has even criminalized these faculty members by placing blow-up pictures of them in the Security Office. These faculty members are not criminals and are being treated as such. Dr. Reed has played her hand and waged war against those who criticize her leadership. For all I know, I could be next.

In light of these events, I felt it was necessary to expose Reed’s actions. Aside from the School of Social Sciences, she has fired other employees without cause and seems to have no problem settling lawsuits out of court. The organized chaos at the University is by design to create more red tape and deter faculty members from challenging her. She has also removed faculty representatives from the Board of Trustees meetings and other Committees to prevent the Board from finding out about Dr. Reed’s recklessness on campus. She uses fear to subdue her opponents and does not adhere to the rules/policies approved by her administration and the Board. She also has a record of violating protocol on our campus as well as at Philander Smith College. Her record of abusive treatment is outstanding. For those of you who read the President’s memorandums throughout the academic year, she used the exact same language as in the case of Philander Smith. The evidence is available online at this AAUP link.

The next course of action is to develop a website devoted to this cause. Links will be sent to the entire college community to inform those unaware of Dr. Reed’s piss poor management of the University. We plan to contact the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools, American Association of University Professors, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The University Senate of the United Methodist Church, US & FL Departments of Education, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, various media outlets, and any other options available to save the University.

Dr. Reed is putting the University at stake. She is a lunatic who has no rational bone in her body. She is a mean-spirited woman who should not be running an institution of higher education, or to say the least, even work in a management capacity. As the National Alumni Association, it is your responsibility to relay information to donors and alumni of B-CU to alert them of any and all decisions that adversely affect the University. You need to know that Dr. Reed is a hooligan who has no regard for rules and the law. She has humiliated employees who have served the institution for decades. She does not honor rules of confidentiality, employment/labor regulations, rules on tenure, and most importantly, equal opportunity regulations. When it all comes down to it, this woman is not very bright. She is creating more problems for the University the closer we approach our SACS visit. Failure to terminate Dr. Reed will result in the University’s loss of accreditation, loss of donors, alumni fallout, lawsuits, etc., which will eventually lead to the closure of the University.

I have written a very similar letter to the Board of Trustees but it seems that they are in cahoots with the President to destroy the University. They have yet to call a meeting regarding this matter and refuse to be accountable and responsible as the overseeing committee. Therefore, your lack of protest will appear very disconcerting and will reveal that, in addition to the Board, the National Alumni Association does not have the best interests of the University at heart.

The need to terminate Dr. Reed is immediate. I expect to hear from you soon in the form of action – the removal of Trudie K. Reed as President of Bethune-Cookman University.

Thank you in advance,

Pissed at Trudie (Cookman Rebel)

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it” (MLK).