This two-year school near UD‘s house has long prepared not-quite-ready ‘thesdanians for transfer to a university, or given them an Associate’s degree (UD‘s older sister got a mental health-related degree from MC).
Its new president looks to be a Benjamin Ladner clone (background on the ex-president of American University here):
A $4,051 hotel bill in Delhi. A $780 tab for limousine service in Boston. And a growing tally of missed meetings and unexplained absences at home. Critics of Brian Keith Johnson — and they are many — say the Montgomery College president has spent the past two years running up outsize expenses while neglecting important job responsibilities.
… The report alleges that Johnson’s “frequent and noted absences at essential meetings and functions have diminished the visibility and jeopardized the reputation of Montgomery College.” The president leaves his office for days at a time without explanation, the report says, and has not deputized anyone to sign documents in his stead, leaving college administrators “unable to carry out the daily and necessary activities and business of the institution.”
As the college has frozen long-distance travel and scaled back on refreshments served at faculty, staff and student events, Johnson has spent thousands on hired cars and fine dining and thousands more on hotels and airplane flights. Expense records obtained by faculty through a public records request and shared with The Washington Post show Johnson charged $58,165 on his corporate credit card between July 2007 and April, including several hundred dollars on floral arrangements and $302 in a single charge to a Borders bookstore. The reports do not contain details beyond what is listed on a credit card statement.
Faculty members allege that Johnson has directed administrators not to talk to college trustees and that information is “routinely censored.” Several employees say they believe that listening devices have been planted in offices and meeting rooms, according to the report.
A banner hung near campus late last week drew attention to another potential embarrassment: a bench warrant issued last year against Johnson by an Arizona court for $12,000 in unpaid child support to a former spouse. Johnson has since paid the sum.
… Johnson failed to attend at least a dozen meetings with state and county representatives, including such politically potent events as a March news conference for the county operating budget, according to the faculty report. He told trustees that he had met with Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) at a June 3 meeting of the Maryland Association of Community Colleges; in fact, neither he nor Mikulski had attended it, according to the report…
This Washington Post article makes it sound as though the president is on his way out. As opposed to the squalid Ladner story, in which a squalid board of trustees kept throwing MORE money at the man, and then, forced to let him go, gave him a massive golden parachute, Montgomery College will probably dismiss this guy pretty quickly.
September 3rd, 2009 at 7:49AM
Somewhere out here in the flyover, sadly enough, a board is waiting to be bowled over by this character. I’m detecting the distinct odor of one or more trophy girlfriends here, along with a whiff of a drinking problem. I must say, though, $302 spent at Borders in one shot–impressive, if it was spent on books. That is probably about $250 more than Pres. Backslapper has spent in the last 15 years on books. Johnson could put that on his resume to give himself some academic cred.
September 3rd, 2009 at 8:07AM
Funny, tp.
Must say, drinks or drugs occurred to me, too. If the fellow is foolish enough to kick against his upcoming fate, we’ll certainly find out.
November 22nd, 2010 at 10:55AM
[…] the brief tenure of Brian Johnson at Maryland’s Montgomery College? Faculty members allege that Johnson has directed administrators not to talk to college trustees […]