I have worked for Green River College as a full-time, tenured faculty member in the Early Childhood Education program for nearly 25 years. I am also a Green River alumnus.
I grew up in the Auburn valley where my family worked in the bean fields. I have been gainfully employed in Auburn since the age of 9. Having the opportunity to go to college and leave the back-breaking employment of field work was a dream I held all through my childhood. It became a reality when I was able to attend a college that was almost literally in my back yard.
Graduating from Green River enabled me to continue on for my bachelor’s degree and then a master’s degree from Seattle University. Doctoral studies followed.
My early struggles have made me very appreciative to be a faculty member at Green River, and I do not take it for granted. Much like many of my Green River colleagues, I have always worked hard with honesty, integrity and a commitment to excellence.
I considered it an honor when I was asked to serve on the hiring committee for a new college president in 2010, and I couldn’t have felt prouder of my college when we selected President Eileen Ely.
Like me, Dr. Ely worked hard and rose through the ranks of the “working class.” She had local ties to the community and, in the opinion of the hiring committee, she had all the “right stuff.”
As difficult as it was to replace a stellar president like Rich Rutkowski, I felt like we literally hit the jackpot with Dr. Ely. Unfortunately, I have never been more wrong.
Eileen Ely misrepresented herself. She is not the person that we interviewed. Her actions have nearly destroyed the morale on our campus. Fully supported by the Board of Trustees, she has taken away the pride that we once had in our wonderful college.
As Green River “celebrates” its 50-year anniversary, we do so in an atmosphere of discontent and fear.
Where we once exercised shared governance, Green River is now being “ruled” through a dictatorship, with absolute rule of one person along with a very small group of people who hold all power. We are regarded merely as “human capital” rather than human beings.
Green River is changing from an institute of higher learning to an institute of higher earning.
– Diana Mamerto Holz
