Local

CFCC students barred from Trustees meeting room, call Morton’s statements on marine tech program inadequate

WHQR | By Rachel Keith,

Published July 19, 2024 at 5:42 PM EDT

All students were pushed to the overflow room by CFCC staff.

Over a dozen students and alumni came to the board room to hear what CFCC President Jim Morton and the trustees had to say about the recent reorganization of the marine tech program. That included effectively removing chair Jason Rogers after almost twenty years of leading the program.

A 'reorganization' of Cape Fear Community College's beloved and federally-recognized marine technology program has current and former students deeply troubled.

Earlier this month, students held a walkout asking for more transparency from the administration and trustees surrounding the removal of Jason Rogers as the chair of the program. While Rogers is still employed at the college, students told WHQR they couldn't understand why the person who had served as a leader, mentor, and teacher had been pushed out of his role guiding the marine tech program.

About 15 students came to Thursday's CFCC Board of Trustees meeting but were not allowed in. Initially, they were told this was because of capacity requirements. Dave Reid, the safety and security coordinator for the President’s Office, later acknowledged there was a directive not to allow them in. Reporters were also initially barred from entering the room but later were allowed in.

Students' questions, confusion, and frustration

Jacob Vendegna, the husband of a student in the marine technology program, tried to attend the meeting. Vendegna and his wife moved to Wilmington so she could participate in the program. They share worries about marine tech’s future.

“She loves the program. It's been life-changing for her,” Vendegna said. “I think she just wants to know that the last year of her life hasn't been a waste and that the next year won't be with whatever changes they're making.”

Vendegna tried to enter the boardroom but was stopped by security in an incident recorded by WHQR. He was told that if he entered the board room, CFCC would have him trespassed from the property, so he joined his wife and about 15 of her classmates downstairs in an 'overflow' room where they were allowed to watch a remote broadcast of the meeting.

Vendegna recounted the interaction, saying, “I was immediately greeted by a security guy. He had said they weren't admitting students, is what he had said. And I was like, ‘Oh, cool. I'm not a student.’ I saw some open seats in the room, so I proceeded towards it. He kind of cut me off and then asked me to identify myself.”

Marine Tech Club president and student Andrew Elliot was also asked to identify himself right as he walked off the elevator to the 5th floor. Like the others, he was turned away.

Morton calls WHQR’s reporting “misinformation,” presents on program’s future

When Morton spoke about the program, he focused on the changes from the college's current research vessel, the 42-year-old Cape Hatteras, to the proposal for a new one. Morton touted that he secured $7 million from the legislature to build the vessel.

Morton immediately mentioned a WHQR article published on Wednesday about the program's future.

“We've tried to work with them for years. We send in information back to them, which is incorrectly printed, and I would call it misinformation, but it's not misinformation; it’s disinformation,” he said.

Morton and CFCC have not responded to most of WHQR's requests for comment on the program reorganization. Nor has the college requested any corrections on the article published earlier this week. Morton has not accepted WHQR interview requests in the last three years. (*See the requests for comment at the bottom of this report.)

He said that WHQR reported that CFCC marine technology’s academic cruises on the new ship could no longer last 25 days. The story stated that the ship's capacity would only allow it to be at sea for five days instead of the Hatteras’s 25 days.

According to marine tech alum Jess Hufman, Rogers has been left out of the negotiations and planning for the new ship since November 2023. The bid for the ship, initially referencing a need for a boat for the Pacific Ocean, was finalized in June, right before his removal as chair. Morton claimed Rogers was consulted during the meeting.

Everyone—from Morton to trustees to students—agrees that the Hatteras needs to be replaced, but details on the new ship’s crew capacity, cruise schedule, and ship range has yet to be completely ironed out.

“The course curriculum says what's really required is basically 48 hours on a ship,” Morton said. "That's two days, and we're doing five-day trips.”

Research and training cruises were previously five- to seven-day trips, and some students shared worries about the 48-hour overnight trips that Morton mentioned and whether this ship would fit the program’s needs.

“There's no way everybody would get a chance to run all the equipment,” Micah Barton, a marine technology student at CFCC, said. “We individually get to run equipment on the Hatteras because we have seven days.”

Morton also brought back marine tech issues in the past—when the former ship’s captain and a crew member resigned over policy changes to compensatory leave time, and the students organized against those.

“So just like a couple of years ago, a lot of noise was made about the marine tech program, and all we did is change the term from ‘comp time’ to ‘sea time’ based on advice and counsel so we can be legally compliant. And you heard all that noise. There's nothing behind it. There's [sic] no changes,” he said.

But the ship from comp time to sea time represented a policy change on how comp time worked, and students couldn’t go on a fall cruise because of crew resignations that resulted.

Morton said at the meeting the leave time change was based on advice and counsel; previously the college had declined to explain what legal and/or guidance rules had changed to precipitate the move.

Marine tech students respond to Morton’s comments about their program

According to the meeting agenda's personnel report, Rogers is slated to teach biology, a course outside of the marine tech department. He used to teach three courses in marine tech — the research cruise, invertebrate zoology, and GIS mapping. Students say Rogers’ invertebrate zoology classes were on par with UNCW lectures and described his connections in the field as invaluable.

CFCC has posted a position for marine tech director — a position with most of the same responsibilities as Rogers' former position — but with about a month until classes start again, some worry about this transition and if the college will find leadership with adequate expertise.

Hufman also expressed concerns about other marine technology instructors having to flex their schedules to fill in the gaps of his presence.

“Two weeks for them to be able to train new chairs is not enough to learn about an entire department,” Hufman said.

Elliott and his classmates wish the college would be more transparent. They have tried to contact Morton, Provost Shawn Dixon, and the trustees and have received “absolutely no update."

“Rogers has 19 years as chair of institutional memory on running a complex program with all of the moving parts, of running a full fleet of vessels, of advising students, of preparing students through his classwork that you cannot just simply plug and play someone in there,” Elliott said.

He also expressed disappointment and wariness about communication regarding the new ship because of the niche needs of marine tech professionals and the non-traditional nature of the program.

“We are training scientific support; we are not training scientists,” Elliott said. “We are taking people out there so that they are learning how to live on a ship for long periods of time and provide the support scientists need.”

Morton said during the meeting that if the Cape Hatteras breaks down before the department receives a new ship, they can use the Martech —a ship that only runs in the river— as a seafaring vessel. The students and alums in the overflow laughed when he said this.

CFCC students reacting to Morton's speech.

Marine tech student Mimi Johnston said Morton hasn’t learned enough about the differences between these vessels.

“So the people who are in charge don't care to look and see the differences between the Hatteras and the Martech. And calling it the backup is insulting to the people who work so hard to make those goals happen, to teach us those purposes,” she said.

Morton said that the new vessel has "plenty of room” for a crew.

Johnston said the ‘plenty of room’ comment wasn’t enough granularity for her.

“The students care about the faculty and the crew, and the crew and faculty care about the students. I don't want the crew who's worked so hard to help me through this program to lose their jobs because of a boat that he thinks is better,” she said.

Though Morton told the board that he supports the program and does not want to dismantle it, students are still wary.

“He (Morton) seems to treat marine technology as though it's two dimensional, as though it's just a thing on paper, without understanding that it is a community in and of itself,” Johnston said.

Marine tech student Jill, who asked that we not use her last name, added, “They're not changing how they approach this. Deflecting is not helping their case, and constantly making us fight for our program is not helping their case. So until they prove to us, the students, and the program staff otherwise, how can we trust them?"

It’s clear that marine technology students still want answers about the future of their faculty, ships, and program itself, and the question remains why Rogers was removed from his leadership role.

However, marine tech student Max Bos has a theory about Rogers.

“He knows what we need, and he's willing to do what he has to do [for] students, and they don't like that,” he said.

Trustee leadership changes

The board's leadership changed at Thursday's meeting. Lanny Wilson was named chair, and Zander Guy was named Vice Chair.

Trustees Jason McLeod and Louis Burney were appointed by the legislature to serve until 2028. Former trustee chair Robby Collins will also serve until 2028, by unanimous vote of New Hanover County commissioners, who appoint four seats to CFCC's board; because the college has a campus in Pender County, Pender County commissioners appoint one seat, as well.

The North Carolina General Assembly recently removed Governor Roy Cooper’s appointment power. Speaker Tim Moore’s office and Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger’s office collectively select eight trustees — local school boards no longer have appointment power.

Cooper appointee Deloris Rhodes rolled off the board during the meeting. Before leaving, she thanked the president, board, faculty, and staff and said, “I wish the students were here because they are the voices for the two years ahead.”

There was no conversation during meeting about barring students from attending. When WHQR asked Reid if at least one student representative could go in, he said, "No."

Excerpts of WHQR's correspondence with CFCC by Ben Schachtman on Scribd