Last month, Gale Gibson, president of Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey, was suspended with pay. Now the college’s board of trustees has fired Dr. Gibson. After the suspension, the board had stated that Dr. Gibson had blocked faculty and staff members from lodging complaints with the board of trustees. The board stated that it had invited Dr. Gibson to a meeting to discuss her employment situation, but she chose not to do so. The board declined to release any other information regarding its decision to fire President Gibson.
After Dr. Gibson was fired, her attorney released a statement saying the firing was politically motivated.
Before being named president of Essex County College in 2013, Dr. Gibson was the senior vice president of academic affairs at the college. Previously, she was the founding dean of the College of Freshman Studies and professor in the department of student affairs and services at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, part of the City University of New York system.
Dr. Gibson hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Binghamton University, a campus of the State University of New York system. She earned an educational doctorate at North Carolina State University.
Essex County College enrolls about 11,500 students. Women make up 59 percent of the student body.