By Anonymous
On Monday, October 3, Vice President of Student Affairs Kerri Jarzabski was announced to be “no longer with” the University. Jarzabski held this role for one year, immediately following the dismissal of former Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students, Dr. Jeanne Hart-Steffes. Dean Hart-Steffes’ last day at the University was October 2, 2020.
“As president, I understand that a change of this nature in the middle of a semester may evoke different emotions among students, but I want to assure you that you have a dedicated team of faculty and staff who remain committed to supporting you in getting the most out of your WNE experience,” read President Johnson’s email, which was sent out to students at 3:00 p.m. that Monday afternoon. “There will be no disruption in the services delivered to students as a result of this change.”
Not only did Jarzabski receive her Bachelor’s Degree from our University, but she had been employed here for 18 years. Before she took on her new role last October, she was the Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management and Retention, and Dean of First Year Students.
In the email from President Johnson that announced Dean Hart-Steffes’ absence on October 6, 2020, he stated: “In her seventeen-year career at Western New England, Kerri has brought positive energy, passion, and creativity to all she does. She is exceptionally motivated and committed to our community, and I know how deeply she cares about supporting your personal and professional goals. I am confident that she has the vision and work ethic to help lead the Division of Student Affairs into its next century. She has my full support in this new role.”
In his recent email on October 3, 2021, announcing Jarzabski’s unemployment, he stated: “I ask that you join me in thanking Kerri for her long and dedicated service to Western New England University.” That’s all there was to say about everything she had done for the University for 18 years.
President Johnson held many Q&A sessions with student leaders on the week of October 3 to discuss Jarzabski’s dismissal. Students were, and still are, confused, shocked, upset, and speechless at the reality of the incident.
The Westerner used our social media platform to interact with members of the University community on how they felt about it. Here were the responses.
“From a parent perspective: Disheartening.”
“The students craved consistency in a college atmosphere post Covid. Kerri Jarzabski was there for these students since their day one.”
“The administration needs to be more transparent and less selective on who’s privy to their info.”
“Honestly this whole thing just seems super shady.”
“She definitely deserved more than two lines in an email that was literally copied and pasted from Dean Hart-Steffes’ removal.”
“Overall, the thing I’m most concerned about with VPJ leaving is, as she went to WNE and then came back here to work, now that she’s gone, what does that say about a WNE education? How much is our degree actually worth if we’re letting people go that have the education that we do?”
“The President stresses unity, community, and family within our campus. If that were true, if those ideals of respect and appreciation of our community were true, one of our own wouldn’t be treated like this. How can we trust that the best interests of the University community are a priority when administration goes behind the back of one of their own and brings her time to an end without notice?”
“This was not ‘the golden bear way.’”
Students have been told that their concerns are being heard and discussed. They were able to ask questions freely at the information sessions, and many students voiced legitimate concerns that some members of the administration were not expecting.
On March 28, 2021, The Westerner published an anonymous article written by a student who voiced their concerns on the way the University was heading. It said:
“In the past year, it has become apparent that it is not the students that our administration is worried about.”
“Community figures preach that we are a family — that WNE is a campus everyone should feel welcome on but continue to neglect the people they claim to care for… It seems like this administration is more concerned with bringing in more money and more students to campus, but somehow the thoughts, feelings, and knowledge of current students are still dismissed.”
“There have been moments where students ask to be spoken to with ‘transparency’ but that word has lost all meaning. Each question a student has is met with a half-baked answer. Feelings are being attacked and threatened in the name of ‘doing the right thing,’ but the WNE administration continues to contradict itself time and time again.”
“As an active member on campus, I am told that I have a voice, yet this administration has silenced every single member of our community. In the town halls that students had to essentially beg for, questions were ignored and skipped over. When the administration did answer a question, it was vague and confusing.”
And it seems like a lot of these same feelings are still present now, seven months later, but in a different way.
In addition, on Monday, March 29, 2021, students gathered to peacefully demonstrate their dissatisfaction with administration’s decisions in regards to graduation and COVID-19 protocols with a protest.
A Westerner article published on April 6, 2021 stated that, “Most, if not all, the seniors who attended the protest were there to push for their voices to not only be listened to but to be heard. In fact, that’s why we were all there.” Even though this protest was about COVID-19 and graduation, two issues that are not in conversation right now, the premise was the same: students felt like they were being left in the dark or not given explanations for decisions that directly impacted them. We’re fighting the same fight.
Overall, students are feeling a lot of different feelings in the middle of their fall semester. Students should be focusing on midterm exams, but instead their minds are preoccupied with the dismissal of someone in administration that they trusted, and they’re not even being provided with a reason for it.
Time and time again, students feel unheard and invalidated by an institution that prides themself in student advocacy and open communication. And that’s not an opinionated statement: it is a widespread fact.
