100 signatures reached
To: Howard Community College faculty, staff, students, the Howard County community, and beyond
Support HoCo 1-25 with Original Amendments!
We, the undersigned employees, students, and community members at Howard Community College are writing to support the testimony of our HCC allies given to the Howard County Delegation on Wednesday, February 5th, 2025. We affirm that their testimony regarding the working conditions at HCC accurately reflects our experiences and difficulties over the last three years. We strongly support HoCo 1-25 with its amendments and thank our faculty colleagues in representing all of us in their advocacy for this bill. We stand with them in urging you to pass this important legislation.
The incidents that occurred on February 5th – both the explicit and intentional removal of union signage from faculty offices and the outlandish attempt to slander our fellow colleagues to the Howard County Delegation – are clear evidence of the necessity of this bill (HoCo 1-25/SB 813) with all of its original amendments.
Why is this important?
Howard Community College has long been one of the central institutions in Howard County, but recent reorganizations have left the institution and its employees reeling. Senior Leadership at the college has completely changed the structure of the college, cut student services, imposed dramatic changes to classroom education, and has worked to stifle protected union activity on campus. In response, Howard County Senators have proposed a bill to expand the Board of Trustees from seven to nine, institute mandatory trainings for board members, require public comment periods at board meetings, require that all board meetings must be recorded and uploaded to the internet, and require that the board adopt an anonymous, nationally recognized third-party survey for all employees of the college to fill our annually, with an unedited report being given to the board discussing the results. Eleven brave faculty members testified in support of this bill on Wednesday, February 5th, discussing their experiences at the college and how these changes could help rebuild the beloved institution. In response to their testimonials, Senior Leadership attempted to slander and belittle their own faculty that testified in favor of the bill, accusing them of disrupting the academic environment by exercising their rights to testify in favor of a bill. Please sign this petition indicating your support for HoCo 1-25, indicating your support for the brave faculty who testified in favor of the bill, and expressing your frustration with Senior Leadership's poor attempt to attack their own workers.