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The governing board of Ohio's Eastern Gateway Community College has placed its president, Jimmie Bruce, and its vice president and chief of staff, Jim Miller, on administrative leave, according to the Herald-Star and other local outlets.
A statement from the board did not explain why the officials were placed on leave. The board said it was conducting an inquiry and that more information would be released after it meets next week.
Bruce, who has led the college since 2015, had faced scrutiny from state lawmakers over the rapid growth of Eastern Gateway's online programs. Most of the two-year college's roughly 20,000 students were enrolling online as of last year. And the bulk of those online students were from out of state, with the enrollment growth being driven by an online "free college" program Eastern Gateway created for members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a national trade union of public employees.
State lawmakers last year sought to change the law that governs performance funding in Ohio to restrict public colleges from receiving state subsidies based on students who do not live in the state. This action was taken, they said, because Eastern Gateway was drawing public money away from other colleges and using it to educate out-of-state students. Some officials with other community colleges in the state called the funding for out-of-state students a loophole in the law.
Bruce, however, said the program received a state subsidy through the formula of only $1 million in a recent year. But during three fiscal years, out-of-state students paid more than $23 million in tuition and fees to the college, he said. Last year revenue from the fast-growing program was projected to increase to $27 million.
It's unclear if the controversy had anything to do with the officials being placed on leave. In August Bruce faced a no-confidence vote by college faculty members.
