SCCC survey results expected soon

The results of an Institutional Health and Cultural Assessment of Sussex County Community College (SCCC) are expected to be made public this month.

The college’s board of trustees hired an outside group to do the study after SCCC employees complained of a hostile and unprofessional work environment earlier this year.

“The board plans on making its findings public at the upcoming regular board meeting in September which is scheduled for the fourth Tuesday of the month,” said board chairman Kurt Gewecke.

The board is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. Sept. 24 in the board room in the executive office of the Administration Building, One College Hill Road, Newton.

The study was conducted by David Hespe, a lawyer and researcher with Porzio Compliance Services.

“The study has two elements, and these are pretty common in the higher education world,” he said in April. “The first element is an organizational and climate survey of all employees, using the PACE Survey for Community Colleges from North Carolina State University. We are using it because it is specifically geared toward community colleges which will allow us to receive and compare peer information from Sussex County Community College employees with employees at other community colleges of equal size that serve similar types of communities.”

Hespe said the “fully anonymous, fully confidential, fully voluntary” online survey, managed by the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research at North Carolina State University, was to be emailed to all college employees, including members of the administration, by early May.

Recent attempts to reach Hespe for comment were unsuccessful.

SCCC president Jon Connolly, the focal point of the allegations, would not comment on the study other than to say the board of trustees plans to provide information about the survey results in September.