Tarrant County College board votes to fire chancellor amid investigation of lawsuit claims
Eugene Giovannini will no longer serve as chancellor of Tarrant County College after the board of trustees voted Thursday night to begin the process of terminating his contract.
“Today the attending Board of Trustees unanimously decided to commence the formal process of terminating Chancellor Eugene Giovannini’s contract for good cause,” Board President Teresa Ayala said after the vote, according to video of the meeting. “We believe this action is in the college’s best long-term interests and that it is both appropriate and necessary in light of the information recently made available to the board through the independent third-party investigation.”
The board voted 6-0 with one member absent at the special meeting.
Giovannini, who was hired as chancellor in 2016, has 30 days to request a hearing to contest the decision. He could not be reached for comment.
The board placed the chancellor on leave in February pending an investigation after a former employee of the college said in a lawsuit that Giovannini harassed, abused and retaliated against her after she spoke to a female subordinate, who she claims was Giovannini’s girlfriend, about corrective action regarding her behavior.
Kristen Bennett, who served as the fundraising executive in charge of the nonprofit TCC Foundation, alleged in the lawsuit filed Feb. 7 that she was improperly disciplined by the chancellor when she began to intervene in conflicts with the subordinate who had a personal relationship with Giovannini.
The woman who Bennett says was the chancellor’s girlfriend was not named in the lawsuit.
The allegations in the lawsuit sparked an investigation into Giovannini by an independent firm hired by the college.
At their March 24 meeting, the college trustees will consider agreeing to pay Dallas law firm Locke Lord up to $200,000 for its work in conducting the independent investigation, according to a Tarrant County College District memo. The college has already incurred more than $50,000 for the firm’s legal fees from December and January, the memo states.
The lawsuit, which names Tarrant County College District as the defendant, alleges breach of contract and that the college violated Bennett’s First Amendment rights, Title VII, Title IX and the Texas Equal Rights Amendment.
Bennett says she was fired on Jan. 31, according to the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas. She is seeking reinstatement to her position and monetary damages.
“The Tarrant County College District does not normally comment on pending litigation or personnel matters. However, due to the serious nature of the allegations made in the recently filed lawsuit, TCCD believes that it is important to convey that it immediately hired an independent third party to investigate the allegations when they were first brought to TCCD’s attention,” according to a statement released last month by Ayala. ”That investigation is ongoing, and TCCD is committed to determining the truth in a manner that is fair to all parties involved.”
During the investigation, Giovannini was placed on administrative leave on Feb. 17 and the college announced Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Elva Concha LeBlanc would serve as acting chancellor.
“As this (termination) process gets underway, we are confident that the operations of the college are in good hands under the strong, capable leadership of Acting Chancellor Dr. Elva LeBlanc,” Ayala said at Thursday’s meeting. “I want to be completely clear that nothing will distract her or our faculty, staff and students from the outstanding work they are currently doing in their work together each day.
“We pledge to remain keenly focused on further nurturing and advancing the college’s vital mission and values for the benefit of all our community stakeholders.”
LeBlanc has served as the executive vice chancellor and provost, responsible for the planning, development and administration of the college’s academic affairs, since 2017, a news release said.
“I know from my personal experience that Dr. LeBlanc is known and respected in the community, and she has a lot of credibility with the members of this board,” Board Vice President Kenneth Barr said at the February meeting in which she was appointed acting chancellor. “She will do a fine job as acting chancellor.”
Motion to dismiss the lawsuit
The college argued in a motion filed Thursday to dismiss Bennett’s lawsuit that the suit is not valid because she was an at-will employee, she resigned from her position on her own and her attempt to withdraw her resignation “was futile.”
Bennett was informed in August that her contract would not be renewed while she was under a performance improvement plan and she was at that point an at-will employee, according to the college’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Bennett handed in her resignation in November with an effective date of Jan. 31, according to the letter the college submitted as evidence in the motion, but she later asked to withdraw her resignation.
The college further claims that Bennett was not terminated, but that her contract just wasn’t renewed, according to the motion to dismiss the suit.
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 8:51 PM.