By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
There are moments when a community must refuse to be silent simply because the people making the decisions have the authority to make them.
This is one of those moments.
Any effort to terminate Broward College President Torey Alston should be stopped until the serious questions raised in his formal complaint have been independently investigated and answered.
This is not a declaration that Torey Alston is beyond criticism. No college president is. Nor is it an assertion that every allegation contained in his complaint has been proven.
Alston himself makes that distinction.
In his August 12 formal complaint, he specifically asks Broward College not to accept his conclusions as established facts, but instead to conduct an independent investigation into his allegations involving governance, interference with presidential responsibilities, his performance evaluation, institutional records, compensation, possible retaliation and reported communications that could raise questions under Florida’s Government in the Sunshine Law.
That investigation should come before, not after, any attempt to remove him.
Because the question before this community is becoming much larger than Torey Alston.
Haven’t We Seen This Movie Before?
Broward College’s last permanent president before this current era of transition was Gregory Adam Haile, another accomplished Black man.
Haile served as Broward College’s seventh president from 2018 until his abrupt resignation in September 2023. His departure stunned the community.
The circumstances were unusual enough that the Board initially refused to accept his resignation and held an emergency meeting in an attempt to convince him to remain. At the time, Broward College said trustees wanted to further explore the concerns that had led to his decision. (WLRN)
Haile’s resignation came amid changes on the Board of Trustees. In his resignation letter, Haile specifically noted that three trustees had been appointed within the previous six months and that the entire Board was relatively new. Reporting at the time also identified tensions between Haile and trustees, including disagreements involving his outside board service. (WLRN)
We should not rewrite history and claim that Gregory Haile and Torey Alston experienced identical circumstances. They did not.
But the similarities are troubling enough that they cannot simply be dismissed.
Two consecutive permanent presidents.
Two Black men.
Two highly accomplished leaders.
And now, within a few years of one another, two presidencies surrounded by serious questions about the relationship between the president and the governing Board.
At some point, the community has the right to ask:
Why?
Is Race a Factor?
That question may make some people uncomfortable, but discomfort cannot prevent us from asking it.
Would this atmosphere exist if these presidents were not Black men?
We do not have evidence that proves race is behind what happened to Gregory Haile or what is happening to Torey Alston.
We should not make that accusation without evidence.
But neither should anyone tell Broward County’s Black community that it is inappropriate even to examine the possibility.
Institutional bias does not always announce itself with racial slurs or openly discriminatory policies. Sometimes the question is whether the same authority, independence, benefit of the doubt and margin for disagreement are afforded equally to leaders of different backgrounds.
When two Black men rise to the presidency of a major public institution and both encounter unusual governance turmoil, asking whether race, conscious or unconscious, may be part of the institutional dynamic is not irresponsible.
Failing to ask the question would be irresponsible.
Look at the Record Before Reaching for the Door
There is another reason termination should not be rushed: Torey Alston’s performance deserves to be evaluated on measurable results.
The same man whose leadership is apparently being questioned today was unanimously selected by the Broward College Board in January 2025. He began serving in February 2025. Broward College’s current official biography still identifies him as its eighth permanent president and CEO. (Broward College)
According to the chronology accompanying his complaint, during his tenure Broward College secured millions of dollars for health sciences, nursing, artificial intelligence and other programs. He cites $7.7 million in PECO funding in 2025, another $4 million in PECO funding in 2026, $1.2 million in congressional project funding and a $908,000 job-growth grant.
The complaint also cites a Florida College System-validated 4.84 percent year-over-year increase in institutional FTE enrollment.
Those accomplishments do not make a president untouchable.
But they certainly demand an explanation if the Board is contemplating removing him.
What changed?
What measurable failure suddenly makes termination necessary?
What happened between the unanimous vote of confidence that brought Torey Alston to Broward College and the atmosphere surrounding his presidency today?
Those answers should be given publicly.
The Complaint Changes Everything
Alston’s complaint raises another fundamental issue.
A president who alleges retaliation and interference with his authority should not be removed by essentially the same governing structure implicated in those allegations before an independent investigation can determine what occurred.
Alston alleges that he raised concerns about governance and accreditation, cooperated with a Florida Department of Education Inspector General investigation involving Board Chair Alexis Yarbrough, made a personnel decision involving an executive whose hiring the Chair had supported, and refused to certify institutional documents he believed were materially inaccurate.
He says that afterward his evaluation was delayed and changed, his performance received heightened scrutiny and operational relationships shifted.
Importantly, Alston acknowledges that the sequence alone does not establish retaliation. He asks that an independent investigator make that determination.
That is exactly what should happen.
Investigate first. Decide second.
Anything else risks creating the appearance that the institution is attempting to remove the person who raised the allegations before those allegations can be thoroughly examined.
And Then There Is August 25
There is particular reason for the public to pay attention to Broward College’s next Board meeting.
The College says its next regularly scheduled District Board of Trustees meeting is August 25, 2026. (Broward College)
Alston’s chronology says that on August 10 Trustee Michael Caschette raised concerns regarding Alston’s leadership involving the nursing program and asked General Counsel how the matter could be placed on that August 25agenda.
That does not by itself prove that a termination vote is scheduled.
And we should be precise about that.
But combined with the complaint and the reported discussions surrounding Alston’s presidency, it gives the community every reason to watch closely.
Any attempt to terminate him should occur only after full public notice, complete transparency, an opportunity for Alston to respond and an independent investigation of his allegations.
Broward College Belongs to the Community
Broward College is not the private property of its trustees.
It belongs to the people.
It belongs to the students working two jobs while trying to earn a degree.
It belongs to the parents praying that education will open doors for their children.
It belongs to the faculty and employees who have invested their careers in the institution.
And it belongs to a Broward County community whose Black residents have fought too long for access to education and leadership to sit quietly while another Black college president leaves under a cloud of unanswered questions.
Gregory Haile’s departure left questions behind.
We should not allow Torey Alston’s presidency to end the same way.
If Alston has failed, demonstrate the failure.
If he has violated policy, document the violation.
If the Board has legitimate cause to remove him, put that cause before the public.
But if the conflict is really about a president insisting upon the authority necessary to perform the job, he was hired to do, then Broward County deserves to know that too.
And if there is even a possibility that two successive Black presidents have been subjected to standards, interference, or institutional treatment that their counterparts might not have faced, then that question deserves examination not dismissal.
Do not terminate Torey Alston while these questions remain unanswered.
Preserve the records.
Conduct the independent investigation.
Hear from all sides.
Allow the public to see the evidence.
Then make whatever decision the facts justify.
Because this is no longer simply about whether Torey Alston keeps his job.
It is about what kind of institution Broward College intends to be and whether the community can trust the process by which its leaders are chosen, judged, and removed.
