Howard Community College has acknowledged that it “may have violated” the state’s Public Employee Relations Act in February when security officers accessed the offices of college professors and removed pro-union posters from the walls, windows and doors.

College officials also acknowledged that union members who refused to take down posters were “threatened” with disciplinary action. However, the college said, it did not take any action against employees.

“HCC states that it did not intend to commit unfair labor practices,” Delisle Warden, the college’s vice president of policy and general counsel, said in a July 31 recorded video.

The video’s release comes six months after the faculty union, along with the American Federation of Teachers, filed an unfair labor practices complaint over the winter incident with the National Labor Relations Board. The union alleged that the college’s actions were done to limit union speech on campus. It followed the removal of union faculty members who’d gathered to demonstrate in the lobby of the campus theater ahead of the annual convocation ceremony.

The college and faculty union have since reached a settlement over the posters’ removal.

The agreement required HCC to reimburse AFT for poster signage costs, provide training for all college managers on state labor laws and have Warden read the settlement in full in a video to faculty, according to McKenna Willis, an AFT-Maryland organizer.

The admission comes as college President Daria Willis has faced ongoing criticism of her management style, which some say has caused faculty members to flee, and of her dealings with the union.

Last week, dozens of faculty members, joined by AFT organizers and several elected officials, took part in a campus rally to demand progress in contract talks, which have dragged on for a year and a half. The college administration refuses to negotiate for a fair compensation package for faculty, the union claims.

HCC pushed back in a July 31 Substack post.

“The administration will not be pressured into accepting any agreement that compromises fairness across employee groups or jeopardizes the College’s long-term financial viability,” the college wrote.

HCC maintains that it has “bargained in good faith with the union and is proud of the mutually significant progress we have made together on important issues,” the college added.

As union faculty await a contract, they say the staff has dealt with “major errors” on their paychecks and delayed paydays for months.

HCC faculty formed a union two years ago amid rising tensions with Willis, who it claims “has actively fought back against the rights of faculty.”

According to the union, the college has delayed bargaining negotiations, “belittled faculty at the [bargaining] table,” and “smeared” HCC faculty and state and local elected officials by referring to them as “disruptors of the learning environment.”

“Clearly, Dr. Willis has, at every possible turn, worked to delay, undermine, and demean faculty who chose to form a historic union,” the statement reads.

The Baltimore Banner reported in November that two dozen current and former employees and students had described high staff turnover and a toxic culture that they said had negatively affected staff and student services during Willis’ tenure.

In an anonymous online message board, commenters have blasted Willis’ leadership style. The website went up shortly after she took office in early 2022. Campus leaders pushed back, alleging a racist undertone to some posts. Willis is the first Black woman to lead the campus.

The union has stated that it has “no relationship” with the message board, and that the comments on it “do not reflect the beliefs of our union.” But the union said the comments “do signify widespread discontent with Dr. Willis’ tenure.”

Although the college’s seven-member Board of Trustees gained five new members this year, it remains supportive of Willis. The board last week declared “full confidence” in Willis’ leadership, “particularly in navigating the historic process of finalizing an inaugural contract with the American Federation of Teachers on behalf of our valued full-time faculty.”

“President Willis has led with integrity and a commitment to good-faith negotiations, and we stand squarely behind her efforts,” the HCC board said in the July 31 post.

In September, a previous board unanimously backed Willis as she faced online criticism and protests. Two days later, the community college announced the abrupt departures of three board members: vice chair M. Shafeeq Ahmed, then-chair Sean Keller and former chair Christopher Marasco. None have ever said publicly why they left the board.