Judge denies order to reinstate Community College of Philadelphia’s president

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For the first time in a decade, Donald “Guy” Generals was absent from the spring commencement at the Community College of Philadelphia — a notable end to his presidency ahead of his contract’s June 30 expiration.

Generals has been on paid administrative leave since April 10, and Provost Alycia Marshall was named interim president last week.

On May 2, a judge ordered against a special injunction that sought to reinstate Generals as college president in a lawsuit that also alleged unethical behavior by the board of trustees, records show. Judge Christopher Hall is expected to issue an opinion in the case soon.

The Community College of Philadelphia board of trustees declined an interview for this news story and submitted a statement denying the former president’s allegations of misconduct. The college has also denied the allegations in court.

On Dec. 19, Generals was told his contract would not be renewed, which happened six months after his regularly scheduled performance review, according to the lawsuit. At the time, he was expecting a performance compensation discussion, not a contract renewal negotiation.

In 2019, the last contract renewal, Generals’ base salary was $250,000 plus a monthly housing and car allowance of $1,500 and $625, respectively. Generals was eligible for an incentive compensation bonus of up to 15% of the base salary.

A surprise decision

During his tenure, the college’s enrollment and graduation rate had improved, career and technical programs were expanded, the school completed $100 million in capital expansion projects and raised $300 million in public and private funding. The city of Philadelphia created a Catto Scholarship initiative, the City College for Municipal Employment and a $2.7 million contract for welder training with the U.S. Navy.

“The reasons provided included a general statement that I had ‘plateaued; and that one of the college’s recent capital projects — the Career and Advanced Technology Center — was underperforming financially,” Generals wrote in his court affidavit.

The Career and Advanced Technology Center was completed in 2022 and cost $40 million, an increase from the $27 million previously projected. The college took out bonds to pay for the project and leveraged new market tax credits.

In response, Generals retained an attorney to negotiate his transition.

Then the former president complained about the lack of public transparency and a slew of board of trustee meetings and votes that he alleges are in violation of public meeting laws.

Friendly suggestions or lobbying?

Over the past five years, Generals said he was pressured by Community College of Philadelphia Board of Trustees Chair Harold T. Epps and trustee Sheila Ireland to approve business deals that he described as a conflict of interest.

“I received repeated communications and informal directives from board chair Harold T. Epps in which he urged me and other senior college administrators to give serious consideration to individuals and businesses with whom he had personal and professional ties,” Generals continued. “I did my best to resist these efforts and to shield college staff from improper pressure, but Mr. Epps continued to escalate these matters and expressed dissatisfaction when I did not comply.”

A representative for the community college refutes these claims.

“The allegations made by Generals are plain and simple — patently false. Neither chairman Epps nor any other member of the board pressured Generals to hire or retain any individual or business,” said Kyle Anderson, spokesperson for the Community College of Philadelphia. “As a matter of board discourse, it is entirely appropriate to serve as a conduit between the community and CCP’s leadership in service to the college. Generals’ assertion that making these connections equaled pressure or advocacy is false. And part of his ongoing campaign to discredit the board and institution because they refused to agree to his outrageous severance demands.”

Epps is the former president and CEO of PRWT Services Inc., a minority-owned business processing contractor with companies like the Philadelphia Parking Authority.

Since 2018, Epps has served on the college’s board of trustees after being appointed by then-Mayor Jim Kenney when he was acting commerce director for the city. That same year, Ireland was appointed as then-executive director for the city’s office of workforce development.

In 2022, Epps was elected board of trustees chair. That same year, Ireland became the CEO of the nonprofit Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center and has remained on the board.

Generals asserts that Ireland pressured him during her tenure to contribute $10,000 to the Philadelphia OIC instead of the college’s “usual cap of $2,500” and that there was no “formal grant application.”

“At no time did I receive a formal proposal from any of these entities that identified clear deliverables, objective outcomes, or substantial benefit to the college,” he said.

Epps is also a senior advisor for Bellevue Strategies, a Philadelphia lobbying firm, something that Generals said meant Epps was advocating on behalf of these potential deals.

Board family ties

In October 2020, Epps sent an email advocating for “a great tool” and inquired about how the university can set up an account with Hire! Philly, a nonprofit organization that licensed a technology system known as PropelPHL, an online job board.

At the time, the board chair’s daughter Kathryn Epps, was the executive director of Hire! Philly. She pitched the community college to become a founding partner, which would cost $50,000 per year and would include the college a seat on its advisory council.

“I think we can all agree that this platform creates several opportunities to support CCP’s enrollment and workforce development goals while also having a significant impact on the region and put a lot of Philadelphians back to work,” Kathryn Epps wrote in the email.

But the community college’s vice president of workforce and economic innovation, Carol de Fries replied in an email to President Generals that the original presentation for the tool had no cost associated with it. Then, the program would cost $25,000 a year, but Epps said that was a mistake in the pitch document. And then a clarifying email for  $50,000 a year for a total of $100,000 for an online job board.

Generals said that he had concerns about “the platform’s technical readiness, vague deliverables, and the cost structure which exceeded comparable platforms in the market.”

The college “disengaged from the product after limited usage and no demonstrated return.”

Kathryn Epps deferred comment to the Community College of Philadelphia.

Pitched college consultants

In November 2020, board trustee Epps sent another email to Generals with a pitch deck video demonstrating ELAP Services, a health care cost containment business.

Epps said he’s “always on the lookout for opportunities that will benefit CCP. I was hopeful that this might be one.”

Lisa Hutcherson responded to the email, including Generals, that explained the college already had an insurance company, Independence Blue Cross, for its employee benefits and that if the college were to switch it would require a new collective bargaining agreement with the Faculty and Staff Federation of Community College of Philadelphia union.

Hutcherson continued that “it’s very likely that our contract with IBC would prohibit us from allowing a third-party vendor like ELAP to conduct the level of [health care] claims review they are requesting.”

In February 2023, Epps shared an email with Generals and the college’s vice president of finance and administration after meeting for breakfast with executives of a higher education consulting company, Maple Glen Strategic Advisors.

“I would love [to] have an introductory conversation with CCP to learn more about their goals and ambitions. I also look forward to continuing our work with concerned members,” said Rob Delany, founder of Maple Glen Strategic Advisors.

Representatives of ELAP and Maple Glen Strategic Advisors did not respond to interview requests for this news story.

In June 2024, Epps shared an email with Generals that contained a resume of Alan Casnoff for consideration to become a college foundation board member or for a teaching faculty position.

“As we discussed. Alan can be helpful in a lot of ways and maybe should be considered for the foundation board. Please handle appropriately and keep me informed,” Epps wrote.

By mid-December 2024, Epps responded to that same email thread that “5 months have gone by and no one reached out and I got no update. Very disappointing.”

Generals complained that the foundation board already had “civic and institutional leaders well equipped to support its mission” and there was “no value in adding Mr. Casnoff, who had not been vetted through standard processes.”

Casnoff denied doing any business with Epps in an email to WHYY News, but did “offer to teach a course in real estate but never heard back from the school.”

College budget negotiations

During this public fight over the ousted community college president’s job, the college is negotiating with the city of Philadelphia for its annual operating subsidy.

In fiscal year 2025, the city chipped in $56 million to the college.

For fiscal year 2026, Mayor Cherelle Parker’s budget proposal is to allocate $54 million to the college each year until 2030. That includes $15 million total for the City College for Municipal Employment in Parker’s budget over the five-year stretch.

“If those plans were to become the actuals, we would be in pain,” Epps told City Council.

For fiscal 2026, the college’s counterproposal is an $8 million increase to help with a growing student body and keeping tuition low, as they negotiate a new faculty and staff contract.

For fall 2024, the college had 18,326 students, an increase of 4.5% from fall 2023. The first session for summer enrollment is up 17% and up 20% for the second summer session.

So far, fall 2025 is up 47% in enrollment from the previous year, according to the college.

The sudden leadership change prompted questions from Philadelphia City Council members last week.

Councilmember Cindy Bass asked, if the college was operating successfully, why was Generals no longer at the helm?

“Generals was someone who seemed to be very thorough and effective. You produced the results that you gave us that said he was doing a phenomenal job,” Bass said. “I have no doubt that our new president is going to do a phenomenal job but I just think, the way we do things matters. It’s very glaring, this sudden change without any sort of reason or rationale.”

Epps responded that after renewing the president’s contract twice, “it was time for a change.”

He said the board and the president were in the process of “negotiating in an amicable way quietly and discreetly with a celebratory pathway to transition.” Generals, however, wanted to have the discussion in the public realm.

“We were surprised as you were surprised. We are saddened, disappointed, upset, frustrated that it had to end this way,” Epps told City Council on April 29. “Generals did a solid job but that has nothing to do with other factors that you would not see that we see as the board.”