Dive Snapshot:
- Broward College trustees plan to consider firing the institution’s president, Torey Alston, at a special meeting Wednesday after sharing concerns about his performance in June, according to meeting documents.
- Alston took the helm of Broward, a public Florida college with roughly 30,000 students, in February 2025. According to the meeting notice, the trustee board will vote on whether to fire Alston “without cause.”
- During two June meetings, trustees discussed Broward students’ low passage rate on nursing licensure exams and other concerns with Alston, according to meeting minutes. One trustee said Alston wasn’t returning phone calls from donors and community leaders, while another referred to a lack of communication with the board.
The impact: When the board brought on Alston, trustees approved a four-year contract at $329,000 annually, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported. His contract also contains a provision allowing the board to fire him with 30 days' written notice, the newspaper said.
Alston did not immediately respond to Higher Ed Dive’s request for comment Monday. But the Sentinel reported that he filed a formal complaint last week with Broward’s vice president for human resources alleging that board members are retaliating against him, including for complaining that trustees are micromanaging him and for assisting in a state agency investigation into the board chair.
Michael Caschette, the board member who is bringing the motion to terminate Alston’s employment, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The background: Before Alston became Broward’s leader, he served in several education and government positions, including as a former trustee of Florida A&M University. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has sought to remake public education in the state, also previously appointed Alston to the Broward County Commission and the Broward County School Board, where he served as chair.
Alston was Broward’s first permanent president in over a year after Gregory Haile abruptly resigned from the role in September 2023.
Haile, who had served as president for five years, did not publicly give his reasons for leaving. But his decision came after DeSantis installed several new members to the Broward trustee board. Before his resignation, Haile reportedly experienced tensions with the board, including over accreditation and cuts to sports.
What we’re watching: Broward’s board is set to vote on Alston’s employment Wednesday morning. Alston did not immediately respond to questions about whether he would pursue legal action against the board if it terminated his employment.
Whether it’s Alston or a new leader, however, Broward’s president will have to address the poor passage rates for the college’s students on nursing licensure exams, among other issues. Those rates resulted in the Florida Board of Nursing placing the program on probation in February.
