{"id":46069,"date":"2021-06-25T18:04:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T00:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fort-lewis-college-presidents-contract-renewed-for-three-years\/"},"modified":"2021-06-26T00:04:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T00:04:00","slug":"fort-lewis-college-presidents-contract-renewed-for-three-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fort-lewis-college-presidents-contract-renewed-for-three-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lewis College president\u2019s contract renewed for three years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Stritikus\"
Stritikus<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Fort Lewis College President Tom Stritikus\u2019 three-year employment contract was renewed Friday afternoon by the board of trustees, but the university\u2019s student body president called for a shortened contract to sooner replace the incumbent, who is white, with a Black or Indigenous leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re trying to diversify this campus, staff and faculty, it should start with some of the highest positions,\u201d said Zhaida Wilbanks, student body president.<\/p>\n

Much of the contract remained the same as the original when Stritikus was named president unanimously by the board in 2018. He was given a 3.5% raise along with FLC faculty and staff members, said Richard Kaufman, vice chairman of the board. Stritikus will also receive a 15% annual base salary retention bonus, which will be paid at the end of the three-year contract.<\/p>\n

The president took a voluntary 20% salary reduction in May 2020 for six months in anticipation of financial losses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

Stritikus also earns $20,000 annually as part of a retirement fund and has use of a car for business purposes, which has remained the same.<\/p>\n

Wilbanks raised concerns about renewing Stritikus\u2019 contract, saying the president\u2019s behavior has left many students \u201cuncomfortable.\u201d Wilbanks accused Stritikus of disrespecting wait staff in town, calling students incorrect names and approaching a female student at an event at his home and saying, \u201cI\u2019m the man.\u201d But, Wilbanks did not provide further specific details about the incidents and did not immediately respond to a request by The Durango Herald<\/em> for further comment.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Herald<\/em>, Stritikus said he \u201cwill always work to create an environment where the students can be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m certainly willing to hold myself and everyone on this campus to the highest standards of behavior,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

FLC spokeswoman Lauren Savage told the Herald <\/em> no formal complaints have been made against Stritikus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a process for all formal complaints, which we encourage students, community members and employees to utilize,\u201d she wrote in an emailed statement. \u201cAll formal allegations are taken seriously by the college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaufman said the board of trustees and Stritikus are \u201ccommitted\u201d to diversity, equity and inclusion. Wilbanks noted that commitment and told the board statements related to diversity and inclusion feel like marketing efforts. The school needs to take action, Wilbanks said, like hiring more people of color and appointing a Black or Indigenous president.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to hear the phooey little excuse of, \u2018It\u2019s hard to find these types of people,\u2019\u201d Wilbanks said. \u201cWhen in reality, there are so many strong and powerful Black and Indigenous people who are able to take this position.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the meeting, Wilbanks said Native students face many \u201cpressing issues\u201d and are \u201cnot actually valued.\u201d In an interview, Stritikus said making students feel welcome and representing diversity are priorities of FLC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always striving to create a campus where students feel welcome, feel like they belong, because we know that when they do they\u2019re likely to succeed academically,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that we really deeply care about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janet Lopez, a member of the board, said evaluations of Stritikus by students, faculty and staff members in the last year were \u201coverwhelmingly positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

FLC was ranked ninth for campus ethnic diversity at national liberal arts colleges in the 2021 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. Students of color represent 57% of the student body and 45% of students are Native American or Alaska Native.<\/p>\n

Stritikus told the board he\u2019s eager to continue the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have tons of work to do, I\u2019m not naive about that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve made big progress, we came through COVID as well as anyone could, and we have incredible faculty, staff and students to move forward on all the complicated issues, of which there are many, which makes the job fun and important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Board member Mary Rubadeau said she was \u201cthrilled\u201d to have Stritikus\u2019 contract renewed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so happy that you\u2019re staying with us and staying the course,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s so much work to do, and we appreciate the last three years and just really look forward to the next three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaela Roeder is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a 2021 graduate of American University in Washington, D.C.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Student body president objects, calling for shorter employment <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[132,28,3528],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-46069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-fort-lewis-college","tag-headlines","tag-tom-stritikus"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46069"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=46069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}