STEUBENVILLE — Five months of concerns brought to Eastern Gateway Community College trustees led to President Jimmie Bruce and EGCC Vice President and Chief of Staff Jim Miller being put on administrative leave, the trustees’ board chairman said.

In the interim, Chief Financial Officer Mike Geoghegan will be assuming additional responsibilities. Bruce has been president of EGCC since 2015.

The new semester starts Monday. The college’s board of trustees meets Wednesday and will discuss the issue further.

Board Chairman James M. Gasior on Wednesday said in a statement that speculation about the situation has caused uncertainty for EGCC students and faculty. He provided some additional information, “as appropriate for” an ongoing personnel matter:

“Over the past five months, leadership and specific administration concerns relative to Dr. Bruce and Jim Miller have been brought to the attention of the board of trustees. The board took these issues very seriously and launched a thorough internal inquiry. This inquiry remains ongoing,” Gasior said.

In August, Bruce survived a no-confidence vote by faculty. Although details behind the vote were never revealed, faculty sources who didn’t wish to be identified said they’d compiled “a list of concerns and grievance-worthy items” to present to the board, along with the vote results.

Gina Augustine, interim co-leader of the Ohio Education Association’s EGCC affiliate, declined comment, saying only that, “We’re just here doing our jobs, keeping the college running and focusing on our students … We’ll let the investigators figure out what is going on with the leadership.”

The college has come under increased scrutiny during the past year, with some state lawmakers fearful EGCC’s rapid spike in out-of-state online enrollments is inflating its share of the state funding pool, pulling money away from other colleges to educate students who don’t live in Ohio.

In October, Bruce had told members of the community who were interested in the board’s plans to expand the footprint of the Steubenville campus he anticipated “a healthy enrollment of over 25,000 students” for the fall semester, the bulk of those online.

But Inside Higher Ed, a digital media company focused on higher education, reported lawmakers as well as other educators had voiced concern during June budget hearings that, over time, those spiraling out-of-state online enrollments “will greatly cripple the rest of the community colleges’ access” to State Share of Instruction dollars.

Bruce characterized the SSI money as “an instructional subsidy” and said EGCC had used “every dollar to hire Ohio faculty and support staff to educate EGCC students,” the digital publication noted.

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