DWC head fired
NASHUA – The president of Daniel Webster College was abruptly fired Wednesday, a week after the college, now owned by ITT Tech, laid off 23 employees.
Robert Myers, president of the college since 2005, said he was told at 11:30 Wednesday morning that he was being let go, and was then asked to leave the college.
“I did not resign. It was a termination,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
“I’m still processing it,” said Myers, when asked for his reaction.
Shortly after he was told he was being let go, Myers sent out an e-mail to the college faculty: “I simply wanted to say thanks for the last four years. It has been an honor and I wish all of you the very best.”
Glenn Tanner, a spokesman for ITT Tech, confirmed that Myers was “no longer with the college,” but would not elaborate on what led to him being let go Wednesday.
“We don’t comment on personnel actions,” Tanner said.
That was the same response Tanner gave last week when it was learned that 23 employees had been laid off. Those employees were given a four-week severance package.
Tanner would not elaborate on who the new president of the college is.
“There will be a press release at an appropriate time,” he said.
Myers, who resides in Nashua, declined to comment further on Wednesday’s developments.
It is expected that the college would be laying off up to 60 employees, according to one of the employees who lost a job last week.
Myers came to the college in 2005, leaving a chancellor position at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s extended campus in Daytona Beach, Fla. He replaced Hannah McCarthy, who had been president for 25 years.
When the proposed sale of the college to ITT Tech was announced in April, Myers spent the day meeting with students and staff to answer any questions they had.
At the time, Myers expressed optimism for the future of the college, which had fallen into dire financial straits.
Having accumulated $23 million in debt, the college’s financial situation was so bad, it would have been forced to close without a buyer, according to court documents.
During his meetings with staff, Myers assured employees that the sale to ITT Tech would not result in layoffs. If anything, he said, it would mean positions the college had to leave vacant for financial reasons could now be filled.
Unlike most colleges and universities, ITT Tech is a for-profit institution. Prior to the sale, Daniel Webster College had maintained a nonprofit status, but that changed once the sale went through.
