CCP board chair urged business for daughter’s company, ousted president claims in court filings
Judge rules against special injunction, which would have restored Generals to his position through June 30
The chair of the Community College of Philadelphia’s board of trustees tried to steer college business toward a fledgling company headed by his daughter and other firms with which he had ties, according to court documents filed Thursday by lawyers for ousted CCP president Donald Guy Generals.
The documents outline exchanges and cite emails to back up allegations that board chair Harold T. Epps used his position as a board member and later chair to make favorable introductions on behalf of people close to him over the last several years.
The new filings expand on a lawsuit Generals filed against the college, its board, and Epps in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas this week, which a spokesperson for the board had called “frivolous and without merit.” The board placed Generals, the longtime CCP president, on immediate paid administrative leave last month through the end of his current contract in June and voted not to renew it.
“[Epps] urged me and other senior college administrators to give serious consideration to individuals and businesses with whom he had personal and professional ties,” according to an affidavit by Generals included in the court filings. “I believed that Mr. Epps’s efforts were motivated by considerations outside of the College‘s best interests.”
Generals cites a proposal for CCP to partner with a workforce development group called Hire! Philly, headed by Epps’ daughter, Kathryn Epps Roberson. That contract, according to emails, came up in 2020 and 2021 when Epps — a senior adviser for economic development at Bellevue Strategies, a government relations and advocacy firm — was a member of the board, but not yet the chair.
At the time, his daughter’s company was pitching a job-search platform called “Pipeline! Philly,” and sought a two-year, $100,000 commitment from the college to sponsor the initiative and utilize the platform.
Epps forwarded information about the proposal to Generals and others in CCP leadership, which the ousted president now says was part of a pressure campaign.
“Mr. Epps and other affiliated board members pressed the college executives to license her company’s workforce platform, despite concerns about the platform’s technical readiness, vague deliverables, and the cost structure, which exceeded comparable platforms in the market,” Generals said in the affidavit. “... I resisted this proposal. Ultimately, the college disengaged from the product after limited usage and no demonstrated return.”
Attempts to reach Roberson, now president and CEO for the Fund for the School District of Philadelphia, were unsuccessful.
Kyle D. Anderson, a spokesperson for the board, said the allegations are “patently false.”
“To suggest that emails from board members with resumes, names of vendors, and other small businesses that provide services constitute an inappropriate request that they receive contracts is outrageous,” he said.
Generals, Anderson asserted, is attempting “to discredit and defame” Epps and the board because they refused his demand for a $1.5 million or five-year severance package, an extension on his car and housing allowance and “other excessive expenditures.”
“This is a blatant and unscrupulous attempt to shake down the board and a publicly funded institution,” he said.
Generals, however, in court documents cited the college‘s strong performance, including enrollment growth and increased partnerships, and said it’s the board that is retaliating against him for resisting “vendor interference” and political pressure. The retaliation, he alleges, was largely orchestrated by Epps.
» READ MORE: CCP board removes president, voting not to renew contract and placing him on immediate paid leave
“Dr. Generals represents a rare case of a capable, ethical college president being ousted not for cause but for courage,” his lawyers said in court documents.
Following a three-hour hearing Friday, Common Pleas Judge Chris Hall denied Generals’ request for a special injunction that would have restored him to his position through the end of his contract, which ends June 30.
“Bad blood can happen for mysterious reasons that none of us can scientifically dissect,” Hall said during the hearing. “The board has a right to unanimously decide they want to move on.”
Danielle Banks, who represented CCP, argued that the board was well within its right not to renew Generals’ contract and place him on paid leave and that Generals could have chosen a different kind of exit.
“Dr. Generals is the architect of everything that occurred here,” she said.
In court filings, lawyers for CCP asserted: “After the board refused to capitulate to Dr. Generals’ demands, Dr. Generals (through counsel) relayed that he would ”go public” with unfounded allegations against the college and certain of its board members, none of which he had ever previously asserted, nor raised with anyone as he was required to do as the college president.”
Bryan Lentz, Generals’ lawyer, said his client would pursue the case through arbitration, which is the only other avenue open, given that it is a dispute over the contract.
Generals sought the injunction in part so he could preside over commencement Saturday, restore his reputation, and leave with “the dignity with which I think I deserve,” he testified.
In the court papers, Generals also alleges that he was pressured by another board member, Sheila Ireland, president and CEO of OIC Philadelphia, a workforce development program, to approve a $10,000 contribution to her organization, even though the college‘s cap for such donations is $2,500 and there was “no formal grant application or justification.”
The court documents allege Epps also pressured Generals to hire other companies, but it’s not clear from court filings how they were connected to Epps.
In another exchange disclosed in the court filing, Robert J. Delany, then-CEO of Maple Glen Strategic Advisors, emailed Epps information in 2023 about his consulting firm, which specializes in advising higher education institutions on business matters.
“It was great to have breakfast with you yesterday,” Delany writes. “I would love [sic] have an introductory conversation with CCP to learn more about their goals and ambitions.”
Epps later forwarded that email to Generals, the college‘s vice president of finance, and a member of the board of trustees business affairs committee “for further possible conversation,” according to the court documents.
In a June 2024 email, Epps suggested that Alan Casnoff, co-owner of real estate development firm P&A Associates, “maybe should be considered for the Foundation Board.” The foundation is CCP’s fundraising arm.
Five months later, Epps expressed dismay in another email that no one acted upon his recommendation.
“No one reached out and I got no update,” he said, according to an email cited in the court filing. “Very disappointing.”
Generals said in the affidavit “there was no evident value in adding Mr. Casnoff, who had not been vetted through standard processes.”
Epps also repeatedly promoted ELAP Services, a third-party healthcare cost containment vendor, Generals alleges. ELAP‘s cofounder and CEO Steve Kelly and his wife are sponsors of CCP’s Black and Gold Gala, a scholarship fundraiser.
Generals said the college already had a comprehensive healthcare plan with Independence Blue Cross, which was part of its collective bargaining agreement.
Yet Epps repeatedly promoted ELAP‘s services, Generals said, even though Generals maintained it “offered no clear advantage to the college.”
Generals said in the affidavit that none of the proposals being floated by Epps had been vetted through a competitive procurement process.
“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. “In each case, I documented my concerns, declined or limited engagement, and reiterated that decisions would be made according to college policy and in compliance with legal and ethical obligations.”