Petition updateHelp Save Wenatchee Valley College! Appoint New Leadership to the Wenatchee Valley College

Last Week We Passed 100 Signatures — Please Keep Sharing

Wenatchee BlogWenatchee, WA, United States

Jun 30, 2026

Last Week We Passed 100 Signatures — Please Keep Sharing

We are now not far from the number of signatures gathered by the “Concerned for WVC” group in their attempt to stop the renewal of WVC President Dr. Faimous Harrison’s contract.

That matters.

This petition is continuing to grow. Last week, we surpassed 100 signatures, and new signatures continue to come in daily. Every signature shows that people are paying attention and that concerns about Wenatchee Valley College governance, transparency, professionalism, and public trust are not going away.

Now is not the time to forget this issue.

Public-record text messages involving WVC Board Chair Paula Arno Martinez, other trustees, and senior administration continue to raise serious questions about whether the current Board is serving the public interest.

One of the most troubling public-record messages involved WVC Board Chair Paula Arno Martinez referring to SBCTC as:

“ghetto af”

SBCTC is the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges — the state-level agency connected to Washington’s community and technical college system, including Wenatchee Valley College.

These are not private comments by someone with no public responsibility. Paula Arno Martinez is the Chair of the WVC Board of Trustees. Trustees are responsible for oversight, budgets, policy, public accountability, and representing the public interest.

The public-record text messages can be viewed here:

https://wenatcheecollege.com/text

WVC President Faimous Harrison has already told faculty and staff that the individual messages “do not reflect our college’s views or values.”

SBCTC also responded to questions about the messages. SBCTC declined to interpret the full meaning of the text messages, stating that they represent only a portion of communication and lack full context. However, SBCTC also agreed with President Harrison’s assessment that a person’s own viewpoint does not reflect or represent the views or values of the college system.

SBCTC further confirmed that trustees are responsible for establishing and reviewing college policies, overseeing the general management of their college, setting strategic direction, approving budgets, representing the public interest, and helping ensure the basic fiscal integrity of the college.

That is exactly why this petition matters.

I also want to thank everyone who has contributed financially to help promote the petition. Donations are not required, and signing and sharing are already powerful acts of support. But those contributions represent the power of the people and the seriousness of this issue. They help keep the petition visible so more members of the community can learn what happened.

Please continue to help by sharing the petition, sharing the news, and talking with others about why this matters.