Highland Community College President Deb Fox Believes "That Hitler Was A Great Leader"

Highland Community College has been in hot water before regarding racism, discrimination, defamation and other concerning racism accusations before. In fact in 2020 a civil lawsuit filed by the Kansas ACLU on behalf of several black athletes that the college was settled months later that was full of claims that are scarily reminiscent of the horrors endured by black Americans prior to and during the civil rights era in the rural south.

Located in rural northeastern Kansas. Highland Community College was the very first college established in Kansas in 1858. HCC enrolls just over 3,200 students, 87% Pof those are white. Less than 6% of the student body is made up of people of color and the school has a diversity score of 0.24 - nearly half the state average for a community college. The majority of HCC's student athletes are African American. During the 2019 season, 104 out of 111 members of the football team were black athletes.

Both Deb Fox and Dr. Robert Dorrel were hired by HCC right before the fall semester in 2019. From the lawsuit in 2020 it is alleged that Russell Karn a member of HCC Board of Trustees hired both Dorrel and Fox (both were hired in 2019) to help bring to fruition the board's vision of a "racially homogenous campus with fewer African America athletes." Both Fox and Dorrel are very underqualified for the positions they hold at the college. In fact Dorrel has never before been employed in an assistant coaching position and prior to this position was employed as an athletic trainer prior to becoming the Athletic Director.

Upon becoming the athletic director Dr. Bryan Dorrell began making multiple statements to the coaches such as they needed "to recruit more local kids and not so many southern kids" and "to recruit more kids the locals could relate to"-and when asked what that meant he clarified "local kids not kids with dreads and wicks".

Vice President of Student Services Eric Ingmire is also the head of security services for HCC. Security officers are contracted from the Highland Police Department and there have been multiple allegations of security targeting and harassing black athletes. Security officers would illegally enter black athletes dorm rooms saying they smelled marijuana and would arrest the athletes and charge them with drug possession and then telling them if they paid the fine it would be dismissed without going on their record. These athletes did not have any drugs on them when detained and after paying the fine the security officer would then put on a Highland Police hat and write another ticket and tell the athlete he would now have to pay that one as well. Athletes were expelled for such minor acts as "insubordination and cursing". These athletes were expelled from the college for acts that are by their own guidelines low level and not considered a serious concern. After all we are talking about teenagers and young adults.

Football Coach Aaron Arnold was the first coach to resign over the intentional discrimination of black athletes. Arnold had been the football coach since 2014 and had turned the football program around. The women's basketball team coaches and players were targeted next. Over Christmas break 2019-202 Deb Fox and Bryan Dorrell made allegations that the coaches were breaking the NJCAA (Community Colleges equivalent to the NCAA) rules. The attempt was to make everyone think that the coaches were doing the players homework for them. The reality was that did not happen and both Fox and Dorrel knew that no infraction had occurred. There is a recording of Fox and Dorrel meeting with some of the basketball players parents that makes it clear that they were intentionally trying to destroy the girls team, their season and their chances at a college education. At the time HCC suspended Coach BJ Smith and his assistants the girls basketball team was 13-0 and #5 in the nation. Within days of this meeting Fox received an email that cleared the coaches of any violation yet she gave media interviews and kept making the claims that the coaches had violated NJCAA rules and that the HCC IT department had found this information out. The coaches would not conform to the desire of HCC to remove the black athletes so they were targeted. Coaches Smith, Ross and Zinn were forced out and are now suing Highland Community College for civil rights violations.

Recently in a meeting Highland Community College President Deb Fox was recorded in a conversation disparaging another black athlete and telling someone that "even Hitler was a great leader" - this is completely unacceptable and abhorrent that the president at a federally funded collegiate institution in 2022 America is stating that Hitler was a great leader. Several media articles upon learning are calling for her resignation as a result of this leaked conversation. The firing of Deb Fox is not going to be enough to fix what is at the root of the problem at Highland Community College.

From reviewing the Perks lawsuit both Fox and Dorrell began working to achieve HCC Board of Trustees specifically Russell Karn's goal of ridding Highlands campus of black athletes.

"On information and belief, the Board of Trustees led by Russell Karn hired President Deborah Fox and Defendant Dorrell in order to implement the Board’s vision of a racially homogenous campus with fewer African American athletes. The Board selected both administrators notwithstanding their lack of qualifications because of their shared racially discriminatory views and willingness to execute the racially discriminatory policies that violated Plaintiffs’ civil rights."

Highland Community College has clearly chosen to employ more than one or two people with seriously disturbing thinking in positions that allow them contact with the young and impressionable youth of America. An interesting aside that may actually be important to this after all is that George Washington Carver a brilliant scientist who was key in developing rotational crop planting among a wealth of other inventions and discoveries applied to and was accepted at this school. Upon arriving to begin his college education and the school learning that he was a black man they denied him entry. It appears that very little progress has been made since the 1890s in Highland, Kansas to this writer.