Stith resigns as president of state community college system

Thomas Stith, the president of North Carolina’s community college system, has resigned from his position following an 18-month tenure, the State Board of Community Colleges said Tuesday.

“The board thanks Mr. Stith for his service and wishes him well,” Board Chairman Burr Sullivan said in a statement. The resignation is effective Friday.

Sullivan said the board expects to name an interim president in the coming days and will begin a search for a permanent president to lead the state’s community college system, which is the nation’s third-largest.

No reason for the departure was given. Sullivan and system representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for additional details about the resignation.  

News of Stith's expected departure came after the board convened Friday in a meeting that included a closed-session mid-year review of “presidential goals,” according to a meeting agenda. The closed session lasted more than three hours.

The move is said to have been months in the making, prompted in part by what two people familiar with the matter described as concerns over recent hiring decisions by Stith. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue was a personnel matter.

Stith didn't respond to requests for comment about the reasons for the resignation. In a statement Tuesday, he said he was honored to lead the system of 58 community colleges.

“I am thrilled that our community college system enhanced its offerings, making students more competitive for the workforce, entrepreneurship and transfer to four-year institutions,” Stith said in the statement. “That was my job to do and my commitment to our state.”

Stith was chosen to head the state’s community college system in December 2020 after former President Peter Hans was selected to lead the University of North Carolina system. Stith took office in January 2021.

The state community college system has lost nearly all of its top-level leadership in recent years, with high turnover throughout the system’s central office. Nearly half of the system’s 58 schools have also changed leadership. The system has had six presidents in the past seven years, three of them interim.

Stith, a Republican, is a longtime political figure in North Carolina. He was a Durham City Councilman from 1999 to 2007, when he lost a mayoral bid to incumbent Bill Bell. He worked for former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory as chief of staff. He was also state director for the U.S. Small Business Administration under former President Donald Trump.

The system’s bipartisan governing board has twenty voting members: ten appointed by the governor, four each by the state House and Senate, plus the Lieutenant Governor, the state treasurer. Sullivan, the chairman, is a House appointee.