Be Better Belmont’s Statement on Damon Hininger’s Departure from Belmont’s Board
CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger was silently removed from the list of Belmont’s Board of Trustees. While Be Better Belmont is encouraged by the change, we still have major concerns regarding Belmont’s ongoing relationship with CoreCivic and lack of transparency.
A few days ago, it was brought to Be Better Belmont’s attention that Damon Hininger’s name was no longer listed on the Trustees’ website. Yesterday in an email sent to a member of Be Better Belmont, the current Board Chair confirmed that Hininger has “rotated off” the Board. We are not sure exactly when this change occurred, though it likely occurred sometime this month given the fact that a student wrote an opinion piece calling attention to Belmont’s silence regarding CoreCivic on March 24.
Hininger’s departure comes after months of alumni and students organizing for his removal, but the decision has not been attributed to these efforts or stakeholder concerns surrounding ties to CoreCivic. According to the email, Hininger had reached the end of a 3-term limit. It is important to note, however, that Belmont has not historically honored the term limit articulated in the by-laws. And even if the term limit was the sole reason for the rotation, this still does not explain the silence.
The lack of explanation combined with their refusal to acknowledge the issue is disrespectful to all the students, alumni, and community members who have repeatedly expressed concerns regarding CoreCivic. Once again, BBB’s concern and position on the matter stress not the “what,” but the “how.” Since July of 2020, we have been demanding transparency and accountability of Belmont’s governance practices and we have received nothing but the antithesis of such demand. Hininger’s quiet “rotation” is another iteration of this tendency. Not only have they not acknowledged our concerns they have not made any statements, announcements, or clarifications.
Damon Hininger’s presence on the Board is merely representative of a deeper systemic problem. Even today, there are other Trustees whose financial and professional interests align with CoreCivic. The previous CEO John Ferguson, for example, is still sitting on the Board. While it is nice that the CEO of the largest private prison corporation is no longer a governing member of the university, the Board has not changed the behavior/governance policies that allowed that to be the case in the first place. One could argue they have merely taken advantage of the same institutional loophole (top-down, exclusive decision-making) to erase the face of a PR problem. It does not seem irrelevant to mention that controversial member Lee Beaman was also reinstated on the Board around the same time Hininger’s name was removed.
BBB believes Hininger’s absence is a positive turn, but very far from the end of our work. BBB is ultimately pushing for systemic change and Belmont’s leadership has not taken the first step necessary for meaningful change: publicly acknowledging the problem and taking responsibility for Belmont’s institutional complicity in it. For example, instead of scapegoating a single person who represents stakeholder concerns, BBB would prefer they made a change to the Board by-laws so that entities like CoreCivic would be a “conflict of interest.”
In short, removing Damon Hininger is one small part of our broader call for disclosure of and divestment from all ties to the prison industrial complex (i.e. donations, investments, etc). Belmont University has still not taken an official position on private prisons, they have not disclosed their investment portfolio and/or negative screening criteria, nor have they addressed the problematic partnerships with entities and persons who participate in and greatly benefit from the global prison industrial complex. BBB will continue pushing leadership to make these necessary changes to decision-making processes so that Belmont can implement anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices that enable more equitable systemic impact.
