'Revolving Door': Worcester Council Want Answers After Diversity Officer Quits

WORCESTER, MA — Several Worcester City Councilors want answers from City Hall leaders about the "revolving door" of chief diversity officers. The city announced the departure of Worcester's third diversity officer since 2016, Stephanie Williams, last week.

At-Large Councilors Khrystian King and Thu Nguyen both asked City Manager Ed Augustus Jr. to report back to the Council about Williams' departure, and about how the city can improve the hiring process to keep diversity officers around longer.

"The revolving door as it relates to this is extremely disappointing; it leaves me a bit disillusioned," King said during Tuesday's meeting.

King asked for an summary of any exit interview conducted with Williams about why she left the role.

King's comments echo a statement released Monday by the Worcester NAACP. The organization said it would withdraw its support for the city's upcoming 300th anniversary celebration, a symbol of a lack of faith in city leaders ability to support Worcester residents of color.

"Worcester’s Black and brown communities invested in this process and position are now left wondering why these smart, intelligent, and dedicated women hired with glowing qualifications leaving after such a short time?" President Fred Taylor said. "We have gone backwards. With a population so diverse, we now only have one person of color in the leadership of the administration and no Black women."

Worcester hired its first diversity officer, Malika Carter, in January 2016. The position was newly created that year to help diversify city government. Carter left in July 2017 for a similar role in the State University of New York system. Suja Chacko, a city human resources employee, took over the role until her departure in March 2018. Williams took over in November 2020 during a time when Augustus prioritized race and social justice reforms in city government following protests over the murder of George Floyd.

A city spokesperson said Williams had been in the process of building a racial equity audit program, and added Worcester to the hiring tool diversityjobs.com. The city will soon begin searching for a new diversity officer. Assistant City Manager Eric Batista will take over the role in the interim.

Nguyen suggested Worcester take a pause before hiring a new diversity officer to figure out what pitfalls are causing employees to quit.

"I also think we need to figure out where we're falling flat" Nguyen said. "I hear that the system is just replicating the status quo and doing what it's supposed to do, which is [continuing] a racist system."

The group Black Families Together issued a separate request on Wednesday asking Worcester to do an internal review before hiring for the position. Before Williams was hired in 2020, the group had asked the city to review how the chief diversity officer's lack of a staff or budget could hinder the effectiveness of the role.

"Searching for a fourth chief diversity officer in six years reflects poorly on the city and the culture within City Hall," the group said. "BFT strongly requests an organizational assessment and equity audit to be completed before the next chief diversity officer is hired. There needs to be a thorough understanding of what the issues are and a plan for how they will be addressed."

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Williams first name.