Rodgers’ firing was wrong

As president of the Museum Trustee Association, a national organization dedicated to educating and inspiring museum trustees, I have been following the problems of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture board in their firing of Director Forrest Rodgers. I worked with Forrest for several years at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Ore., while a trustee on the board, and feel not only was the process of his dismissal completely wrong but that he deserved better treatment as a person.

An executive committee has no right to dismiss a museum director. It is the board’s responsibility to hire or fire a director. It also appears a minority of the board held Forrest up to goals he was unaware of and after the fact blamed him for not meeting their goals.

He should be rehired, given clear goals and objectives and reviewed on a regular basis. In fact, the board itself should also be subject to its own evaluation and reviewed on a regular basis.

I hope this issue is resolved quickly and the museum can get back to its primary mission.

Jim McCreight

Beaverton, Ore.