Seimears speaks out

In his first extended interviews since January firing, former LCC President Matt Seimears attributes ouster to power struggles; says he "not worried at all" about probe

This story has been edited to elaborate on Seimears’ induction into the Wall of Honor at the National Teacher Hall of Fame.

Former Lower Columbia College President Matt Seimears still does not know specifically why he was fired without cause on January 26, but he says his ouster ultimately boils down to friction with the college’s Board of Trustees and Vice President Kendra Sprague.

“This all was a power struggle and retaliation against me for doing my job. Every time I acted as the campus manager, something happened to me through the board,” he said in a series of interviews in person and by phone last month.

It was the first time since his firing that Seimears, 55, has spoken out at length since the five-member board of trustees unanimously ended his two-year tenure, which by far is the shortest of any LCC president in at least the last 60 years.

He challenged the college’s announcement that his firing had nothing to do with his decision to put Sprague on paid leave on December 2, saying it was clear case of retaliation.

Trustees President Marc Silva and Sprague, who remains on paid leave pending conclusion of an investigation into complaints against her, declined comment for this story.

In the interviews, Seimears had the demeanor of someone who believes he has been deeply wronged and is the victim of a conspiracy, which he said included a “weaponized” evaluation process. He said he should be judged by how well the college is thriving academically, athletically and philanthropically — and how his contract and college policy require.

The board’s termination of Seimears has disrupted the college at a time of soaring fortunes.

Despite having to cope with a $1.8 million cut in state support last year — about 5% of operating revenue — LCC enrollment zoomed up 16%. Male enrollment, which had sagged for years, finally is increasing. More double-digit enrollment growth is shaping up for this academic year.

Last fall the college introduced its fourth, 4-year degree program — computer science — joining the teaching education, nursing, and organizational leadership tracks.

The LCC Foundation’s “Opportunity Can’t Wait” fundraising campaign surpassed its $15 million fundraising goal. New baseball and technology education facilities are under construction.

In a 2024 organizational “climate” survey of community colleges, LCC scored higher than similar colleges in categories such as teamwork, supervisory relationships, student focus and institutional structure. About 180 LCC employees (30% of the staff) took the survey. The college’s lowest 1-to-5 composite score to 25 questions was 3.46. (Can I shape the direction of the college?) Its highest was 4.66 (Is my job relevant to the college?)

An October 15-17, 2025, accreditation study conducted by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities lauded LCC.

It concluded: “LCC’s is mission-focused and data informed. … LCC actively demonstrates a strong commitment to mission fulfillment, frequent systematic assessment, and continuous improvement focused on the success of its students and institutional effectiveness. Additionally, the evaluation team heard numerous examples from faculty using assessment data to improve the quality of learning in their programs.”

During a specially called meeting on January 6, the college trustees put Seimears on paid leave pending a complaint investigation. The nature of the complaint has not been made public. But then the board fired him without cause three weeks later, a move that entitled him to $160,000 severance but left a dangling question: Why not wait for the investigator, the nationwide law firm of Foster Garvey, to complete its work?

Seimears says he’s restricted from talking about the allegation against him, but he says he’ll easily disprove it. “I’m not worried about it at all.”

He said he has “copious evidence” to disprove the allegation.

Board of Trustees member Mike Karnofski, while acknowledging that it looks like the board jumped the gun, said the public will understand the board’s action once the probe is completed. Results of that probe had been expected in late March but likely are still some weeks off.

Meanwhile, the board has been accused of a lack of transparency and violating state open meetings laws. Some major donors say they are considering withdrawing bequests to the college.

There’s a lot about his story that remains opaque. It also is a quintessential small-town politics story. Many movers and shakers share civic and social connections.

Trustee Karnofski, for example, is a former Kelso Mayor and county commissioner and is a board member on the Cowlitz Economic Development Council, led by Sprague’s husband, Ted Sprague. Trustee Alice Dietz is good friends with Kendra Sprague.

Seimears, by contrast, came to the community as an outsider, although he is related to Kelso’s Newman family. (He is a cousin of Kenny Newman, a Kelso resident who died in a 1983 parachuting accident that I covered as a young reporter.)

More clarity may be coming soon. The college is expected to release a number of public records requests in coming weeks. Combined with documents I’ve already assembled, future stories will explore several aspects of the story, including:

• Seimears’ tenure at the college as a change agent whose style and priorities differed from those of his predecessor, Chris Bailey, and how that affected campus relationships and power._.

• Conflicts over a controversial presidential evaluation that Seimears contends was improper, hijacked to make him look bad and became a “gut punch” that prompted him to apply late last summer for the presidency of Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. (He was a finalist but didn’t get the job.)

• The LCC trustees’ decision to put Seimears under the guidance of an executive leadership coach, and what followed.

Seimears has the direct, intense gaze and a rapid, forceful manner of speech. He has a native Kansan’s diligent work ethic. His grandparents owned a dairy farm.

He was an equipment designer and welder for Nabisco before becoming an educator. At Nabisco he was making only $3.50 an hour in 1989. A fellow welder told him he was too smart to be laboring at such a low-wage position and — using his experience with this own children — helped Seimears fill out applications for financial assistance and community college.

In 2012, he was inducted onto the Wall Honor at the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kansas, where a brick is engraved in his honor and appears online as “Dr. Matt Seimears.” He was nominated by Emporia State University after he was named an outstanding instructor and researcher and won the presidential researcher and creativity award, Seimears said.

His welding background is one reason he values vocational education particular,

^“I fell in love with college in 1990. I packed up an old VW Rabbit and headed off to college. I love the academic environment.”

Seimears was enthusiastically involved in LCC campus life. He and his family — wife Lindsey (a remote nursing professor at Oregon Health Sciences University), son, Charlie, and daughter, Weslie — frequently attended Red Devils athletic events, plays and concerts on campus.

(Charlie graduates from LCC this June with an associate degree in science. Weslie is a Running Start student at LCC studying elementary education. LCC faculty have been “wonderful” to his kids, Seimears said.)

In a throwback to his welding days, Seimears still is a hobby blacksmith. A corner of his Columbia Heights garage is set aside for a forge, anvils and a wide array of vintage hammers. The pursuit mirrors how obsessively he pounds away at what he considers assaults on his integrity and competency.

The run-up to his eventual termination landed him on medical leaves for spurts of time last fall. Still, he retains a glimmer of hope he might one day be reinstated, and he is weighing his options, including possible legal action.

A headhunting firm approached him to lead a college in Montana and he’s under consideration at the University of Maine. He expects to hear about those posts shortly.

Despite the bitterness he feels toward the LCC trustees, Seimears emphasizes there is a silver lining to the story. Leading LCC “is something that I loved and cherished. I felt like we were doing phenomenal things,” he said.

On the other hand, “I never realized for the past two years how invisible my kids have been to me because I’ve been so busy. I worked all the time. My wife says I was at the college more than I was at home. I worked Saturdays and Sundays. I worked Christmas afternoon.

“I poured my heart into LCC, but being home during this experience has got me to open my eyes and see my kids more and listen and sit with them and talk with them. … It has been an opportunity for me to pump the brakes and be a dad again.”

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