A former college administrator Gov. Gretchen Whitmer installed as head of her Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential reportedly spent thousands on travel expenses to commute in a move Whitmer’s administration called a “cost-saving measure”.

Whitmer praised Beverly Walker-Griffea’s “record of leadership and excellence” when she named the former president of Mott Community College director of MiLEAP in May 2024, noting how the school’s first woman and Black president was “instrumental in the transformation of MCC.”

Less than a year later, an investigation by MLive reveals the college paid Walker-Griffea more than $78,000 in 2022 and 2023 to commute to work in Flint from Virginia, despite a contract that required her “to reside within twenty (20) miles of the nearest college district boundary.”

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The expense, which included airfare, hotels, car rentals, and per diem payments for meals, was in addition to her roughly $400,000 annual compensation, among the highest for community college presidents in the Great Lakes State.

Walker-Griffea landed the massive payout despite spending less than half her time in Michigan.

According to MLive, “Walker-Griffea appears to have spent just 128 days in Michigan in the final 11 months of 2022. She had flights on at least 43 of those 128 days.”

It was a similar situation in 2023, until she claimed “relocation” in September of that year, according to receipts obtained by MLive.

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“I’ve never come across a situation where a president spends most of their time working remotely in any kind of university setting, whether it’s a community college, a four-year undergraduate liberal arts school or an R1 research institution,” James Finkelstein, who has studied college president employment for two decades as a professor at George Mason University, told the news site. “Never heard of it anywhere.”

Some of MCC’s former trustees defended Walker-Griffea’s unprecedented arrangement. Former trustee Anne Figueroa told MLive the college’s president’s residence was undergoing renovations, and Walker-Griffea was working through health issues with doctors “on the East Coast.”

Others said they had serious concerns.

“One of the key roles the president does is to be the representative of the college in the community,” trustee John Daly said, “and, from my perspective, that’s difficult to do if you’re gone a significant amount of the time.”

Michigan taxpayers contributed more than $18 million to MCC in the current fiscal year, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency.

Whitmer established MiLEAP through executive order in December 2023 with a mission to improve education outcomes from preschool through postsecondary, and has worked to siphon funding from the Michigan Department of Education to support its work.

The shifting funds prompted the State Board of Education and Superintendent Michael Rice to seek a formal legal opinion from Attorney General Dana Nessel on whether MiLEAP violates the separation of power in the Michigan Constitution.

“We’ve challenged the constitutionality of what she’s doing in many respects because the Constitution is clear that the Michigan Department of Education and the state Board of Education is over all education in Michigan as far as programing,” Tom McMillin, state board member, told CBS News in February 2024.

Nessel ultimately opined that the Whitmer EO that created MiLEAP “is clearly not unconstitutional on its face,” according to The Detroit News.

After a decade at MCC, Walker-Griffea announced her retirement in April 2024 amid tense relations with the college’s board president, securing $300,000 in payments over two years for what officials claim was leftover vacation and sick time, as well as performance bonuses, MLive reports.

A month later, Whitmer installed Walker-Griffea at the head of MiLEAP.

“I am grateful and humbled that Governor Whitmer has placed her trust in me to lead MiLEAP,” Walker-Griffea said in a statement following her appointment. “This is an exciting opportunity for me to use my education and experiences to improve Michigan’s workforce talent outcomes. I look forward to creating more pathways that prepare Michiganders with post secondary credentials that lead to family-sustaining jobs.”

Neither Walker-Griffea nor Whitmer responded to MLive’s requests for comment, but an official with MiLEAP who agreed to speak on background described Walker-Griffea’s arrangement at MCC as a “cost-saving measure” for MCC while the college renovated the president’s residence.

The official claims MiLEAP is not paying Walker-Griffea to commute from Virginia, though a FOIA request from MLive to confirm that is pending.

The official would not answer whether Walker-Griffea works remotely from Virginia.

“She lives in Michigan,” the source said.

“Three months of Walker-Giffea’s MiLEAP schedule obtained by MLive through a Freedom of Information Act request show more than 30 days in that period marked with designations such as ‘no in-person appointments,’ ‘virtual meetings only,’ and ‘do not schedule,’” according to the news site. “In two instances, such designations were placed on five consecutive days.”

Walker-Griffea is registered to vote at an apartment in Genoa Township off Interstate 96, which MLive notes is “roughly midway between Lansing and Detroit Metro Airport.”