Swee retires mid-semester

SPRINGFIELD – Students like Joe Monke are still wondering what happened to Psychology and Anthropology Professor Gary Swee right before spring break.

“They didn’t say anything at all,” Monke said. “Our new professor kind of just showed up and said he (Swee) wasn’t going to be there for the rest of the semester.”

Swee said he left teaching in the middle of the term instead of fighting a disagreement with the college administration.

Swee said: “I had a disagreement with
the administration. We interpret words differently, and they said I did something wrong, but I don’t think I did. And the way to deal with that was to move away from the situation.”

Swee said he was put on administrative leave and given the option to fight the charges, which neither the college nor Swee would discuss. He said it wasn’t worth the time and effort to fight the school. He ultimately decided that since he was eligible for retirement, that was the best decision.

Swee said, “The administration thinks they were doing what was best for the students.” Students leaving his classes said they were not told anything about Swee’s departure.

Lynn Whalen, executive director of Public Relations and Marketing, said, “I can confirm Professor Gary Swee retired on March 9.”

Monke said he would love to know what happened to Swee.

“I’m not happy the way it happened,” Swee said. “I think my students suffered because of it. They had to change teachers in the middle of the semester.”

Swee, who was in his 28th year full-time at LLCC, began teaching at the college in fall 1990.

Swee said his passion for anthropology stemmed from his time attending the University of California and Michigan State University.

Before his time at LLCC, Swee traveled to Iran, spending two years conducting research on nomadic people living in southwestern Iran.

Swee said he looked at “how they lived their lives, how they were changing, changes in the government and country.”

Now that Swee is retired he said he hopes to be able to travel and at-
tend more music festivals. Bluegrass is his favorite music, he said, and he hopes to attend more concerts of any genre.

“Music festivals would have a mix that gives you a chance to hear different kinds of music. So, folks you normally don’t listen to, you can say ‘Hey I listened to them.’ ”

Swee said he has two adult children.

When asked what he wanted to say to all his classes here at LLCC since he never got the chance to say goodbye, Swee said: “I think it was unfair to them unfortunately because of our disagreement and I miss my classes tremendously. It’s a sad time indeed.”

Zach Aiello can be reached at [email protected].