Community members largely unconnected to MiraCosta College will play a big role in helping to choose its next president, MiraCosta trustees have decided.
Nine of the 22 voting members of a search committee tasked with screening candidates will be from outside the college, while two others will represent a foundation that raises money for the college.
“We need to have people on the search committee who want what is best for the community college as an institution, and not just their area,” Trustee Rodolfo Fernandez said during a board meeting Tuesday.
The move was a sharp departure from a 21-member search committee, composed primarily of administrators, staff and instructors, that recommended only two finalists in April and said none of the other candidates were qualified to lead the college. Trustees rejected both finalists.
MiraCosta College has looked for a president since the departure last year of Victoria Muñoz Richart, after a scandal involving the illegal sale of palm trees belonging to the college's horticulture department.
Faculty members and other staff said Richart's investigation into the case, and a separate probe into cash-handling on the Oceanside campus, was heavy-handed and demoralized the college community. MiraCosta's trustees eventually gave Richart $1.6 million in cash, salary and benefits as part of a departure settlement.
Against that backdrop, some trustees have argued that community members should have a greater say in picking the college's next chief executive.
“The buy-in begins here at the search process,” Trustee Carolyn Batiste said. She argued that at least half of the committee's members be from the greater community.
The trustees have set a self-imposed deadline for the end of December to hire a president. To make that happen, trustees should hire a search firm in July and the deadline for applicants should come in October, said Jim Austin, the college's vice president of business.
Each of the seven trustees will appoint a committee member from the community they represent. Two will be appointed by a separate procedure the trustees haven't yet agreed upon, and another two will be from the MiraCosta College Foundation.
Other search committee members will be: one college vice president; the provost of MiraCosta's San Elijo campus; one dean; three faculty members; two associate faculty members; two nonteaching employees; one nonteaching administrator; and two students.
Bruce Lieberman: (760) 476-8205; bruce.lieberman@uniontrib.com
