Central Los Angeles : New College Chief Under Fire

The recent selection of longtime East Los Angeles College administrator Ernest H. Moreno as president of the 15,000-student community college is under fire from a coalition of student and community leaders who say that the new president should speak Spanish, among other things.

Moreno’s critics say that the Los Angeles Community College District board of trustees, which unanimously picked Moreno in June, should instead appoint a Spanish-speaking Latino with a doctorate to head the school, which is the largest of the city’s community colleges. Nearly three-quarters of East Los Angeles College’s students are Latino, as is Moreno.