Candidates’ Field Narrows for Mission Presidency

Four finalists--three Latinos and a white--were recommended Wednesday for the presidency of Mission College during a closed meeting of the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees.

This is the second attempt to find a president for the college. An earlier round of applicants was rejected after district administrators complained the pool was inferior and included no Latino finalists to lead the mostly Latino campus.

District administrators declined to release the names of the candidates, who were recommended by a committee. The finalists will attend campus forums and interviews at the end of the month.

Three of the candidates are from outside California, and those familiar with the search process say the group is an improvement over the first attempt to replace William Norlund, who resigned a year ago.

The initial process was scrapped last summer after it turned into a politically charged debate between trustees, who complained the candidates’ pool was too shallow, and local community activists and politicians, who rallied behind Sayeed Ali, an aide to state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) and a liaison for Legislative Latino Caucus Sacramento.

State Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar), who also backed Ali, issued a statement Wednesday announcing an upcoming legislative audit of the Los Angeles Community College presidential search process.

District lobbyist Patrick McCallum said the board has already improved the process and called the move unnecessary.

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There were 35 applicants this time, down from 55 in the first search. But according to district administrators familiar with the process, the quality of the current pool is much better.

“The [search] committee introduced a requirement that candidates must have dean-level experience,” district Chancellor Mark Drummond said. “Last time we got people who didn’t have that much experience with the college environment.”

Drummond added that no legislative aides were included in the latest candidate pool.

The district also retained a search firm, Community College Search Services, a Ventura-based company headed by Al Fernandez, who was president of Mission College between 1980 and 1982.

Last time around, the district posted job listings on its own. The firm cost the district $20,000, a worthwhile investment, according to Lucian Carter, associate vice chancellor of human resources.

“The quality of the candidates looks very good to me,” Carter said. “I can put ads in the journals, but I don’t have the contacts of people who are looking or sitting on a job and maybe need some encouragement.”

District officials close to the process said “encouragement” was needed because many prospective candidates had heard about Mission College’s reputation as a political hotbed.

But Fernandez said he was able to sell the post based on his knowledge of the college and its potential.

“I told them this was the newest college in the district,” Fernandez said. “It’s ready to expand. It has already filled up its campus with about 7,000 students. It’s in a nice part of Los Angeles, in the northwest part of the county, and it has a student body that’s diverse, with a large Hispanic population that could utilize the services of a community college.”

District officials have scheduled final interviews and public candidate forums April 24 to 26.