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Chancellor debate
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Carly Schorman
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Governing Board decides on internal search; yields only one candidate.

Views shared at open forum about the future of MCCD

Carly Schorman Mesa Legend

Members of the Coalition for Fairness, Quality, Equity, and Employment stand behind the group’s spokeswoman, Rosie Lopez, while she held a press conference at Phoenix Community College protesting the method by which a new chancellor is being selected.

An open forum was held Sept. 8 at Phoenix Community College as an opportunity for candidates to share their vision for the future of the Maricopa Community College District (MCCD) and answer questions from the community.
The application deadline for the position of chancellor of MCCD passed and only one person requested consideration for the job; current acting chancellor Rufus Glasper.
Consequently, as Glasper is currently the only person vying for the position, he was the only person available to answer community questions and concerns.
“I’ve been told to smile a lot, show my teeth, answer directly, and be on time,” Glasper laughingly relayed to the audience.
Glasper came to the district in 1986 from Chicago to serve as the director of finance. Since joining the MCCD, he “has held executive level leadership roles there for the past 17 years,” according to his biography.
While Glasper was speaking inside, the Coalition for Fairness, Quality, Equity, and Employment, a local organization formed in response to problems with the handling of Gaskin’s termination and finding a suitable replacement, assembled members to speak at a press conference held in front of the auditorium in opposition to the forum.
Manuel de Jesús Hernádez-Gutiérrez, a professor at ASU, expressed concern and said he was “appalled by only doing a local search.”
Members of the coalition refused to enter the auditorium in which the forum was held, in protest to the manner in which the search was handled.
According to Rosie Lopez, spokesperson for the coalition, the board members “calculatedly and shamelessly call (the event) an open forum. It’s not a selection process. There’s only one choice.”
Lopez also introduced an issue that many feel underlies the board’s decision. She expressed her opinion that the decision “snubbed the Hispanic community.”
The largest minority group in the district is Hispanic. By not opening the search to the rest of the nation, many groups feel the Hispanic or Latino community is not justly represented without consideration for external applicants.
“There were five Latino/Chicano (college) presidents, now there are only two,” Hernádez-Gutiérrez said.
Conversely, some who wanted Glasper to be named chancellor without a national search argued that failing to elect him immediately was also a “race issue,” as Bettye Jackson, local business owner, said following the board’s vote.
“I won’t make this into a race issue,” Councilman Michael Johnson of district 8 said.
However, in response to the number of Hispanic groups Johnson stated, “just as many African-American groups support Dr. Glasper.”
Manuel Frias, a member of the coalition, contended that the problem is not one of race.
“If talent resides in the community, so be it,” Frias said in regards to the internal search.
However, Frias also contended the district will “remain in a cloud of doubt” without a national search.


Volume 41, Issue 2. Today is .