Hartnell College selects new president amid controversy

Despite controversy over the selection process, a new president and superintendent has been named at Hartnell College in Salinas.

The school’s board of trustees voted 6-1 on Tuesday in favor of installing the longtime president of San Diego Miramar College, Dr. Patricia Hsieh (pronounced SHEE-ah), to take on the role.

Dr Hsieh has been the president of San Diego Miramar College for over a decade. She is an immigrant from Taiwan and received her education at Harvard University and Pepperdine University in Malibu, among other schools.

After extensive interviews and narrowing down the list to three candidates, Hartnell College Board of Trustees President Aurelio Salazar Jr. says the board selected Dr. Hsieh because “she was the most qualified candidate who applied for the position.”

Salazar says they were looking for someone who could hit the ground running. The selection process included multiple interviews with the candidate, background checks and interviews with people who worked with Dr. Hsieh.

There were minimum qualifications for the job, including having a master’s degree, but the board also had preferred qualifications as well, like hiring someone with a doctorate.

The League of United Latin American Citizens in Salinas, or LULAC, was one of the more outspoken critics during the selection process for Hartnell’s new leader, especially toward some of the criteria to select a new president, which they saw as exclusionary and wanted revised.

“This is about opening the pool and inviting more candidates to apply for this position,” said Christopher Barrera, the president of LULAC Council 2055.

Just last week, LULAC accused the board of not putting any effort into finding candidates who reflected the majority of its student body, which is Latino.

But Barrera pushed back on Wednesday on accusations the group was trying to tell the board who to hire or what nationality they need to be.

“There’s plenty of candidates who are assistant superintendents or assistant presidents that are here locally that know the area that should’ve been given an opportunity,” said Barrera. “That’s all we’re saying.”

Salazar, however, says while they placed importance on finding a Latino or Latina candidate, ultimately it was not the deciding factor.

“I think it a majority of us know that it would be unlawful to select someone merely on their race, ethnicity or gender,” said Salazar. “So while it’s important to our community, we need to make sure we bring someone on board that knows how to run and operate a community college such as Hartnell.”

“I think it doesn’t really matter to me because everybody deserves a chance to do whatever they want to do in life,” said Adriel Mendoza, a student at Hartnell College.

Dr. Hsieh is slated to begin the job in September with an annual salary equal to that of the previous president at a little over $270,000 a year.