GUEST EDITORIAL↓
Pasadena just finished with its local elections, and the voters have chosen our new mayor. On Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena City College was also in the middle of selecting its new Superintendent-President (SP).
By Mike Pashistoran
By the end of this month, we could learn the new SP. (In fact, there are reports saying Dr. Rajen Vurdien has now been selected, pending his acceptance & negotiation.)
I don’t work, nor am I presently a student, at the college. Yet there’s been controversy the last couple of years throughout campus, which made it into the media and out to the community. This trouble centered on the now departed former Superintendent-President, Mark Rocha (who is currently a finalist for the Chancellor’s position of the North Orange Community College District.) Because of this, I decided to get a glimpse of the selection process for his replacement by attending one of their campus & community forums held for each of the 3 candidates.
The Candidates
The Candidates: Dr. Patricia Hsieh, Dr. Rajen Vurdien, and interim PCC SP Dr. Robert Miller.
Hseih & Vurdien are the “outsiders,” and both are presidents of other California community colleges. Dr. Miller, obviously, was the “insider” and in fact a PCC alumnus. Although I knew next to nothing about Miller, it was still better than nothing, which is all I had to go on with the other two candidates. What little I knew was positive, leading me to hope he would be chosen as permanent SP.
At the Forum
PCC’s Westerbeck Recital Hall (Photo – Mike Pashistoran).
So off I went to the final forum at PCC to confirm my positive suspicions by hearing and meeting Dr. Miller.
The PCC Board of Trustees, assisted by a search committee, will select the new president. The forum was held at the relatively new Westerbeck Recital Hall with an estimated capacity of 400, which I estimated was only 1/3 filled to capacity. I hope all the PCC people who were upset with President Rocha made it into the audience to check out these candidates. Much better to scream and protest now than when the new PS is firmly in office.
Mr. Miller, was up on stage by himself in a neat, conservative business suit adorned with his lapel “medals.” A questioner was off to his side feeding him questions, lasting at least an hour, from the audience.
From my nearly front row seat, I was impressed with Miller’s answers to each question. And also relieved. He was confirming my hope that he would be a good SP and strong enough to possibly be chosen as the new SP. His answers sounded thoughtful, knowledgeable, understandable, and open to the views of others. His style conveyed simplicity, conciseness, matter-of-factness, coolness, and little emotion. Looking for a colorful or stimulating speaker? Then he’s probably not your man.
After the final question, he took a seat in the row in front of me. I hunched over to happily compliment him on being a good, knowledgeable communicator.
One to one
In the personal meet & greet, I was “first in line.” I again thanked & complimented him while introducing myself as a writer for several Pasadena websites. I simply wanted to ask one basic question and get a photo, then come back here to tell y’all there’s no reason why Dr. Robert Miller should not be the new, and probably best, choice for Superintendent-President of PCC! I may be paraphrasing his exact wording a little, but these are his exact answers. . . .
Q: Dr. Miller, what would you say to those who need to know why they should select you rather than your competitors, the other candidates, for the new PS of PCC?
A: I can’t answer that — I don’t know the other candidates.
(I thought it a bit strange to hear this response. He’s not fully prepared for at least the basic questions? But, I continued. . . .)
Q: OK, well, can you just tell me why you think you would be the best choice for PS?
A: Either he said, “Oh, I can’t answer that” or, “Oh, I’m not going to answer that.”
(This answer surprised me while beginning to deflate my Miller enthusiasm.)
Suddenly, he turned to someone and said, in reference to me, either, “Oh, he’s a blogger” or “Oh, he’s just a blogger.” Whichever, I heard the tone sounding as, “Oh, he’s just a blogger”. Although I did tell him I was a writer for several websites, including one which is a blog, I don’t recall mentioning the word “blog” at all. Apparently, he had jumped to conclusions. I was now surprised and disappointed.
So far, in my brief, up-close & personal time with Miller, I had nothing. Well, I’ll at least get that photo and depart to give the next person a chance to meet the potential new PS of PCC.
Q: All right, can I just take a photo of you?
A: I’m not sure that’s allowed by the selection/search committee.
(Somehow, I’m still being surprised)
Q: Can I ask someone from the selection/search committee?
A: Hey, (selection/search committee member), this guy wants to take my photo — is that permitted?
(I’m no longer surprised by Miller’s caution, or is it hesitance, to give me anything? The s/s committee member looks at both of us with a look of surprise that the question needs even to be asked and with a big smile says, “Oh, sure! Go ahead! Sure. You want me in the shot, too?)
I quickly take a shot. It came out okay. Good. Once was enough.
Dr. Robert Miller (Photo – Mike Pashistoran).
I turn to leave, disappointed with “my choice,” at which time I see PCC Board of Trustees member (and former mayoral candidate) Bill Thomson and his wonderful wife. We chat and I’m able to leave with my spirits renewed.
So, what does this all mean? At the minimum, two things. One, that the impression of someone from your impersonal position, say sitting out in an audience, can differ radically from the impression you receive from actually meeting/speaking to that same person one-to-one. Also, I now wish I’d attended the forums of Dr. Miller’s competition.
Despite this experience, I have no real reason to think Dr. Miller would not be at least an improvement over his predecessor. It’s just that after this forum, I‘m not as confident to say I hope Miller will be chosen the new PS over the other candidates.
Do the readers have any personal experience or knowledge of these three candidates running to be the next leader of PCC? If anyone felt like I did from this experience with Dr. Miller, well, we may soon learn a different candidate was chosen for PS. Let us know.
Leaving, thinking I got next to nothing, I actually learned more than I expected. First impressions are very important, but second impressions count, too.
Mike Pashistoran contributes to ColoradoBoulevard.net & other websites. He is a member of the Pasadena Museum of History and Pasadena Heritage and co-administers the popular Pasadena Politics page and group on Facebook.
I think you’re confusing a hiring process with a campaign. It would be extremely unprofessional for Miller to start “campaigning” to the public about his superiority to the other candidates. No candidate for an academic leadership position ever does that, and would immediately be taken out of consideration if they did. For one thing, it’s not his job to even know about the other applicants for the position, much less compare himself to them. Where did you get the idea that he’s supposed to do that? His job is to simply present his qualifications and ideas to the Board, and then they make decide who is best. He’s not supposed to ever state his own belief that he’s the best one, since he doesn’t even know who he’s competing with. So, he was quite right not to answer your inappropriate questions.
You ought to study how the process works before your start criticizing people in the way you have here.