Five finalists who've been selected to be chancellor of City College of San Francisco, including two who are LGBTQ, will be touring the campus next week.
Mitchell Bailey, a gay man who is currently the interim chancellor, is one of them. He had told the Bay Area Reporter last May when he stepped in for David Martin that he wasn't intending on seeking the permanent position, but has apparently changed his mind. While Bailey is the college's first gay male leader, he's not the first out interim chancellor; that distinction belongs to lesbian Susan Lamb, who was tapped for the position in 2015, as the B.A.R. reported.
Another person seeking the chancellorship is Carlos Cortez, Ph.D., the former chancellor of the San Diego Community College District. Cortez is the first chancellor in the state's community college system to identify as queer and nonbinary, according to a writeup published by his alma mater, the University of Southern California.
Cortez, 50, told the B.A.R. March 10 that he'd seen the position available several times and decided to give it a shot. He'd spent some time as an undergraduate in the Bay Area in the 1990s.
"[UC] Berkeley undergrad helped awaken my own queer identity," Cortez said. "My folks made me go back to the East Coast, because they were concerned I was changing too quickly."
After finishing his master's at Georgetown University, Cortez returned to the Golden State. He said he set his eyes on City College because, "I appreciate the population the college serves, the mission of the institution and believe it has an important history that can't be understated."
Cortez said he'd be a good addition because he has helped facilitate communication between different stakeholders, such as the academic senate and faculty groups. He noted that historic relations between administration and the faculty union at City College needed some improvement.
Rounding out the finalists are Rudy Besikof, Ed.D., president of Laney College in Oakland; Kimberlee Messina, Ed.D., president of Spokane Falls Community College in Washington state; and Henry Yong, Ed.D., Ed.S., chancellor of the Yosemite Community College District.
Besikof oversaw the opening of the first queer student center at Laney earlier last year, as the Peralta Community College District's student publication The Citizen reported. He has been serving as Laney's president since 2020, and before his arrival there as vice president of instruction in 2018, was a chief instructional officer and a dean in different single and multi-college districts in the state. He was the winner of the 2024 Outstanding Community Partner Award from the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.
Messina worked in the California Community College system for 26 years before she went to the Evergreen State. This includes a decade as a tenured faculty member at Santa Rosa Junior College, time as interim president of Foothill College (her permanent position was vice president of instruction and institutional research) and also two years as vice chancellor for educational services and planning at the San Mateo County Community College District.
Yong's district includes Modesto Junior College and Columbia College in Sonora. He was previously the president of Evergreen Valley College in San Jose for six years, and the vice president of instruction at Taft College in Kern County.
When asked to speak with any of the finalists, the B.A.R. was referred to City College's human resources department, which did not return two emails by press time March 7.
Forums open to the public, both in person and via Zoom, "will allow the finalists to introduce themselves, share their vision and priorities, and respond to questions gathered from the campus community. The forums will be facilitated by students, faculty, classified professionals, and administrators," according to a news release from the community college.
According to a special webpage City College officials created for the chancellor's search, the forums will be held daily starting Monday, March 10, and run through Friday, March 14. There are different times throughout the day for various campus stakeholders, with those for the public set to begin each day at 5:15 p.m.
They are to be held in person in Room 101 of the recently opened Steam Building at the college's main Ocean Campus at 50 Frida Kahlo Way. The forums will also be accessible online via this Zoom link.
The finalists will be voted on by the San Francisco Community College District Board of Trustees in mid-April, with the expectation the person selected will start July 1. On behalf of the board, trustee Alan Wong stated to the B.A.R. March 7 that the "trustees agreed not to have any comment at this time."
The district has a budget of $300 million, and City College is its sole constituent community college. The San Francisco Chronicle reported last year that layoffs and budget cuts in an attempt to achieve fiscal stability made former chancellor Martin unpopular with parts of the faculty union.
While the board was able to approve a balanced budget and set aside a 5% reserve, it faced harsh criticism from students and faculty over the cuts it made to do so. And it is already bracing for more fiscal challenges as it works on its next budget and in coming years.
In adopting its budget last year, the college district warned it could be facing a $171,494 in the fiscal year that begins July 1. And it projected the deficit could balloon to nearly $8.5 million in fiscal year 2027-2028.
One thing Cortez said he'd like to focus on if selected as the next chancellor is boosting City College's noncredit, also called continuing education, program. He said San Francisco had been the leader in that field till he beefed up the San Diego program.
"This is the core of DEI work if you're interested in social justice through education," he said, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion. "You're working with the must vulnerable members of our community."
UPDATED 3/11/25 with comment from chancellor candidate Carlos Cortez, Ph.D.
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