In a Tense Meeting, Miami Dade Trustees Name an Interim President

The headhunters had packed their bags. The search committee was disbanded. But just about everyone — civic, business, and college leaders — seemed furious with how Miami Dade College’s monthslong presidential search had devolved into bizarre tweets, surprise twists, and allegations of political rigging.

A crowded special meeting of the college’s Board of Trustees on Thursday morning featured tense arguments and accusations of censorship, before reaching a conclusion: The board unanimously appointed Rolando Montoya, a former trustee and provost of the college, to be its interim president as trustees search — again — for the successor to President Eduardo J. Padrón, who is retiring.

Padrón confirmed this week that Friday would be his last day, raising the pressure to find a leader. Montoya will take office on Saturday.

The trustees expect Montoya to hold the position for six months to a year, until a new search turns up a permanent president. Montoya will scout new search firms for the board to use, and said he would consult with trustees individually in the coming weeks.

Many local leaders were outraged that the process had reached this point at all. In February, Padrón announced the end of his 24-year presidency of Miami Dade, one of the largest and most diverse colleges in the country. In the months that followed, a search firm and a 17-member search committee narrowed a pool of dozens of candidates to four finalists.

But a majority of the seven-member Board of Trustees, newly appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis during the search, said they weren’t satisfied with the original search process. They suggested considering candidates with less-conventional qualifications for the presidency.

In a twist last month, they voted 6 to 1 to start over, tossing out all but one candidate, Lenore Rodicio, the executive vice president and provost. Rodicio is the only internal finalist, and she will remain in the running during the new search.

Weeks of relative silence from college officials fueled speculation on all sides. The Miami Herald editorial board, the mayor, the faculty union, and former search-committee members excoriated the trustees’ July vote amid suspicions of political tampering. Some faculty members sued the board for allegedly violating due process by scrapping its original procedures.

The critics also wondered aloud whether the board’s new members had a secret candidate in mind. (A spokeswoman for DeSantis has denied the Republican governor’s involvement in the search.)

At Thursday’s meeting, speakers representing faculty members, donors, and local officials lambasted the board during public comments.

The decision to restart the search had “discredited the committee members, the candidates, and the process, not to mention the college, the foundation,” said Julie Grimes, chair of the Miami Dade College Foundation, “and yes, you as trustees.” She said the upheaval threatened to disrupt the college’s ability to raise funds from its donors.

Mayor Carlos A. Giménez echoed many of the same concerns about the search process before excusing himself. “There is a hurricane that might be bearing down on Miami Dade,” he said, “and there are some things I need to do.”

The most outspoken new trustee, Marcell Felipe, a lawyer, has in recent weeks countered with his own allegations that the original process was rigged. In a letter to the foundation, a video posted to social media, and an email to The Chronicle, he defended the need for a new search, and suggested that Rodicio was improperly tied to the college’s Confucius Institute. (The institutes have come under fire from lawmakers, including Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, as arms of Chinese influence.)

At Thursday’s meeting, Bernie Navarro, the board’s chair and the only holdout in last month’s vote to restart the search, said the implication was “McCarthyism,” and he engaged in a brief shouting match with Felipe. They agreed not to discuss it further, until the institute comes up on the board’s agenda at its September 17 meeting.

Juan Mendieta, a college spokesman, said by email that agenda items about the search firm and search committee “may not be ready” by September and may instead come up in October.

Padrón, who has no formal role in the search process, has declined to comment on it to reporters, but told the Herald this week that “it’s very, very personal to me.”

Montoya is a former longtime administrator at the college, serving for almost three decades as faculty member, academic dean, campus president, and college provost. He was also one of the trustees replaced by Governor DeSantis this year.

As interim president, Montoya will oversee Miami Dade’s nine campuses and centers.

Montoya, echoing leaders like Padrón and the donor Louis Wolfson III, praised Rodicio as “an excellent candidate.” He said that he had rebuffed calls to leave his three-year retirement and lead the college but that he had changed his mind after seeing the “anxiety” and “divisiveness” that has spread since July.

Montoya should help settle some of that anxiety in the meantime, Elizabeth Ramsay, a senior associate professor and president of the faculty union, told The Chronicle. “He’s highly respected at the college.”

But Ramsay, who is also a plaintiff in the faculty’s lawsuit against the board, remains wary of the trustees. “They’re waiting for people to stop paying attention,” Ramsay said. “Which of course, the faculty will not.”

“I’m ready,” Montoya told the board at the end of the two-hour meeting. “I’m ready to bring peace, to bring harmony, to facilitate the process, to give you the time that you need in order to do your job. I am very grateful for the trust that you have deposited in me.”

The room applauded. Minutes later, after trustees sorted out their next steps, a single boo floated from the back.

Follow Steven Johnson on Twitter at @stetyjohn, or email him at steve.johnson@chronicle.com.