Bellevue College Trustees to Address Questions on Extended Presidential Search

Bellevue College Board of Trustees is holding a forum on Wednesday to address questions raised regarding . 

 when she was named the Chancellor of Western Governors University Washington.

A year after Floten's departure, and eight months after hiring an executive search firm, the board of trustees have not yet made a choice.

Board of Trustees Chairwoman Vicki Orrico wrote in an announcement of Wednesday's forum that "there is a great deal of misunderstanding about why we have chosen to extend the presidential search."

She wrote that the meeting will address some of the questions raised at a meeting in early May with the campus community, where staff questioned the presidential search process, according to an account in The Watchdog.

Orrico said in the letter that the trustees also will address changes the "presidential profile," a new timeline, a change of search firm and other issues. (See announcement below.) 

Orrico explained the board's decision to continue the search in a letter to the campus community sent last month.

"We agreed beforehand that a candidate would need broad support from the board to be chosen. Unfortunately, while several candidates had strong support, no one candidate could garner broad enough support from the board," she wrote in the letter.

The college also extended the contract of interim president Laura Saunders. Saunders was originally hired to serve from July 18, 2011 to April 15, 2012. .

One candidate who was known publicly, Cheryl Roberts, the president of Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Ore., announced in a press release in April -- days after the board extended Saunders' contract -- that she had withdrawn her candidacy for the Bellevue position.

Roberts' press release said that the extensive Bellevue search was interfering with her commitments at Chemeketa. According to the Salem Statesman-Journal, Roberts informed colleagues in March that she was one of the finalists for the Bellevue top job.

At the Board of Trustees meeting last week, Orrico said only that the board has been discussing its next steps.

Open forum announcement as posted to the Bellevue College website:

Presidential Search Process Open Forum

The Board of Trustees is inviting the campus community to join us on Wednesday afternoon, from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm for another open forum on the presidential search process.  At the first forum questions were raised that we would like to address.  It is clear from the prior week’s forum and the BCAHE Executive Committee resolution that there is a great deal of misunderstanding about why we have chosen to extend the presidential search.  The Board has considered the issues that were raised in the open forum and will focus on the following for Wednesday’s meeting—

• What is not being done this year that we need to address before a new president is named
• What transpired during the Board’s first round of presidential interviews and how we arrived at the decision to move forward
• What process is envisioned for pursuing the search -
• Change of search firm
• Changes to the presidential profile
• Timeline for the search, including work over the summer
• Composition and role of the search committee
• Opportunities for campus input

I hope you will be able to join us.

Best regards,

Vicki Orrico
Chair
Bellevue College Board of Trustees