Board of Trustees elects new president

By Michael Toren

The City College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to elect a new president and vice president on Jan. 25 for the 2018 calendar year. Outgoing President Thea Selby presented flowers to the new board president, Brigitte Davila, and vice president, Alex Randolph.

“I find it very humbling…to be elected as an openly gay, black trustee to the role of vice president,” Randolph said.

“I think it’s extra special during a time like this, where our city and our country is under siege by a racist administration, to have three leaders of color. We have a Latino chancellor, a Latina president and an African American vice president,” Randolph added, to cheers from the audience. He said it demonstrated what San Francisco values were.

“I want to thank the board for their confidence in me, and also thank Thea Selby for all of her work in a very trying year,” said Davila.  “I hope I can do as good of a job as you.”

One of the more challenging decisions the board faced last year was the selection of a new chancellor.

“We stuck together as a board because we thought that this chancellor was the best thing for our college, not that we thought it was going to be particularly well accepted by the close community,” Selby said.

“I thank Chancellor Rocha for his leadership and for his patience.  We do not always agree.  There are I think what people say is ‘robust discussions’—which means you’re fighting with each other,” she said with a smile. “But I always felt respected, and I always felt that my opinion was listened to.”