Of Hartnell and MPC presidents...

As figure heads, college presidents evoke lots of emotion. Whether it is about how they're hired or how much they make, all involved want to have a say on their college leaders.

No, MPC's Doug Garrison did not get a raise, as a student had heard. He's still making about $240,000 a year, even after taking a pay cut like the rest of the college personnel. A reader who identified himself/herself as "lrelgart" wrote on my blog:

"Ah. Good to know. As a student at MPC and a parent of a child here, I think he should reduce his salary by a $100,000 a year so that school programs can have the funding to continue our education."

Trustees will tell you it's probably impossible to hire a college president in California for $140,000 a year. Why would anybody want to come to Monterey, one of the most expensive areas in the state, to earn that much to lead a 10,000 student organization, when they could go elsewhere and make almost twice as much? It's not going to happen. And I understand the feelings behind it -- heck, I'd love to make $140,000, but unfortunately, my credentials would not be sufficient to lead an organization like MPC.

But precisely because they make so much money, and have such a strong influence in the destinies of their institutions, is why people get so emotionally involved with the process to select them. As well they should.

Hartnell faculty say the process to hire a new president has become tainted, after they found out the consultant retained to find candidates helped place a controversial educator at San Joaquin Delta College. At Delta, teachers and employees are terribly upset with the tenure of Jeff Marsee, who was placed on leave last week after only nine months on the job.

"I am upset at the fact that the Trustees chose Dr. Marsee and didn't do their own research aside from obtaining information from the consultant(s) who recommended him," wrote Claudia Navarro, an office assistant at Delta, in an email.

The moral of the story? No matter how Hartell decides to go about finding its new president, it'd be much better if an independent investigation is conducted on the final candidates. That would be a lot better than ending up with a bad president and nine months down the drain.