The presidential search committee at Miami Dade College meets this week to resume the politically-tainted process of finding a new leader to take the nationally-recognized state college into the future. They will review 60-plus applications for the top job and whittle that down to a maximum of 10.
But it might be another colossal waste of time.
Sources say there’s a new fix in: former Harvard professor and lecturer Carlos Diaz-Rosillo, who has been roaming around Donald Trump’s White House in several positions since the transition team — including a stint as the POTUS mouthpiece en español. This is the man who toured Spanish-language TV shows and newscasts to defend Trump’s order to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals so the U.S. could deport these so-called “Dreamers” — including some MDC students — to countries they don’t remember. Is he really the best person for this job?
Or is this a here we go again moment?
The process to replace longtime and beloved president Eduardo Padron, who retired last year after more than a quarter century, was already hijacked by political interference. Last summer, the Board of Trustees tossed out the first shortlist of four finalists chosen by a selection committee and started all over again because they didn’t get who they wanted. It was rumored that who they wanted was former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz and, when they couldn’t change the rules — which included watering down the criteria and an extension for more applicants — they scrapped the whole process, after much protest from faculty and community leaders who called it a “circus” and a “shitshow” and led a protest against the political meddling.
Read related: Political palanca puts Miami Dade College president search on pause
This time, after a delay caused by the COVID-19 crisis, las malas lenguas say a new, handpicked selection committee — many original members refused to participate in the charade — has handpicked Diaz-Rosillo. The Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote on Nov. 17.
“The search has resumed and there’s an effort to be thorough and expeditious,” said MDC spokesman Juan Mendieta.
Currently the senior deputy chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Diaz-Rosillo worked on Trump’s presidential transition team and in the White House from January 2017 to June 2018 as spokesman, deputy assistant to the president, executive authority adviser, deputy director and director of Policy and Interagency Coordination. Most of his work focused on the implementation of national security policy.
Before joining the Trump Administration, Diaz-Rosillo was a professor at Harvard, where he taught popular courses on American politics and the American presidency. His areas of expertise include presidential power, policy-making and policy implementation, and national security policy.
Not on the list: higher education.
Former Republican State Rep. Michael Bileca, who was rumored to be behind the Diaz coup, is also the one reportedly pushing hardest for Diaz-Rosillo. He is one of three trustees on the new search committee. Bernie Navarro, the only one who voted against starting over again last year, is no longer on the selection committee and has reportedly been sidelined.
Read related: MDC trustees ignore community, continue tainted president search
Bileca, who everyone says is a proxy for Gov. Ron DeSantis, really wanted Diaz, his onetime BFF and Tallahassee roommate. But he can’t do that now that everybody knows about it, so he found a new political pal — a Trump loyalist, to boot — for the powerful position. In addition to a $500,000 salary and benefits package, the job comes with hundreds of millions in operating and capital funds, tens of thousands of jobs and dozens of programs, construction projects, contracts and events — in other words, lots of opportunities for kickbacks and bribes and quid pro quo.
The “position profile,” posted on MDC’s website, is “an accomplished leader who has the ability to successfully lead and manage a large, multi-site, complex higher education organization.”
The new 17-member search committee has had access for weeks through an intranet to the applications and CVs, two or three of which were submitted right before Friday’s deadline. Ladra made a public records request for the list on Friday but did not get it before the weekend. One inside source said some of the applicants include deans and chairs at other colleges and universities as well as military leaders. The only applicant carried over from the abandoned process last year is MDC Vice President and Provost Lenore Rodicio, who was the faculty favorite.
The committee meets at 2 p.m. Wednesday to hear from Rod McDavis, whose firm was paid to screen the applicants, and select eight to 10 wannabes for the shortlist. Those applicants will be interviewed in person or via video conference on Nov. 5 and 6 to narrow the pool to four or five finalists. Those finalists will be invited Nov. 12 to 16 for a second round of in-person interviews with the Board of Trustees, search committee members and key stakeholders. This is also when they go through the background checks and have their references checked.
Then the Board of Trustees meets Nov. 17 to review the feedback from the candidate visits and vote on a new president.
Seems like a lot of theater if Diaz-Rosillo has already been chosen.
Tainted MDC presidential search may end with Donald Trump adviser in post added by Ladra on
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