Letter: Nassau Community interim president
Nassau Community College in East Garden City is shown in August 2012. Credit: Google
The executive committees of Nassau Community College's Academic Senate, the NCC Federation of Teachers, and the academic department chairs call upon the college's trustees to appoint an interim president from outside the college who is ineligible to apply for the permanent position of president ["NCC trustees to meet on presidential search," News, July 8].
State University of New York guidelines regarding the selection of a president warn that an internal candidate can cloud the search. It's time to end the contentious climate at the college, ushered in by the retirement of president Sean Fanelli in 2010, and revive the collaborative spirit that has made NCC a jewel of Nassau County.
In the last few years, there's been a progressive decline in student services because of a decrease in full-time faculty. Class sizes and tuition have increased, further impeding student success. Fiscal exigencies need to be addressed through innovative fundraising, not cuts in services to our students.
In the end, it's our students who suffer from the failure to secure permanent visionary leadership for our college.
Evelyn Wortsman Deluty
M. Debra DeSanto
Lynn Mazzola
Garden City
Editor's note: The writers represent, respectively, the NCC Academic Senate, Federation of Teachers and academic department chairs.
