College choice questionable

I just read an article (“CCS Hires Chancellor Despite Past Allegations”) on the front page of the May 18 issue of The Communicator from Spokane Falls Community College that disturbed me. It detailed how the board of directors of Spokane’s community college system had recently hired the former president of the Community College of Denver, who had been fired in 2007 for cause (actually, several causes) after an internal audit and an external audit apparently found enough fire along with the smoke to justify the person’s dismissal.

Knowing how difficult it is to boot someone out the door at a public institution, I am wondering what’s going on? Granted, this probably isn’t as ill-conceived as hiring a child molester to baby-sit your children, but it does beg the question as to whether or not there probably weren’t at least a few hundred other applicants around with similar or superior credentials and less unfavorable baggage who could have filled the slot.

Michael Renner

Spokane