Public uses open forum to opine on what type of president at Chico State it wants

CSU committee hears from speakers as it searches for Gayle Hutchinson’s replacement

Give us a president who is transparent when dealing with others, can recruit students effectively, is environmentally conscious, and able to build genuine relationships with faculty, staff, students and the community.

That was the general message from attendees, both in person and online, at Chico State’s Open Presidential Forum at Bell Memorial Union’s auditorium Thursday.

There were several other traits people said they’d like to see in the next president, making it undoubtedly difficult to satisfy every trait speakers requested. Whoever the candidate is, he or she will replace President Gayle Hutchinson, who will retire at the end of the current academic year in June.

Approximately 45 people attended the forum, speaking directly to the 24-member advisory committee representing the California State University system’s Trustee Committee for the Selection of the President. Jolene Koester, the CSU interim chancellor, was a member of the committee as well as Wenda Fong, chairwoman of the CSU board of trustees.

Fong appointed the trustees committee, while the advisory committee was formed with representatives from the faculty, staff, students and alumni, as well as a member of a campus advisory board. They were all selected by the campus’ constituency groups by way of their selection criteria.

Also on the advisory committee is a vice president from the campus, in this instance Monique Sendze, Chico State’s vice president for information technology and the chief information officer. The committee features a president of another CSU campus, in this case Adela de la Torre of San Diego State.

Doug Faigin, Yammilette Rodriguez and Jose Antonio Vargas represented the CSU trustees on the committee.

Local members on the committee included Marianna Paiva, chair of the Academic Senate; Holly Nevarez and Jaime Raigoza, faculty representatives; Tasha Alexander, staff representative; Krystal Alvarez and Mujtaba Azam, student representatives; Matt Jackson and Dennis Ramirez, community representatives; Darryl Schoen, alumni representative; and David Hodson, University Foundation board representative.

The presidential committee meeting was the only one to be open to the public, allowing remarks from anyone who wished to address the committee about the qualities and experience the next president should have.