By GERSON BORRERO
Here we go again!
“There’s a handful of finalists. And the next Chancellor will be chosen from there.” That’s according to a reliable source who has been in the room as the selection process happens. “The announcement will be made this month.” the insider told me in a brief telephone conversation on Monday.
What’s not certain is whether this announcement is brought to light within the Chanukah or Hanukkah days of celebration or if it’s going to be delivered by Papá Noel aka Santa Claus before, on or after Christmas Day.
The names of those “handful” of finalists have not been confirmed, but as we first reported on July 25 of this year, the national search had produced three front-runners from the five boroughs — Queens College President Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, LaGuardia Community College President Dr. Gail O. Mellow, and New York Public Library President and CEO Tony Marx, who ultimately withdrew his name.
After our reporting, internal developments in the beginning of June derailed and delayed the process to replace James B. Milliken.
Part of what happened in the process was the withdrawal from consideration by Marx. At the time there was concern by some on the CUNY Board that the process would be viewed as a sham because the two main candidates were both already presidents of CUNY schools.
“We don’t want the public to think that a wide search wasn’t done.” a CUNY source told me at the time to explain or justify why the timeline was being extended.
Which is interesting because another source familiar with the particulars of the selection process of the CUNY Board of Directors confirmed to me that Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez is still on the final list of candidates.
That comment provoked this observation from a President of another college in the CUNY family: “If Felo (Dr. Matos Rodríguez’s nickname) has been their choice all along why have they dragged this out?”
It appears neoyorquinos will soon find out.
