Letter: Unfortunate way

Published 12:15 am Thursday, August 22, 2024

What an unfortunate way for The Astorian to welcome the new president of Clatsop Community College into the community (“College chooses new president,” Aug. 15) — give him a couple of boilerplate paragraphs, and no quoted statements, while devoting the bulk of the article to the gentleman who dropped out of contention seemingly because he didn’t want to deal with the “Lord of the Flies” situation created by the currently dysfunctional board.

Some of those folks seem to believe that Jarrod Hogue, the incoming CCC president, is not fully qualified for the position in spite of the glowing words spoken in his behalf by his former president at Mount Hood Community College. When discerning the current board’s judgment about leadership, remember they were the ones who chose a former bank executive with zero community college experience as the president pro tem after Chris Breitmeyer’s departure. Clearly, Hogue is head and shoulders above that misguided choice.

For all his eminent qualifications and his Harvard degree, I found it highly presumptuous for dropout Richard Hopper to submit a two-year renewal plan to board members. A humbler and more gracious gesture reflecting his genuine concern for CCC would have been to quietly submit the plan to Hogue, along with his offer of mentorship.

Great leaders don’t always need to take the credit for their good, original ideas. Passing along his plan to Hogue would have avoided the seemingly egoistic choice he made.

ROGER DORBAND

Astoria