In a brief letter released at 10 a.m. Monday morning, City College of San Francisco announced that Chancellor Mark Rocha was placed on paid administrative leave. The cause was not disclosed.
“I’m writing to let you know that the Board of Trustees has placed Chancellor Mark Rocha on paid administrative leave effective immediately,” Board President Shanell Williams wrote in a letter to the college community. “A leadership team made up of Senior Vice-Chancellors will manage day-to-day operations until the Board names an Acting Chancellor.”
“I know this news may come as a surprise,” Williams wrote. “I want to assure you on behalf of our Board, that the College is in good hands. There is a plan in place to move the College forward.”
Williams nor the college provided a copy of the aforementioned plan.
The college is still reeling from the years-long accreditation crisis and an upcoming accreditation review, low student enrollment, a new funding formula based on student achievement and budget constraints.
Rocha, whose tenure at City College was controversial from the beginning when the faculty union opposed his hiring due to his past at a Pasadena college, most recently earned the ire of students and staff when he wrote a letter to San Francisco Mayor London Breed discouraging City Hall to provide financial assistance amidst hundreds of class cuts.
City College spokesperson Evette Davis declined to comment when queried by the college’s student-run newspaper The Guardsman about the matter because it is a personnel issue.
The decision was made Friday night during a closed board session conducted via Zoom.
The college, which is presently closed for an early Spring Break due to the outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus, plays an outsize role in Ingleside, single-handedly keeping many small businesses in the black with its thousands of employees and students.
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