Southwestern boss leaves college

Southwestern College President/Superintendent Melinda Nish officially stepped down from her position earlier this week.

Nish was at the helm for four and a half years before she tendered her resignation in a June 16 letter to the college’s governing  board, making her resignation effective June 30.

Nish’s brief resignation letter does not detail why she chose to resign, as it only thanks “Everyone I’ve worked with in creating an educational team that accomplished remarkable success” during her years serving the college.

But the college and Nish last week released a lengthy joint statement  that outlines more details into her resignation.

The joint statement says in part that Nish and the college “mutually agreed” to part ways. The reason for her resignation, according to the statement, is for Nish to “take time off to pursue a sabbatical for personal and other professional development opportunities.”

“Dr. Nish is not on a district sabbatical,” said board president Nora Vargas.  “Dr. Nish has resigned from the district by a mutual agreement between she and (the) board to terminate her employment contract.”

At the time of her resignation Nish made an annual salary of $238,257.

Vargas said the agreement provides Nish with seven months of severance pay rather than the 18 months included in her contract. Vargas said the written separation agreement would be available after the Sept. 29 governing board meeting.

Nish was hired in January 2012 in a clean up act from a corruption scandal that involved three South County school districts, including SWC, / Former superintendent Raj Chopra and six other college officials who all plead guilty to misdemeanor corruption charges.

Nish came from Orange Coast College where she worked as vice president of instruction from 2005-2011. In that role,

Nish was responsible for maintain a campus environment that supports students’ educational goals, according to Nish’s biography on the college’s website.

Under her watch as president SWC has increased the number of graduates transferring to the California State University System with the assistance. She has also provided office hours for part-time faculty members.

Her four and a half years at the college has been the longest tenure for any superintendent/president since 1998.  But Nish’s tenure did not come without controversy, recently the Accreditation Commission of Community and Junior Colleges enforced sanctions and placed SWC on warning status.

The campus newspaper The Sun has also documented Nish’s failure to handle racial tension with administrators and the school’s equity, diversity and inclusion committee.

Nish had also been on the job hunt for some time.  She was a finalist for the president position at Santa Barbara City College and at Portland Community College.

She was also a finalist for the chancellor job at North Orange County Community College earlier this year but was not selected.

Nish’s resignation did not come as a surprise to one student.

“Dr. Nish’s resignation didn’t surprise me since it was no secret that she was actively searching for another job,” said student trustee, Freda Hernandez. ”I’m not sure she needed to go for the issues she faced to be resolved but her job search indicates that she was ready to leave our college, for reasons we don’t really know for sure.”

The news of Nish’s resignation comes as students are on summer break.

The college’s five member governing board met Wednesday night to discuss a selection process for its next president.

“The governing board is committed to ensuring the process of finding our next president is inclusive and transparent always ensuring the success of our students is a priority.

Nish did not respond for requests to comment for this story.