By Juan Montoya
For the first time in 20 years, the president of the Texas Southmost Colege won't be Juliet Garcia.
In a surprising show of unanimity, six of the seven TSC trustees voted to offer the college district's helm to Lily F. Tercero – currently chief budget officer of the Alamo Community College District in San Antonio – to guide the district back to autonomy after being tied to a "partnership" with the University of Texas System.
Neither Garcia nor trustee David Oliveira were present for the final vote. Garcia was represented by provost Alan Artebise and Oliveira, a die-hard Garcia partisan, called board president Kiko Rendon to say he was stuck in Houston and wouldn't be able to attend.
As the partnership is being dissolved, both institutions have pledged to work out the details that will include accreditation and the implementation of the various responsibilities each institution will bear.
The trustees at the directed their consultants to negotiate a contract with Tercero, who as the Chief Financial Officer at ACCD, oversaw the finances of five campuses in San Antonio.
Her thoughts on the cost of tuition and fees charged students here was one of the questions she was asked during a public forum.
During the last TSC elections, Rendon and trustee Trey Mendez questioned the high cost of tuition, citing figures that showed the college charged higher tuition and fees than any other community college in the state.
Tercero told the audience that while the state average for community college is $66 per credit hour, TSC's tuition is more than $100 per credit hour.
“I did a little bit of research and indeed, you are the most expensive,” she is reported to have told Mendez in the local daily. “Community colleges are open-access institutions that should be education at affordable prices and I think that the area of tuition may be one that the board may want to look at.”
Perhaps Tercero simply did her research, or was preaching to the choir. But after 20 years without the TSC administration addressing the issue or even acknowledging that the community college was priced beyond the ability of many local students to pay, it was a breath of fresh air to hear the future president of TSC air her views in public.
For the first time in 20 years, the president of the Texas Southmost Colege won't be Juliet Garcia.
In a surprising show of unanimity, six of the seven TSC trustees voted to offer the college district's helm to Lily F. Tercero – currently chief budget officer of the Alamo Community College District in San Antonio – to guide the district back to autonomy after being tied to a "partnership" with the University of Texas System.
Neither Garcia nor trustee David Oliveira were present for the final vote. Garcia was represented by provost Alan Artebise and Oliveira, a die-hard Garcia partisan, called board president Kiko Rendon to say he was stuck in Houston and wouldn't be able to attend.
As the partnership is being dissolved, both institutions have pledged to work out the details that will include accreditation and the implementation of the various responsibilities each institution will bear.
The trustees at the directed their consultants to negotiate a contract with Tercero, who as the Chief Financial Officer at ACCD, oversaw the finances of five campuses in San Antonio.
Her thoughts on the cost of tuition and fees charged students here was one of the questions she was asked during a public forum.
During the last TSC elections, Rendon and trustee Trey Mendez questioned the high cost of tuition, citing figures that showed the college charged higher tuition and fees than any other community college in the state.
Tercero told the audience that while the state average for community college is $66 per credit hour, TSC's tuition is more than $100 per credit hour.
“I did a little bit of research and indeed, you are the most expensive,” she is reported to have told Mendez in the local daily. “Community colleges are open-access institutions that should be education at affordable prices and I think that the area of tuition may be one that the board may want to look at.”
Perhaps Tercero simply did her research, or was preaching to the choir. But after 20 years without the TSC administration addressing the issue or even acknowledging that the community college was priced beyond the ability of many local students to pay, it was a breath of fresh air to hear the future president of TSC air her views in public.
10 comments:
Thank God, Juliet is gone, hopefully far away.
we are on the verge of a new political dawn in brownsville....out with the old politics of ernie, rick z., gilbert h., juliet garcia, bud richards,linda salazar, a. de la garza, joe rivera, eddie lucio, joe colunga, augilar and in with a new responsible group of elected officals....like cascos, rendon, adela garza, tony martinez, rene torres, kay p. garcia, lucy longoria, dr. christine savaerreda, engrique escobedo, ....let's pray that the citizens of brownsville and cameron county continue to rid themselves of tired and courrput politicos
This has been a long time coming. It is sad that after all of the good she has accomplished, Dr. Garcia must depart under a cloud because she lost touch with her roots. When the dust settles, in many years, perhaps a more dispassionate assessment of her years at the helm will emerge, but for now, regime change was long overdue!
Good Riddance to a bad seed.
With the selection of Dr. Tercero, the future has taken root in the present. Viva TSC!
You do realize that Dr. Garcia will remain the President of TSC until the partnership ends. Dr. Tercero will be the President Elect until that time.
The city needs to change the name of that middle school out there by Rivera High Shool. That person that the school is named after is a disgrace to herself and to the educational system whose interests she was entrusted to oversee and protect.
JVG needs to retire and go, just go far far from here and never ever come back. She is not welcome here.
Shouldn't this be about the future and not about the past? Who cares about all this chisme, any way?
Will her pay be reduced now
I agree if we could All move forward it would be great. I just read the Brownsville Herald and I could have sworn I read the same story some months ago. With so much going on with TSC and UT why would she write about he past over and over. It's crazy
Why praise Rene Torres? He's an old fart that lives in the past with all his baseball junk...
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