Throughout the rocky tenure of Dr. Melinda Nish as Southwestern College president, even her critics will acknowledge that she has replaced the revolving door that used to lead in and out of the president’s office.
Nish was granted a new three-year contract with a raise by the governing board this summer on a 4-1 vote. Nish’s new contract runs through June 30, 2018. Trustee Tim Nader cast the no vote.
“I was the one,” he said. “I was not opposed to rehiring Dr. Nish. My concern was very specific with the salary. I think the reason my four colleagues voted to give her the raise was in recognition that it is below average for the position she holds.”
Nish currently makes $227,700 annually and will receive a 3.5 percent raise in 2016, resulting in $235,700.
Nish became president in January 2012. In the nine years before that a total of 10 people sat in the president’s chair. With three years and nine months under her belt, Nish is the longest-tenured president since Dr. Serafin Zasueta (1997-2003). Nader said that at the time Nish was hired the board was looking for stability.
Before coming to SWC, Nish worked at Orange Coast College as the vice president of instruction.
“I had never been a college president, so it was a big leap for me,” she said. “But I also have to say that the learning curve was really extreme. There’s no job I’ve ever had in my life that even compares to this. The workload, attempting to achieve a balance is extremely difficult because of the demands. You are actually wearing two hats.”
Nish’s formal title is superintendent/president because she oversees the district as well as the college.
Nish stepped into a bubbling caldron in January 2012. Just after Christmas 2011 the San Diego County District Attorney and armed marshals raided the homes of several former SWC administrators and board members. All eventually pleaded guilty to felonies and misdemeanors related to what D. A. Bonnie Damanis called “San Diego County’s largest corruption scandal ever.” SWC had only recently dodged being shut down by its accreditation agency. The college was still recovering from a series of free speech scandals, including an attempt to shut down The Sun.
“This district is coming out of shock and reaction and depression of a bad public image,” she said. “Given the environment and what we were dealing with externally and internally, it wasn’t just jumping into a regular superintendent/presidency, it was a lot to handle there. So that was kinda that first order of business, establish a reputation of transparency and honesty. And also to really establish this goal of stability and I think we’ve come a long way from where we were.”
Nader agreed.
“The expectation I think was that we would continue on the trajectory we had established by then,” he said. “If you compare the college now to where it was five years ago, there is no comparison. We are way better off.”
