She’s still a Hialeah girl — and, now, she’s Miami Dade College president, too | Opinion
The controversial presidential college search took 19 contentious months.
There was so much at stake.
The county’s movers and shakers watched — at times, in horror — and faculty and students vehemently protested what became worrisome months of political, partisan wrangling over the leadership of Miami Dade College.
But on Tuesday, the Board of Trustees unanimously chose educator Madeline Pumariega, a former MDC campus president, to replace the legendary Eduardo Padrón, who retired in August 2019 after serving as president since 1995.
The Cuban-American Pumariega, 53, becomes the college’s fifth — and first female — president, another glass ceiling shattered in an institution billed as the most diverse in the nation. Another first for a woman who also was the first Hispanic and first woman to serve as chancellor of the Florida College System.
Born and raised in Hialeah and a former president of MDC’s Wolfson campus, she’s currently executive vice president and provost of Tallahassee Community College.
“I’m still that girl from Hialeah,” Pumariega said during a presentation to the board considering four finalists in this second round of the search marked by the presence of COVID.
But, perhaps, Pumariega’s most anticipated and welcomed attribute in these divisive times: No party affiliation listed for her in voting records.
“We think Madeline has the credentials and the support of faculty and staff and, to some degree, the students who are aware of this process,” board member and entrepreneur Bernie Navarro told me.
“Everyone was very concerned,” he added. “Now, it’s time to heal for the betterment of the institution and to move forward with leadership that knows how to move this institution forward.”
Board member Carlos Migoya, president and CEO of the Jackson Health System and the lone Democrat on the board, agreed: “Local person with the right skill set and great leadership traits. Madeline will be a great president.”
I hope so.
MDC, an economic engine for the area, as well as one of the top colleges in the nation, deserves first-rate leadership.
Politically divisive search
Everyone knew it would be tough to replace Padrón, a community leader whose lifetime of achievements and honors includes the Presidential Medal of Honor.
But, with a trustees board stacked with Republicans — some with vested interests in private, not public education — by Govs. Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis, the selection process became highly suspicious when the fix seemed to be in to give the job to a high-profile Republican politician, not an academic.
Lawyer Marcell Felipe, a new board member handpicked by Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, confirmed to me that he was, indeed, hoping to bring about an ideological change in leadership and criticized higher education in this country as too liberal-minded.
The search became a mirror of the country’s divisive politics — but political troubles began during the Scott administration.
Padrón, a Democrat who was a savvy steward and made room for all points of view at the college, sailed into nasty political waters when he publicly criticized Cuban-American Republican legislators who blocked potential funding for MDC.
He called them “bullies,” and although he later apologized, they wanted him out.
One of them, Jose Oliva, rose to the powerful post of Speaker of the House.
Then, after the machinations of the search were exposed by the Miami Herald, a powerful state senator, Manny Diaz Jr., tried to influence the search by passing legislation that would have kept the process in the dark.
All this to say, Pumariega inherits quite a legacy and a highly partisan political system to navigate following this epic presidential search.
But the Hialeah Senior High School graduate, who turned to MDC for undergraduate studies and has a master’s degree in educational leadership and administration from Florida Atlantic University, wouldn’t have gotten this far if she weren’t doing something right.
“Madeline knows the institution and she’s had the benefit of seeing other things around the state, so we’re in good shape,” Navarro said.
Leading in the time of COVID
Pumariega assumes the presidency in Spring 2021, when the country still will likely be in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic.
It was evident, the infectious disease also played a role at the end.
Briefly taking off her mask as she walked into the room where the search committee had made the announcement to applause, Pumariega said: “You can see this grin.”
Then, she quickly put the mask back on.
You could feel the collective sigh of relief of a Miami worried and torn over the fate of its beloved, treasured college.
Congratulations, Madame President.
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 4:36 PM.
