New Acting Chancellor David Yee Says He Aims to ‘Help Students Who Need Us Here’
Yee compared himself to a substitute teacher in taking on the new role.
The PGC meeting on Thursday briefly became a romcom when newly-appointed Acting Chancellor David Yee used the time allocated to the Chancellor’s Report to explain to the Participatory Governance Council why he had agreed to take on the job after Chancellor Kimberlee Messina was put on administrative leave.
“I took the position to help the students,” he began. “That’s why I’ve been here for 36 years… from back when I was a student, to faculty, to the chair, the dean, the vice chancellor, and now as acting chancellor, is to help students who need us here. We can’t stop because things are happening. We have to serve the students.”
Addressing the question of how long he would be acting, he compared himself to a substitute teacher. “We don’t know how long this is… In my mind it’s a day-to-day sub, or it could be a week. Until I know which one it is, I’m just gonna go with the assumption that it’s day-to-day.”
Looking around the room and acknowledging the heavy loads that council members and others in the community are carrying, he said, “If you have acquired additional things you need to do, that you may not have had when you started working here at the college, I don’t think I should be any different.” He said that he would continue in the position of Vice Chancellor of Academic and Institutional Affairs while also doing the job of acting chancellor.
“What I’m thinking is, you know, by Thanksgiving or after Thanksgiving, I’ll have a better sense of what may be the timing, and then I’ll make a reassessment of the situation for the spring semester.”
Katia Fuchs, president of the Academic Senate, was first to raise her hand when Yee asked if there were any questions, and she deadpanned, “I don’t have questions, because I already know the answer to the question ‘Are you out of your mind?’’ But,” she continued, “I do want to go on the record thanking you… It’s really, really important that somebody step in at this time. The college community is in need of this kind of leadership.”
Evangela Brewster, student vice chancellor, added a similar sentiment. Addressing Yee, she said, “I love that you are making your rounds to everybody and giving them time to talk, even though you are doing two jobs that are both simultaneously crazy, because those schedules are… wow.” She then asked, “When is the next time you’ll be at the PGC to report?”
Yee said, “So, one of my commitments is, on whatever was on the calendar with the chancellor, I’m going with everything.”
As he made his way from the meeting, Yee joked that he was on his way to McDonalds, where “you can always meet me if you need to see me” and then he was gone, and the meeting settled back to resume its agenda.
