Interim Chancellor Brings Healing Touch to

Chancellor of the 84,000-student Dallas County Community College District for just three years, Dr. Jesus “Jess” Carreon abruptly resigned during a May 2 meeting of the DCCCD’s board of trustees. Though both sides issued platitudes following a contract buyout agreement, Carreon’s tenure had been fraught with clashes over a governance style many say was autocratic.

Carreon’s supporters say some of the opposition to the district’s first Hispanic chancellor was raced-based, although critics and supporters alike acknowledge some of his administrative successes. Among them, Carreon orchestrated the passage of a $450 million bond initiative to update the district’s seven colleges and to support plans for five new community education campuses.

Dr. Wright Lassiter, president of the district’s El Centro College since 1986, has been named interim chancellor — a move applauded in many
corners because of his reputation as a consensus-building leader with deep academic experience. Previously, Lassiter served as president of Bishop College in Dallas and Schenectady County Community College in New York. He has also held top administrative posts at Morgan State University and Tuskegee University.

Lassiter, the DCCCD’s first Black chancellor, spoke with Diverse recently about the circumstances surrounding his predecessor’s sudden departure and his mandate for the DCCCD.

DI: How has your background prepared you for this position?
WL: First and foremost, when one has been associated as long as I have with historically Black colleges, one develops an understanding for the kind of student that is the typical community college student — individuals who require nurturing, individuals who may need remedial and developmental education.

Community colleges struggle for our place at the table. Historically Black colleges have that same challenge to convince the external world as to the relevance of those unique and special-purpose institutions. So that is what I bring to this new task.