Pierce President to resign in June A two-year tenure came during an unprecendented lockdown

BY ARIEL GIL

Pierce College President Alexis S. Montevirgen announced April 15 his resignation, which surprised many of the faculty and administration. He plans to remain in the position through June.

After two years, Montevirgen announced his resignation due to personal and underlying health reasons that repress his ability to fulfill the needs of the campus.

“I can’t give the 100% or even the 110% that I believe this college needs, and that I expect of myself,” Montevirgen said. “I don’t know if I would have been able to continue and say, ‘Well, I know I’m not doing as much as I can, but that’s because of this, and then that would have been me making excuses.”

Montevirgen’s goal aside from maintaining his health is to focus on getting a permanent vice president put in charge at Pierce.

“The priority for me is launching the searches for the permanent VPs for Student Services and Academic Affairs,” Montevirgen said. “And I would hope that once those are named, those will then be the permanent VPs.”

Department Chair of Performing Arts Michael Gend expressed that his initial worry aside from the president’s health was the lack of a vice president.

“I’m more concerned about the vice presidential vacancies right now because the president is also serving as the acting vice president of Student Services,” Gend said. “If we find ourselves in a situation with no president and no vice president, that entire area doesn’t have leadership and that would be my biggest concern, less so of filling Montevirgen’s shoes.”

The initial announcement of Montevirgen’s upcoming departure was surprising for many.

“Coupled with the pandemic we’ve all been living in, it’s hard to tell if any of our co-workers are really going through hard times,” Gend said. “We see them in brief Zoom windows and not for the rest of the day.”

Senate President Barbara Anderson said Pierce is facing a big loss.

“I care about President