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Alberto J. Roman, interim prime minister of the Los Angeles Community College district, took on the post amid consideration of legal issues in the system, but was appointed to a permanent role by the district board on Wednesday.
Having pledged to a “culture of accountability,” Roman was appointed interim prime minister after Francisco C. Rodriguez suddenly resigned last year and similarly resigned as a shocking critic and champion.
During the decade at the helm of Rodriguez, the Nine College District faced lawsuits alleging gender discrimination, sexual harassment and whistleblower retaliation. He and the councillors focused on what they described as having endured an unconfident vote from the district’s academic senate in 2024 and failing to adequately address allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination.
Roman, 47, worked in the country’s largest two-year university system in various roles over 11 years, in which he was given a contract for about three years, and quickly became effective, paying $440,000 a year. The former president of East LA College, formerly served as deputy prime minister for human resources for the community college district.
“We take pride in being a leader and identifying and fighting discrimination of all kinds,” Roman said in an interview with the Times. “I also emphasized the importance of transparency and building trust with the wider public internally.”
Mexican immigrants who came to the United States as children oversaw the creation of East LA College’s pioneering Central American Studies Program, which was launched in 2023. It is billed as the first such effort in California at the community college level, giving students the opportunity to pursue an associate degree in the field.
“To me, being here in Los Angeles was a very important program,” said Roman, who has been in education for over 20 years. He said a trip to El Salvador with his faculty encouraged him to create a program. “I’m really interested in learning more about Central American communities here.”
Continuous legal issues
Just a year ago, Roman praised Rodriguez in an open letter titled “A Transforming Decade of Service, Leadership and Vision.”
However, the end of the former prime minister’s tenure was rocky.
In August, Rodriguez said he would resign to help care for his sick father. This movement was a huge surprise. This is because the district gave him a four-year contract extension a year ago. Rodriguez departed on November 2nd, and Roman then assumed a temporary position.
Rodriguez did not respond to the interview request.
Among the lawsuits facing Rodriguez and the district are ongoing filings by former advisor Maribel Medina regarding sexual harassment, whistleblower retaliation and other allegations.
She allegedly fired after complaining to the then-president about pay gaps in the 2024 LA Superior Court lawsuit brought against Rodriguez, the district and the trustee, turning her attention to “an obvious lack of compliance in districts trained in sexual harassment.”
Medina, a Mexican-American, also claims that Rodriguez once said in front of her, “Mexican women serve me and they like it.”
The defendant denied the complaint, according to a court filing. Their lawyers did not respond to the interview request. Medina’s lawyer declined to comment.
The case exam is set for January.
How Romance reacts
Asked about some of the controversy the former prime minister has weathered, Roman said that in a system similar to that of the university district (with a workforce of nearly 10,000 people), “problems always arise,” and that he couldn’t discuss the ongoing lawsuit.
He also emphasized that the district is “actively working” to ensure policies relating to professional behavior are updated. He added that employees are continuously trained and understand the revised code and guidelines.
Another area of scrutiny is the district’s multi-billion dollar construction bond program. Since the early 2010s, they have suffered from allegations that it has been inadequately managed, wasted money and subject to nepotism.
Roman claimed that the program was overhauled, promoting “a more stringent accountability measurement,” improving the “vendor selection process,” and focusing on employment of independent third-party bond monitors, partner monitors.
“The issues identified about 10 years ago have been resolved,” he said. “I think there’s definitely a flare-up in a program of this size, but I managed them.”
Roman faces other challenges. Among them, it faces a continuous recovery from a massive decline in registrations that has been sloping due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The district said there were around 210,000 students in the 2019-2020 academic year, but the number of enrollments fell sharply to 158,000 in 2021-2022. He picked up from there and stood 194,000 students from 2023 to 2024.
He touted the upward trend, saying the district, overall, had not seen a decline in registrations in the past four years. He saw its success as a focus in part on career technology education. He said it would be helpful as the region prepares to host both the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Then there’s President Trump. His executive order on higher education, the launch of anti-Semitism investigations on university campuses, and the deportation of university students have hit a wide range of academia.
So far, Roman said the various actions of the president have not directly affected the university district. He said, to his knowledge, no district students have been deported and none of the funds have been excluded, but the approximately $500,000 arts grant was “pending.”
“We will continue to monitor our funds and do everything we can to protect them,” he said. “We will continue to monitor policies that may affect our students. We stand firm with them.”
Roman also said the program has not been changed to follow Trump’s instructions aimed at eradicating diversity, equity and inclusive efforts on university campuses. “Our program… [are] Includes all students,” he said.
In a statement, board member Gabriel Buerna said the Romance took over “in an era of intense national pressure.”
He said the Prime Minister “has the vision and integrity necessary to guide the LACCD and strengthen the region through challenging times.”
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