Clarification: Wording in the caption of the photo was edited to better reflect the situation.
Superintendent-President Reagan Romali called a Miami Herald article racist that raised questions on her credibility for supposedly having a meeting with three gang leaders at her previous college.
“I felt it was inherently racist,” Romali said in an interview on Tuesday.
“To assume that three young gentlemen of color couldn’t sit in the office of the president … everybody deserves to sit in the office of the president.”
The article was published in July, after Romali’s video interview for the Miami Dade College presidency was released to the public.
In the video, Romali responds to a question about safety and talks about how she had a meeting with three gang leaders when she was president of Harry S. Truman College in Chicago.
The Miami Herald did not find any credible information that proves Romali had a meeting with three gang leaders.
Romali also did not give the names of the gang leaders, citing FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
“If the Miami Herald didn’t find that credible, I’m sorry,” Romali said.
Colleen Wright, who wrote the article for the Miami Herald, stands by her reporting and said she was only trying to fact check what Romali claimed.
“I don’t agree with that comment, it wasn’t a story about gang leaders, it was only fact checking what she said,” Wright said.
Miami Dade College board of trustees eventually scrapped the process of a presidential search and started over, which led Romali out of contention for the job.