MESA — The chancellor of the Maricopa County Community College District on Wednesday asked the presidents of Mesa and Estrella Mountain community colleges to resign immediately.
The request came amid a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office investigation into potential fraud at the colleges. Both presidents have been named in the investigation.
Chancellor Rufus Glasper said he asked Larry Christiansen, president of Mesa for 19 years, and Homero Lopez, president of Estrella Mountain in Avondale, to leave their positions.
"The colleges are under attack, and it's distracting from teaching and learning," board member Jerry Walker said Glasper told him.
The sheriff's probe was launched after the East Valley Tribune published a series of stories detailing the internal audits of theft, enrollment fraud, misspent scholarship money, gross mismanagement and nepotism throughout the system.
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