Nominees unknown in presidential search

By ERIN STROUT
Collegian Staff Writer

Most schools keep the search for a university president under wraps, but while some universities have mastered the art, others have gotten themselves in trouble by being too confidential.

Penn State embarked on its search in September, following University President Joab Thomas' retirement announcement in May. Since then, candidates' names have been kept confidential and the meetings of the search and screen and selection committees have been closed to the public.

In response to complaints from the Centre Daily Times about the University's process, University Board of Trustees Chairman William Schreyer issued a statement explaining why the search is confidential.

"I have just one goal and that is to attract, recruit and get the very best candidates we can get," Schreyer said at the January board meeting.

Merrill Schwartz, director of the Board of Education Services for the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, said public and private schools are subject to different rules when searching for a president.

Private schools in general have no obligation to open meetings, applications or records, Schwartz said. A confidential search may attract a broader range of candidates because their current positions will not be put in jeopardy, she said.

"The job may be offered to one person and they might decline," Schwartz said. "It's not ideal for the next person to know they are second choice."

But public universities are subject to state laws because there are no federal standards when it comes to presidential searches.

"In general, the opportunity to maintain privacy is valued --especially in the early stages," Schwartz said. "As the search narrows, finalists can be made public, but it varies."

Penn State's search and screen committee gave a list of 10 to 15 names to the trustee selection committee in January, but none of the names have been made public. Past court rulings have exempted Penn State and Temple University, both state-related universities, from the state's Right-to-Know Act. Under the act, open-records laws apply only to government agencies performing essential governmental functions.

But at the University of Michigan, the process might differ the next time the school looks for a leader, said Nancy Asin, assistant to the secretary of the University. In 1988 the University of Michigan was sued by Booth Newspapers and The Free Press for the way it conducted its search.

When James J. Duderstadt was appointed University of Michigan president in 1988, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the school violated both the state's Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act in the selection process because, by meeting in subquorum groups, it intentionally avoided following the law.

Asin said two bills now in the Michigan legislature could exempt the school from the laws when searching for a president.

But as the presidential search at the University of Illinois comes to a close, Lex Tate, associate director of University Public Affairs at Illinois, said its selection process has worked for several years.

The faculty senates from both of the University of Illinois' campuses meet and decide what the search committee should look like -- faculty have the largest representation on the committee. The student government decides who will represent the students. Other represented groups on the 20-member committee are the administration, alumni, donors and support staff, such as clerical workers.

The Penn State search process is driven by two committees -- a 16-member search and screen committee made up of students and faculty and an 11-member trustee selection committee. The University Board of Trustees appoints all search and screen committee members.

In Illinois, the search committee develops a job description and advertises the position. After a series of cuts, the committee decides which names should be forwarded to the Board of Trustees, which then makes its selection after meeting with the candidates.

"We did hire a head-hunting firm to check the work -- to make sure there were no names not on the list that should be and doing background work," Tate said.

But in Illinois, no laws exist to make the search public.

"They are quiet about what they do," Tate said. "No finalist list is made public -- if it is, it's leaked information."

But the Illinois and Pennsylvania laws require the board to announce its executive sessions, which means the media must be notified 24 hours before a presidential search meeting.

"Right now they are having meetings in Chicago --you can speculate that they're doing interviews," Tate said.

Secrecy is nothing new to any presidential search, but because the searches only take place every few years, people often forget how they are run, Tate said. But local newspapers usually complain, she said.

"People want to know every burp along the path," Tate said.