Chancellor Search Committee voted
unanimously last week to make the search public after selecting
four or five semi-finalists.
“We’ve agreed that when we bring in the semi-finalists,
if those candidates agree to participate in open forums,
we would have open forums,” committee chair Robert
G. Fox, Jr. said.
If the semi-finalists agree, a forum could be held during
the third week of January, Fox said. If they do not, the
committee retains the option to keep the process closed.
Faculty Senate chair Paul H. Gates said a person who did
not want an open search was probably someone the committee
should not consider.
Fox said he thinks there are certain situations where a candidate
would have a legitimate reason for not wanting the process
open to the public.
Until last week’s vote, the search was closed to protect
the job security of those running for chancellor, Student
Government Association president Rachel A. Johnson said.
“Some [committee] members were afraid we wouldn’t
get the best applicants [if the search was public],”
Johnson said.
The committee voted 9-8 against a motion to make the search
process open regardless of the semi-finalists’ choices.
Gates said the vote was divided between on-campus representatives,
such as faculty, staff and students, and off-campus representatives,
such as members of the Board of Trustees.
“What I think we ended up agreeing to is a compromise
that I think will be acceptable to the people who want a
completely open process and allows us the flexibility [to
close it],” Fox said.
The committee currently has 50 applications and expects more
to be submitted as the deadline draws near, Fox said.
“What the professionals tell us is a lot of people
wait til the very end,” he said.
The committee selected the management-consulting firm A.T.
Kearney to help with the process.
The committee will meet Nov. 18 and begin reviewing the applications,
Fox said.
“We’re going to take that large group of names
and information and spend the afternoon [reducing] it to
a more manageable situation,” Fox said.
The meeting will be closed.
After the meeting, the list of names down will be between
twelve to fifteen people, he said.
The committee will reduce that group down to eight to ten
candidates, and from there, narrow the selection to four
or five.
“Our game plan is to have our three finalists recommended
to the Board of Trustees by the end of January,” Fox
said.
When the final three candidates are chosen, all 17 members
of the committee must be willing to support each of them
equally before a recommendation can be made to the Board
of Trustees, Fox said.
The Board will pass the recommendation on to UNC President
Molly C. Broad, he said. From there, Broad will inform the
Board of Governors, who must confirm her decision.
If the Board approves, the candidate selected will become
the sixth chancellor of Appalachian State University.
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