'On the precipice'
Presidential search continues with board approval of next steps
CMU President Bob Davies laughs at a remark made during the Board of Trustees meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 6, in the Bovee University Center. (CM-Life | Nico Mendoza)
At an ordinary Board of Trustees meeting, the tables in the presidential conference room are full and finding a seat in the audience can be difficult. At the special session today, the room was quiet enough to draw attention to the hum of the air conditioning.
The meeting started and the presidential search continues. The agenda surrounded the progress of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee, chaired by board Vice Chair Denise Williams-Mallet.
The meeting started with public comment. The only person in the audience was Anthony Feig, a faculty member in the department of Geography and Environmental Studies, and he stood to speak.
“I want to thank you for what I believe is your sincere desire and earnest work to make this university great,” Feig said. “But I also come to tell you that like most every other governing board in the nation, you’re on the precipice of doing it wrong.”
He said that the university should not be spending a lot of money to hire the top executive talent, because it’s not what will make the university great.
“During this presidential search you have the opportunity to approach this from the frame of mind of the normal person out there,” Feig said. “Normal people don’t come to CMU and say this is a great university because the president’s annual budget would feed every third-grader in town. ... They want to know if their kids’ academic program will be around in four years.”
He added that the presidential search should be guided by the "true greatness" that is on campus where students, faculty and staff work.
The board's response came from Chair Todd Regis, who confirmed that the trustees have a goal for 2024 to visit all of the academic buildings around campus.
"We look forward to learning more and more about the things that happen on the campus," Regis said. "Thank you for your comments."
On the agenda
Several motions passed unanimously at the meeting. The first approved an increase in the size of the search committee to include 20 members, from students and faculty to administrators and community members.
The complete list is available on the new landing page that launched at the end of the meeting, along with other updates on the search.
“I want to say thank you to the many people who offered their services to be on the committee,” Regis said. “We appreciate each and every one of you that expressed interest or were nominated.
“We did want to be inclusive. We did want to make sure that we’ve done everything we can.”
The second motion approved a confidentiality agreement that all members of the search committee have been asked to sign.
“This ensures the confidentiality of sensitive information throughout the search process, and underscores our dedication to conducting the search with the utmost professionalism and discretion,” Mallet said.
Item four on the confidentiality agreement has the signee “agree to maintain the confidentiality of any information about individuals who have expressed interest in the opening and/or applied for the position.”
In advertising that position, the board approved an affirmative action statement encouraging the nomination of people of color and women in a nationwide search.
“At a minimum, the chair of the search advisory committee will consult with the affirmative action officer to review the proposed position announcement,” according to the statement.
In addition to an affirmative action officer, Mallet announced that the committee will be contracting a third-party search firm based in Chicago to aid the process.
“I am pleased to announce… that we have hire the search firm of WittKieffer to assist us in our search for what I think will be exceptional leadership,” she said. “We are confident in their ability to help us identify and attract top tier candidates for the presidency.”
Regis added that the firm will be visiting the university; the dates of those visits are to be announced and published on the committee landing page soon.
