The search for AU's next university president will begin once the board of trustees approves the 15 people nominated to be on the Presidential Search Committee, according to board chairman Gary Abramson.
The Presidential Search Committee will include eight trustees, three faculty members, two students, a staff member and a school dean, according to a press release published when the board announced the presidential search on July 10. Abramson will chair the committee.
While Abramson declined to identify the names of the trustee, dean and staff representatives, he said many trustees slated to be on the committee are AU alumni. The faculty had not yet announced its nominees for the faculty representatives on the committee, he said.
The presidential search guidelines were formulated as part of a large governance reform plan adopted by the board in May to increase inclusiveness, transparency and accountability, according to Abramson.
Former AU provost Neil Kerwin has served as interim president since former president Benjamin Ladner was fired by the board in October 2005 amid allegations of misuse of university funds and student protests demanding Ladner's ouster, as The Eagle previously reported.
Abramson said he had heard a recommended time frame of around a year to conclude the presidential search. However, the committee isn't adopting a specific deadline.
"[AU] is in as good a shape as it's ever been in its history," he said. "If we don't have the right candidate, we're not going to make any final decision."
Student Government president Ashley Mushnick said the student government groups nominated her and Graduate Leadership Council chairman Wade Murphy to be the two student representatives on the committee.
"I am satisfied with the level of student input on the Presidential Search Committee," Mushnick said.
The reform plan, which the board passed at its May 19 meeting and amended into the university bylaws June 9, outlined several new and amended policies intended to improve accountability and oversight, to make the board more inclusive and accessible and to address the roles of the president and trustees, as The Eagle previously reported.
A key reform in the plan involved the addition of three nonvoting trustees - two faculty members and one current AU student - and one recent AU graduate as a voting trustee. Abramson said the board decided the student and faculty trustees could not vote at meetings after the Faculty Senate Committee suggested that it would be better for their trustees not to be able to vote.
It cited potential conflicts of interest as the main reason for the suggestion.
"[The Faculty Senate] recommended it, and we went along with it," Abramson said. He added that the purpose of having a student trustee on the board is "mainly to get input on the students' viewpoint."
Displeasure over what student government groups saw as inadequacies in the board's reform plan led Mushnick to send a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on June 13, The Eagle previously reported.
In the letter, Mushnick acknowledged that the board had made "major improvements," but added that those reforms did not go far enough in making the board "a truly responsible governing body." Mushnick also suggested that the SG, Student Bar Association and Graduate Leadership Council had proposed a better set of reforms to the board in November 2005. Their suggested reforms included the installment of three student trustees with voting rights.
Mushnick also called for the removal of 13 trustees who had voted to give Ladner a $3.7 million severance package after the board fired him.
Both Mushnick and Abramson said the letter had not strained relations between the board and AU's student government groups.
Rather, Abramson said, "her letter prompted some catching up."
After Mushnick sent the letter, the board met with her so she could discuss her concerns, he said.
"The board knows where I stand on the Ladner compensation package and where I stand on the student vote," Mushnick said. "However, I have spoken to various trustees this summer and we all understand the importance of a working relationship between the board of trustees and the Student Government."
The board has also tried to become a more diverse body, Abramson said. Since it adopted the reform plan, seven new trustees have been added. Abramson said the board was looking for people with academic experience.
"We were looking for people ... who had a real affinity for education," Abramson said. "We wanted to get people with academic experience rather than just experience in the business community."
The board currently has 25 members but will eventually increase to 30, Abramson said. He added that the board will continue to seek trustees from varying backgrounds.
The new trustees will go through a two-day orientation next week, which will coincide with the board's Sept. 15 meeting, Abramson said. Rather than just sit in the boardroom, the trustees will meet with various groups of campus representatives, along with taking a walking tour of campus. They may also sit in on classes.
"We're going to try to make it a sort of back-to-school night," he said. The board will also hold a series of campus forums where students can discuss campus matters with trustees.
"We're willing to discuss anything that anybody wants to discuss," Abramson said. "I imagine that the main topic of concern will be the presidential search"
