UMich Faculty Senate and campus organizations host town hall on search for new University president

The University of Michigan’s Faculty Senate, Central Student Government, University Staff United and the Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Association of University Professors hosted a town hall meeting at Weiser Hall Wednesday afternoon to allow students share their thoughts in the ongoing search for a University president. 

The meeting began with a presentation from Judith Wilde, research professor at George Mason University, on the process of searching for a new University president. Wilde used Claremont McKenna College as an example of the secrecy of past presidential searches and how faculty play an important role in the selection process. 

“A few years ago, (Claremont McKenna) had planned on a secret search,” Wilde said. “The faculty really didn’t want it — they agreed that it would be open, and they just plain asked the faculty, ‘Will you please not talk a lot amongst yourselves and we can then keep this open as possible?’, and let at least some faculty know what’s happening. And it went very well, so a lot of it is to what extent the faculty wants to be involved and is willing to take on specific roles.”

After Wilde’s presentation, University Regent Paul Brown (D) said he hoped to further understand why secrecy in the presidential search process has become an industry standard. 

“I guess I would love to understand, because I’m also critical of search firms, and oftentimes critical of secrecy, especially when we’re dealing with a public institution,” Brown said. “We’ve had people here presenting about probably some of the negatives around secrecy. Yet the industry almost exclusively, for a couple of decades, and maybe to my criticism, has done secret searches. … If 99 out of 100 searches are done that way, there must be people here to defend it, which I would love to hear because I think it needs defense.”

Derek Peterson, Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs chair, spoke on behalf of the Faculty Senate. Peterson referenced SACUA’s Statement of Principles for the presidential search and The Michigan Daily’s collection of letters from faculty and staff reiterating their hopes for the presidential search process. Peterson also said both the statement and article express wider beliefs among staff that the future president holds a responsibility to listen to protesters and defend the University’s mission. 

“It is, to me, a shame against a public institution like this one that we have as yet been on hearing and unresponsive to the claims that student protesters have been consistently making at great cost of their personal liberty and welfare over the past two years,” Peterson said. “It’s not impossible that under the new U-M presidency, we will see an ethical investment committee formed that takes seriously the suggestion that many of us want. … We’ve got to have someone who’s in a position to stand up on behalf of this world-leading public university and defend what it is that we do, which is to educate our students in the critical capacity for reasoning as citizens of the United States.”

Nathan Sadowsky, University Staff United treasurer and earth and environmental sciences academic program manager, said he believes the future president should exhibit qualities of leadership and stand proactively against pushback from the federal government. Sadowsky said leadership needs to be clearer in University-wide communications, citing the recent announcement of changes to mandated reporter standards for faculty.

“I get students walking in today asking what it means that they now have reporting obligations, an announcement made yesterday that I don’t know what it means for them,” Sadowsky said. “I want to see a president who comes in and has some courage to develop a real culture of leadership that I feel is lacking at this university. To answer those questions proactively, affirmatively, to take those stances and say we are going to lead and not just respond to what is happening in the federal government.”

During the panel, CSG President Eric Veal Jr. said he hopes the new president will be supportive of student-administration collaboration. 

“I hope, in this search, we get it right,” Veal Jr. said. “I hope, when we get it right, we have someone who cares and supports all of the communities on our campus, someone who has character, someone who ensures that our university is leading and headed to success for a plethora of years to come. I hope that we have a president who isn’t just able to regurgitate ‘Leaders and Best,’ but actually embodies those values in their everyday decisions.”

Stephen Ward, associate professor of Afroamerican and African Studies, drew attention to the difference between the town hall organized by SACUA and the recently announced University listening sessions. Ward said the space for conversation the town hall provides is important in fostering genuine dialogue surrounding the presidential search. 

“This event has been organized autonomously by faculty, members of the staff and students to create a space where we can have some type of broad democratic conversation,” Ward said. “We all know that there is a particularly strong need to create spaces for democratic engagement here and anywhere throughout society. None of us did this as an obligation to the University. We didn’t check a box as, perhaps, the regents are in terms of what they need to do to carry on their search.”

Daily Staff Reporter Sarah Palushi can be reached at sarpal@umich.edu.

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