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October 21, 2002 Volume 27, Issue 12 |
As the state College Board begins the second attempt to select a new president for Mississippi State, the university's Robert Holland Faculty Senate recently offered its opinion on the process.
With only limited discussion and by a near unanimous vote, the campus-wide advisory body at its Oct. 11 meeting approved a resolution submitted by senate chair Walter Diehl of Biological Sciences.
The two-part document forwarded to the 12-person higher education governing body read as follows:
In view of the intent to re-start the search for a president of Mississippi State University, the Robert Holland Faculty Senate offers the following advice to the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning:
(1) The Board of Trustees should hire a president who possesses the following qualifications:
(a) The new president must hold inviolate the principles of academic freedom and integrity, must promote excellence in teaching, must advance our prominence in research, and must foster an appreciation for service.
(b) The new president must recognize that a university is not a business in the traditional sense, but that it must be run in a business-like manner.
(c) The new president must have a successful career as a faculty member, administrator and leader. He or she must possess recognized executive experience in an academic environment that has similarities to Mississippi State University.
(2) The Board of Trustees should re-start the search with a process that is designed to create consensus among members of the MSU community, including establishing a new campus advisory committee that has elected faculty representatives.
This advice is intended both to help identify the best possible president for Mississippi State University and forge a consensus that will ensure that the new president has the greatest possible support from the students, faculty and staff, alumni, and friends of MSU.
The senators' vote continued a process begun during the 2002 spring semester to find a permanent replacement for Malcolm Portera as MSU president. Portera, now chancellor of the University of Alabama System, has been succeeded by Interim President J. Charles Lee, the vice president for agriculture, forestry and veterinary medicine.
At a special March session, the senate voted overwhelmingly to formally express disagreement with an earlier College Board search committee decision not to allow the election of MSU faculty members to the presidential search advisory committee that was being formed.
Despite the senate resolution, the full College Board approved a short time later a 50-member advisory committee made up of university administrators, faculty and staff members, students, alumni, and friends to screen candidates and develop a small group of finalists for consideration. Board members cited historical precedent as their reason for declining to change the advisory committee selection process.
Though the advisory committee eventually produced a list of finalists, the College Board found itself during the summer unable to reach a consensus on exactly who the new president should be. According to news media reports, board members may have considered individuals outside the advisory committee's list of recommended finalists.
Eventually, the board voted to suspend the search until the fall.
Earlier this month, the College Board announced plans to re-advertise for new presidential prospects. It also announced that the second screening process would involve the previously-named advisory committee.
College Board members gathered on campus last week to officially launch the new effort.
Among other faculty senate business at the Oct. 11 meeting, members:
--Accepted a recommendation of the Charter and Bylaws Committee to change the titles of the senate's two highest elected offices from chair and vice chair to president and vice president, respectively. Its reasoning: A belief "that the word 'president' was the more accurate description" since the office holder presides over the meetings.
--Also approved a separate recommendation to change the number of top elected positions in the senate leadership team from three to two, with the post of senate secretary no longer requiring a vote of the body.
"The maximum two-year, time-limited nature of [the secretary's] office occupied by someone with the qualifications and desire to serve in that capacity seems counterproductive," committee chair Nancy Reichert of Plant and Soil Sciences told her colleagues prior to the vote. "The committee foresees a lack of qualified individuals seeking this elected position."
The recommendation contained no mention of how future secretaries would be chosen.
A complete summary of these and other matters at the October meeting is available on the Internet at the senate home page, which is reached via http://www.msstate.edu. Then, click the "Academic Programs" icon and scroll to "Organizations." Also, in time, a University Television Center-developed video replay of the entire meeting will be available at this site.