Dive Brief:
- The University of Oregon’s board of trustees has approved a plan that gives its chairman control over the institution's presidential search process.
- The new search approach is a significant change from the broad committee approach used with previous presidential searches, the Register-Guard reported.
- Representatives of service employees and academic staff unions have urged that their groups have more of a say in the new search process.
Dive Insight:
When the university conducted presidential searches in 2008 and 2011, the state appointed a search committee with 21 to 25 members. But in July, the university became an independent public body, no longer part of the state government. The chairman, Chuck Lillis, set up a search plan with a 14-member committee of mostly trustees and administrators to assist with the search, plus a 12-member committee that includes students and office workers to provide their perspectives. Only Lillis will be allowed to rank and eliminate final candidates, and only he and the chairwoman of the assist committee will be allowed to make any comments on the search. The board of trustees, appointed by the governor, must approve the presidential hire, under state law.