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"At one point, Teresa (Wahlert, regent president pro-tem and search committee chairperson) said she didn't want anyone to know if we were eating chocolate at these meetings," UI Staff Council President and committee member Mary Greer.

The failed search process has led UI faculty, staff and student leaders to call for votes of no confidence in the regents. The student government and faculty senate will vote on the issue Nov. 28 and staff council will vote Dec. 13.

Responses to the issue

Governor-elect Chet Culver responded Tuesday to the furor. In statement, Culver said he wants all the details from the search and will look into potential violations of open meetings laws.

"Culver understands the frustration and concern felt by many in the community about this process, and is confident that we can move quickly to find a qualified president using a process that is inclusive, open and respectful of the privacy of all the applicants," said Brad Anderson, communications director for Culver.

Regent President Michael Gartner issued a statement Tuesday defending the regents' decisions to the Des Moines Register, saying some might view the regent action as "getting their way," while others would view it as "following the law."

"It is the statutory role of the regents (Iowa Code section 262.9) to name the president, not the role of the faculty, staff and students," Gartner said.

Gartner said the confidential nature of the search to replace David Skorton, who was named president of the Cornell University, was necessary as five of seven candidates interviewed said they would drop out if their names became public.

The regent vote on Friday also rejected four finalists submitted unanimously by the search committee on Tuesday, in particular citing a lack of experience in health sciences.

Claims of regent manipulation

Faculty Senate President Sheldon Kurtz, one of the most vocal critics, responded that faculty, staff and students had not challenged regent authority to name a president, but rather the way the regent-led search was conducted.

UI history professor and member of the search committee Katherine Tachau and Greer painted a picture of search process manipulated by Gartner and Wahlert.

"Gartner had one vote like everyone else, but he tried to act like the chair of the committee," Tachau said.

Tachau has said Gartner had pushed to abandon the search when his preferred candidate didn't make the list of finalists.

Decisions on how many candidates to interview, how long to interview, how long to deliberate, where off-campus interviews would take place and the role of a campus advisory committee were all decided in top-down directives, Tachau and Greer said. Gartner and Wahlert also would refuse calls for votes, they said.

"Michael Gartner would pipe up, 'she is the chair of the committee. That is what the chair is supposed to do, make decisions,'" Greer said.

Regent director Gary Steinke notified members of many search steps via e-mail, without committee approval, Greer and Tachau said. Steinke also sat in on each meeting and collected documents such as evaluations committee members individually made on candidates. Those evaluations were used to narrow the list of candidates and committee members were not allowed to view other members' remarks.

Confidentiality agreements were signed at the beginning of each meeting, including a revised, broadened version prior to interviews with seven candidates Nov. 10 in Des Moines.

Many members, including Greer, Tachau and Francois Abboud, refused to sign the final agreement.

One bullet point stated members must "refrain from making any statements or any comments to any person(s) about or relating to any subject matter regarding the UI presidential search process or candidate interviews..."

"The important thing is that we have the right to talk about the process if we have a problem with it," said Abboud, search committee member and a distinguished faculty member in Carver College of Medicine.

Open meeting laws allow for closed sessions to discuss job candidates for public offices, though process discussions are supposed to remain opened.

Kathleen Richardson, Drake University journalism professor and secretary for the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, criticized the process, though she said it is likely not violating open records laws.

"It is a pretty sweeping gag order with implications for peoples' free speech right. But I don't know if it is enforceable," Richardson said. "It is certainly alarming that the people that were running this process would attempt to enforce this level of secrecy and not recognize the importance of having a level of openness for one of most important jobs in Iowa."

"It is a direct attack on the spirit of the open government processes," she said. "You can have laws and if a government body wants to find its way around the law, they can."

Richardson said the only resource is for people to contact the state attorney general or ombudsperson, and this may signal it is time to review open record and meeting laws.

Some support process

Not all members of the search committee feel the process was improper.

Distinguished alum Gary Seamans, who serves on the UI Foundation board of directors, served on the committee. He said he stands behind the process, and said it was not overly secretive.

"The only way to preserve confidentiality is to not say anything to anyone. The more (open the more) likely the case that confidentiality would be broken. You draw the lines pretty narrowly. Were the lines drawn in all right places, I don't know. Where they were drawn did not make me personally uncomfortable," Seamans said.

"I did not feel put upon or directed, nor felt like I had a lack of a voice on any issue."

Seamans said only campus factions have been publicly expressing themselves and it was painting a skewed picture. Seamans, who had previously declined comment, said he wanted to speak up because he felt he was not aligned to any constituency other than UI and the people of Iowa as a whole.

"The regents are people of goodwill. They want the right things for the right reasons," Seamans said in a telephone interview from his Tucson, Ariz. home. "I found them very committed to regent institutions and UI. There is no evidence of sub rosa objectives or intent."

UI electrical and computer engineering professor Steve Collins led the search to replace Hunter Rawlings.

He said his committee did not sign confidentiality agreements, and there were no leaks, except one from the home campus of one of the candidates just prior to the on-campus interview. Candidate confidentiality is an important issue though, he said.

"It is a matter of people undercutting their ability to be effective in their current position should they go public, particularly for presidents and provosts. (But) for some individuals it is not a concern. The fact that they are being considered at UI adds to their standing in their current position."

The issue of candidate confidentiality and on-campus interviews led to a divide in some members in the recently aborted search.

"There was a feeling that we want the best possible candidate. While others were saying we'd take a second tier candidate if they'd agree to a more open process," search committee member and regent Amir Arbisser said.

The upcoming Iowa state Board of Regents meeting in Iowa City has been condensed to a one-day meeting Dec. 11 with some regents participating in person and others by phone.
The board office said that scheduling conflicts may potentially hinder the ability of some regents to attend the meeting. It is unclear which or how many of the nine regents may not make it.
Typically, all regents participate in person, and the meeting lasts two days. At the past two regent meetings, only eight regents were present on one of the days each time and did not participate by phone.
The meeting is scheduled to take place in the Iowa Memorial Union R. Wayne Richey Ballroom on the University of Iowa campus.