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Criteria Rating Sheet (pdf file)

[Note: This material is copyright by the Des Moines Register, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of the Des Moines Register.]

But those health science strengths accounted for just 10 points of a possible 180 on the scoring sheet used to evaluate candidates, members of the search committee said Wednesday.

"In creating the position description, the committee, including the four regents, decided that such experience was a 'desirable,' not 'necessary,' qualification," said Katherine Tachau, a U of I history professor and vice chairwoman of the 18-member search committee.

The committee included representatives of the U of I faculty and staff, alumni, students and Iowa City townspeople, as well as four regents, Michael Gartner, Teresa Wahlert, Amir Arbisser and Ruth Harkin.

The committee screened about 150 applicants for the presidency and settled on seven who were interviewed by the committee and the Board of Regents. Those interviews were in Des Moines on Nov. 10 and 11.

The committee recommended four finalists to the regents - the provosts of three large universities that have medical schools and/or hospitals, and the president of a midsized university.

The Board of Regents disbanded the search committee on Friday and decided to restart the selection process. The board was divided 6-2 on the decision, which was harshly criticized by faculty members.

Gartner, a Des Moines businessman who is the regents' president, said in a statement after the vote that "the regents needed candidates who had more experience as leaders who oversaw complex health-sciences operations as well as the myriad of other academic and non-academic operations of a large university."

Gartner expanded on his explanation in a letter to The Des Moines Register this week. He said a majority of the regents "simply thought the list could have been stronger - and those six included all four regents who served on the search committee."

Health experience qualifications are listed as two of 36 bullet points on the evaluation sheets the search committee used during interviews with the seven semifinalists.

Each of those individual qualifications was worth up to five points. The two qualifications that pertained to health sciences stated:

- "Record of experience with complex health care medical enterprise."

- "Understanding the role of the University Hospital in professional education, clinical research and health care services to Iowa and the nation."

Other criteria on the scoring sheet included senior level administrative experience, distinctive research accomplishments, knowledge of complex budgeting, experience in fundraising, a track record of success in working with lawmakers, good communication skills, knowledge of intercollegiate athletics, and success in creating consensus.

Tachau, the vice chairwoman of the search committee, said, "The semifinalist evaluation sheets were largely created by Teresa with modifications by the committee - and it was the committee who added the experience with academic hospitals and medicine."

Tachau was referring to Teresa Wahlert, a regent from West Des Moines and chairwoman of the search committee.

The diversity of the candidate pool also has been questioned.

Search committee members told Wahlert in mid-October that they were concerned by the lack of ethnic diversity among 21 candidates being considered at that time, Tachau said.

She and the committee's other vice chairman, professor Francois Abboud, then recruited an African-American, who ultimately was named a finalist, Tachau said.

"The committee has been dismayed by the indifference (perhaps hostility) of the regents' leadership to finding a diverse group of semifinalists," Tachau said Wednesday.

Gartner said in his letter that one of the reasons the list of finalists was discarded was because there was not more diversity among the finalists. He said the group did not include a woman.

Search committee members have said Gartner lobbied for Deborah Freund, a former vice chancellor and provost at Syracuse University, to be included on the list of finalists. Freund is a recognized health economist and is on the board of directors of a New York health insurance company.

She was among the seven candidates interviewed by the committee and the regents.