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Regents Plan 'Personnel' Chat Monday

[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.]

University department deans walking to the house said they didn't know what the meeting was about.

"That's what I'm here to find out," Jean Robilliard, Dean of the Carver College of Medicine.

Regent Amir Arbisser said the talks were in regards to the U of I presidential search. "We're here to hear the common concerns of finding a great president for the University of Iowa."

He said he did not know what was on the agenda but that regent President Michael Gartner invited him to the meeting. Others regents at the meeting are Ruth Harkin and Robert Downer.

The meeting was not announced on the Regent's web site.

In a related development, at least two of the four people who were finalists for the University of Iowa presidency might not take the job even it were offered to them because of misgivings about the Board of Regents, a faculty leader said during a meeting today with Des Moines Register editors and reporters.

Two candidates "have expressed deep concerns about taking the position with the current board leadership," said Sheldon Kurtz, president of the U of I Faculty Senate.

The two candidates, who were not identified, are very concerned about "walking into a mess," he said, after the regents' decision to reject the finalists and scrap a10-month search.

The regents' actions nearly resulted in a no-confidence vote from the faculty, staff and students. The vote was postponed after Gov. Tom Vilsack asked for time to mediate the dispute.

Vilsack has said the Board of Regents should reconsider the four finalists who were recommended by an 18-member search committee, which the regents had appointed.

During today's interview with The Register Kurtz and three other faculty members, including two who served on the search committee, questioned the leadership ability of Board of Regents President Michael Gartner, saying he used a heavy-handed approach that had bred mistrust.

"We think that the University of Iowa is in turmoil, and if the University of Iowa is in turmoil the state's in turmoil." Kurtz said.

Iowa City, Ia. - The Iowa Board of Regents will meet Monday for the first time since the University of Iowa's search for a new president came to an abrupt end.

The meeting was announced Friday following two potentially significant developments in the aborted presidential search and the resulting controversy that has soured relations between the regents and many faculty members at Iowa's largest university:

- Four of the nine regents, along with the U of I's Interim President Gary Fethke and about 15 of the university's deans and vice presidents, met privately for three hours.

- The president of the U of I Faculty Senate said that at least two of the four finalists for the presidency might not take the job even if it were offered, because of their misgivings about the Board of Regents and its leadership.

The Iowa City school has been roiled by controversy since the Board of Regents voted 6-2 on Nov. 17 to reject the four finalists who had been recommended by a search committee appointed by the board. Regents President Michael Gartner of Des Moines said at the conclusion of that meeting that a majority of regents wanted finalists with experience in health sciences administration.

The regents also disbanded the search committee and said the process for restarting the U of I search would be announced at some later date.

Friday's closed-door meeting was the second this week over the U of I controversy. Gov. Tom Vilsack met on Monday in Cedar Rapids with several members of the U of I faculty, staff and student body, and a handful of regents. U of I leaders who met Friday with Gartner and three other regents said there could be news Monday about the search.

The meeting will be conducted by telephone beginning at 7:30 a.m. The meeting will include a private discussion of a "personnel issue," according to a notice released Friday afternoon by the regents' staff.

"Monday I'm sure you'll know more," David Johnsen, dean of the U of I College of Dentistry, told reporters at the conclusion of the discussion Friday at the U of I president's mansion.

Fethke, the U of I interim president, said the discussion dealt with the presidential search. He said the purpose of the meeting was to update the administrators on the search.

"I think they have been left out of the process," Fethke said of the administrators.

Other administrators declined to comment after leaving the meeting.

Gartner, the regents' president, said only: "We had a great meeting. That's the extent of what I'm going to say."

Ruth Harkin of Cumming, Amir Arbisser of Davenport and Robert Downer of Iowa City were the other regents who attended the meeting.

No presidential candidates were discussed during the meeting, Fethke said, but he would not elaborate on the conversation.

Meanwhile, professor Sheldon Kurtz, the Faculty Senate president, told Des Moines Register editors and reporters during a meeting in Des Moines that two of the four finalists "have expressed deep concerns about taking the position with the current board leadership."

The candidates, who have not been identified, are very concerned about "walking into a mess," Kurtz said.

The regents' actions on Nov. 17 nearly resulted in no-confidence votes by faculty, staff and students. The votes were postponed after Vilsack asked for time to mediate the dispute.

Vilsack has said the regents should reconsider the four finalists who were recommended by an 18-member search committee. The governor also said the regents should consider creating a vice president position to oversee the U of I College of Medicine and University Hospitals.

At least one of the four finalists is still interested in the job. U of I Provost Michael Hogan said Friday he would not become president of the University of Delaware, where he was one of two finalists, and was still hoping to be appointed to the Iowa City job.

"Delaware is a great place," Hogan said. "When I looked at it, it wasn't quite an appropriate match. They knew what was going on at Iowa and knew of my continued interest in the University of Iowa presidency."

Delaware officials announced Friday afternoon that Patrick Harker, dean of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, would become the next University of Delaware president.

Hogan said he has not heard from the regents about the U of I search.

"I haven't heard from the regents or the search firm that the search is closed," Hogan said. "I have heard there is still a plan of revisiting the four finalists, and that's what I'm hoping for."

Other finalists considered for the U of I post are two other provosts of major universities and the president of a mid-sized institution.