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Memo to UI search, regents: Openness counts

Linda Detroy Alexander

The Gazette

February 10, 2007

[Note: This material is copyright by The Gazette, 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 Gazette.]



  On-campus interviews aside, the new University of Iowa presidential search committee is on the right track. If the committee keeps going as it began, it shouldn’t lose its way down a rutty, perilous dead end like the last committee did.
  So far, the meetings have been public, unlike the meetings of the first committee.
  That bodes well — if. . . There’s one little matter that hasn’t been addressed yet: the state Board of Regents’ (read Michael Gartner’s) practice of conducting the presidential search process (and other business) by e-mail and phone calls, particularly one-on-one communications.
  ‘‘If I couldn’t send e-mails, I couldn’t govern,’’ he told Gazette reporter Diane Heldt back in December. What Gartner’s governance meant was that when the regents actually convened to discuss issues related to the presidential search — in person or by phone — they didn’t have to discuss much in public. They could simply make motions and vote. That may be a legal way to go about doing business, but it sure isn’t the right way.
  Maybe Gartner got that message.
  Late Friday afternoon, an e-mailed press release from the regents’ office announced that from now on, any emails sent to five or more regents from any regent or the board office will be posted on the regents’ Web site. Regents who send an e-mail to fewer than five board members can decide whether they want to post it.
  Whoop-de-do.
  ‘‘I’m not a fan,’’ Regent Rose Vasquez said of all the e-mails and phone calls. She said that during the Dec. 18 telephonic meeting at which the regents approved David Johnsen, dean of the UI College of Dentistry, as chairman of the new presidential search committee.
  It became clear, during that meeting, that Gartner was e-mailing the regents both individually and as a group. Several of them mentioned answering questions by e-mail about their thoughts on the make-up of the new committee. During that meeting, very little discussion took place before the regents voted.
  I’m not a fan of e-mails and phone calls, either. Nor should any taxpayer be. To my way of thinking, the regents work for me, and for you, and that makes them answerable to us. In the press release, Gartner said the new e-mail file should make the conduct of the regents’ business more transparent. But I just don’t think this new rule, unless it applies to all e-mails that pertain to official regents’ business, even those between two regents, will do the trick.
  So, David Johnsen, keep up the good work, and keep doing it during public meetings.
  And about those on-campus interviews, I don’t think there’s a single person who cares about this search who doesn’t realize that some parts of it have to take place in private, and along the way, some information has to be kept confidential. We’re not dumb; most of us have applied for a new job while continuing to work in a job. Still, I don’t think there’s a single person who cares about this search who wouldn’t like to have the opportunity to meet and size up the finalists for the job. The president of the university simply has too much impact on the entire community for that not to happen.
 • Linda Detroy Alexander’s column appears on Wednesdays and Saturdays. She can be reached at (319) 399-5956 or linda.alexander@gazettecommunications.com
 

Linda Detroy Alexander
 The Gazette

 
 
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