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[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.]

  ‘‘I don’t know if it violates the open-meetings rule, but it violates the spirit of it,’’ Dvorsky said in a phone interview Sunday.

  The regents, who voted Friday to reject four finalists and disband the search committee, met in closed session several times in the past week without announcing each meeting. Dvorsky said the process must be more transparent.

  ‘‘ They haven’t involved enough people in the community,’’ Dvorsky said. ‘‘I think it has been mishandled.’’

  Dvorsky said he hoped the new search gave the regents an opportunity to have a more open process.

  ‘‘I don’t know what the motivation is, but they haven’t erred on the side of openness,’’ he said.

  The regents’ secrecy has drawn criticism from an Iowa expert and advocate for open government.

  ‘‘I don’t know if a future search will be imperiled by these violations, but it definitely will taint it,’’ said Herb Strentz, a retired Drake University journalism professor and a founder of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council.

  Regents deny violating the law, claiming the meetings were separate parts of a closed-session meeting that started Nov. 9. Regent Bob Downer said the board’s lawyer believes it did not have to announce the meetings.

  General Counsel for the Board of Regents Tom Evans Jr. and Associate Counsel Susan Anderson declined comment Sunday. Secrecy has shrouded the 10-month search for the UI’s next president. The names of all candidates — even finalists — were kept private, and search committee members say they were required to sign confidentiality agreements so strict they couldn’t tell their families their whereabouts.

  Iowa law gives regents discretion over presidential searches, said Gary Steinke, regents executive director. Regents have said the process must be secret because top candidates will pull out if they believe their names will be made public.

  Regents President Michael Gartner agreed with Steinke in a phone interview Sunday and said five of the seven presidential candidates said they would drop out if their names were publicized.

  Gartner said he was not yet thinking about the next presidential search and whether it would differ in any way from the previous search.

  The presidential search has been a power struggle from the beginning. Faculty and staff criticized the regents for naming a regent chairwoman to the presidential search committee and chafed at the strict secrecy of the search. The search committee and regents interviewed seven candidates Nov. 10 and 11 in Des Moines and recommended four finalists to the board. The finalists initially had the support of the entire search committee — which included four regents — until the board voted 6-2 to reject the candidates because it didn’t feel the finalists had enough health science experience.

  The regents have not said when a replacement will be chosen for former university President David Skorton, who resigned in January to become president of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

  Gary Fethke is serving as the University of Iowa’s interim president.