With Roderick McDavis entering into his final autumn as Ohio University’s president, the Board of Trustees will be holding an open forum Tuesday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Baker Center Theater to discuss the future of the university’s leadership.
Representatives from both the presidential search committee and Witt/Kieffer, a Chicago-based executive search firm, will be in attendance as members of the public are invited to “voice their thoughts regarding the qualities and experiences the next president should possess,” according to a campus-wide email sent by Board of Trustees Chair David Wolfort.
Attendees are requested to keep their questions and comments under two minutes to allow time for all who wish to contribute to the conversation.
Graduate Student Senate President Ian Armstrong and GSS Vice President of Finance Alex Burke have been invited to meet with representatives from Witt/Kieffer, which is assisting the Board of Trustees-appointed search committee.
For members of student government such as Burke, events like the upcoming forum are opportunities for the university to uphold the public’s request for openness.
“The transparency of the search is of the utmost importance, as to work towards a growing trend of university operations having greater transparency,” Burke said. “The university administration has the opportunity to work hand in hand with students to create the best possible choice for all stakeholders at the university.”
On a national scale, students and faculty have raised concern in recent years about the transparency of both presidential search committees and the search firms that assist them.
In 2014, faculty members at Kent State University took out a full-page ad in their campus newspaper, expressing frustration with the lack of university transparency during the process, citing the administration’s failure to publicly release information on the list of final candidates.
Similarly, Ohio State University was criticized after records revealed that at least $600,000 had been spent in search of their new president, the total of which included a private jet service and advertisements in The New York Times. So far, OU plans to spend $150,000 total for Witt/Kieffer's services.
In response to such events, the American Association of University Professors released a letter in 2015, calling upon institutions of higher education to “resist calls for closed, secretive searches and reaffirm their commitment to transparency … in the hiring of higher administrative officers.”
Armstrong echoed the sentiments of campus leaders such as Student Senate President Hannah Clouser and Faculty Senate Chair Joe McLaughlin, who have praised the university for including students and faculty members in the search for the future president.
“The faculty, staff, students and press need to have the opportunity to ask the hard questions right from the beginning, not just of the candidates, but of Witt/Kieffer and the search committee as well,” Armstrong said in an email. “We have a right to see, understand, and question the processes that are occurring behind the scenes at our public university.”
