Des Moines Register
11-07-06
U of I leader urged to quit planning group
But Gary Fethke says he will continue to participate in a strategic process
initiated by the Board of Regents.
By ERIN JORDAN
REGISTER IOWA CITY BUREAU
Iowa City, Ia. - Some University of Iowa faculty have asked Interim President
Gary Fethke to withdraw from a strategic-planning process that they say has
been secretive.
The U of I chapter of the American Association of University Professors released
a resolution Monday asking Fethke to withdraw from the planning process
initiated in July by the Iowa Board of Regents. The process has "severely
undercut" the academic principles of shared governance by taking place in secret
and excluding input from university constituencies, the resolution states.
Fethke says he won't pull out of the planning process.
"If I'm not willing to do what I'm asked by the board, they should find another
interim president," Fethke said in an e-mail Monday afternoon to The Des Moines
Register. "If I don't do the things the faculty will support, they will resist actively
any suggestions I make.
"In this case, happily, what the board has asked, and what I feel a president
should be doing to best represent the faculty are aligned," Fethke wrote.
Regents President Michael Gartner wrote an e-mail July 20 to the presidents of
the U of I, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa saying
"now is the time to begin the process of strategic change at the three universities.
We still have time to manage that change; if we wait much longer, the change will
manage us."
Among controversial topics mentioned in the memo were whether there are
duplicate programs at the universities and whether eliminating duplication would
make for a stronger system.
Gartner proposed he and Teresa Wahlert, regents president pro-tempore, and
Gary Steinke, the board's executive director, meet with each president
individually and then as a group.
The strategic-planning process will be discussed for the first time with the whole
board Thursday at the board's meeting in Ames.
Faculty started criticizing the planning process in October, and the Faculty
Senate last week drafted a resolution asking for the regents to halt the process
until a new president is hired. A new leader is expected to be named in the next
few months.
U of I faculty, staff and student representatives will make a presentation at the
board meeting about slowing the process.
Reporter Erin Jordan can be reached at (319) 351-6527 or ejordan@dmreg.com