Des Moines Register
11-19-06
Expert: Regents met unlawfully
Secret sessions may taint new president search, says open records advocate
By ERIN JORDAN
REGISTER IOWA CITY BUREAU
Iowa City, Ia. - The secrecy surrounding the University of Iowa's failed
presidential search may color a second search for a new leader, said an Iowa
expert and advocate for open government.
The Iowa Board of Regents, which voted Friday to reject four finalists and
disband the presidential search, met in closed session several times in the past
week without announcing each meeting, a requirement of the Iowa Open
Meetings Law. Regents said the meetings were separate sessions of a closedsession meeting that started Nov. 9. Regent Bob Downer said Saturday that the
board's lawyer said that meant they did not have to announce the meetings.
"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.
Secrecy has shrouded the 10-month search. The names of all candidates - even
finalists - were kept private, and search committee members were required to
sign confidentiality agreements so strict they couldn't tell their families their
whereabouts, members said.
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.
"Do you want to get the best possible person in the country or not?" Steinke said.
But at least five other states have laws or policies requiring more openness in
public university presidential searches. In Florida, the entire presidential search is
open, including candidates' applications, interviews and board discussions.
"Sometimes the universities have argued if they had more secrecy they could
have a higher quality of applicants," said Pat Gleason, general counsel for the
Florida attorney general's office. "More Floridians say they would prefer to have
the accountability."
New Mexico law requires that five presidential finalists be named at least 21 days
before a president will be named. Finalists' names are announced weeks in
advance for public university presidential searches in Colorado and Texas,
officials said.
Presidential search committees at public universities in Florida, New Mexico,
Colorado and Indiana are subject to open meetings laws, which means there
must be public notice of meetings.
"The board (of trustees) is required to post all of its meetings, and that includes
the presidential search committee meetings," said Robin Gress, secretary to the
Board of Trustees of Indiana University, which is in the midst of its own
presidential search.
Indiana law allows the search committee to meet in closed session to discuss
candidates, but committee members must talk about policy and procedure in
open session, Gress said.
Presidential search committees have been excluded from Iowa's open meetings
law because they are viewed as advisory groups, not policymakers, said Arthur
Bonfield, a U of I law professor who wrote Iowa's Open Meetings Law. Iowa law
does not require presidential finalists to be named - but that has long been the
tradition at the U of I, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.
UNI President Ben Allen participated in on-campus interviews with two other
finalists before he was tapped in April.
"I found it very helpful to get a better feel for the culture and climate of the
university," he said. "My wife had her own two-day visit. It allowed us to form a
better opinion."
However, there is always a risk that being named a presidential finalist at another
school will lessen your effectiveness on your current campus, Allen said.
The U of I 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 whole search committee - which included four regents until the board voted 6-2 Friday to reject the candidates and start over because
they didn't feel the finalists had enough health science experience.
The University of Iowa has "many, many areas of greatness, and one clearly is
the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and the Board wants to ensure that
we have strong leadership to build on that greatness," Regents President
Michael Gartner said in a prepared statement Friday.
The regents have not said how or when a U of I president will be chosen, but
said they will talk about it after Thanksgiving. Gary Fethke will continue as U of I's
interim president until a new leader is named.
Reporter Erin Jordan can be reached at (319) 351-6527 or ejordan@dmreg.com