Des Moines Register
12-02-06
Hansen: Mistrust plagues president search
By MARC HANSEN
REGISTER COLUMNIST
The University of Iowa will get around to hiring a new president someday. How
and when, it's impossible to say.
But you wouldn't call it soon.
Finding an outstanding replacement for David Skorton shouldn't be all that
difficult. We're talking about a great job in a wonderful academic and social
environment.
You stay a few years, make a good buck, raise several million more, live rentfree in a beautiful house in a lovely neighborhood, host several dozen parties and
wait for the Ivy League to call.
But when the decision is up to a group of people who don't trust one another, it
doesn't work.
On Friday, four faculty members, two of them serving on the search committee,
came to Des Moines to meet with the Register editorial board.
This is supposed to be a cooling-off period. Taking time out from his run for
president, Tom Vilsack stepped into the melee and told everyone to take a deep
breath and chill for a while.
The chill has turned to ice. The faculty members - Sheldon Kurtz, Steve Collins,
Katherine Tachau and Francois Abboud - didn't come out and say it, but it was
clear. None of them would be disappointed if Gartner, the regents president,
stepped down.
Oh, for the good old days of Marvin Pomerantz at the helm. Tachau, the search
committee vice chairwoman, said she had so much respect for Pomerantz, she
even read his autobiography. The first and last Republican autobiography she
ever read.
The word "turmoil" was used a few times in the conversation. So was the word
"mistrust."
I seem to recall "tremendous discomfort" used more than once, too. Also
appearing in my notes are "Clear dereliction of duty" and "micromanage."
The trouble started, the professors said, when the regents insulted Skorton by
giving him a raise that was smaller in percentage than his counterparts at Iowa
State and Northern Iowa. Skorton said bye-bye, and a popular, effective
president was gone.
Faculty Senate President Kurtz did call Gartner "one of the smartest people you'll
ever meet," a guy who can come up with 50 terrific ideas rat-a-tat-tat.
He spoiled the uplifting moment, though, by saying Gartner was no leader. You
don't lead by ordering people around, all the professors said. The great leaders
can sell their ideas to people who are reluctant to buy them.
They complained about the secrecy of the search and a few other things.
When I got Gartner on the phone, he didn't want to talk about the criticism. He
said he's heard it all before and what good would it do now to strike back?
Too bad. There is another side to this. Gartner could have pointed out how, in
most walks of life, the employees don't get to hire their boss.
We off-campus types are seldom asked to join the search committee. The
system isn't perfect, but rarely is the governor called in to restore order.
Gartner could have reminded everyone it's the regents' job to run the university.
He could have pointed out that Michigan hired Mary Sue Coleman away from
Iowa in the dead of night.
No public search there. Coleman wouldn't have gone for it. And, unfortunately,
that seems to be a trend.
He could have said you didn't hear many complaints from Northern Iowa and
Iowa State when they needed a new president.
He could have said health sciences represent almost half the university dollars
spent. And it isn't a terrible idea to put someone in charge who understands it.
He could have said times are changing.
But that's the past. The future is a new president. The present is a situation that
cries out for drastic action.
It cries out for a new search committee. It cries out for Gartner and probably
Teresa Wahlert to remove themselves from the process, too.
It cries out for a fresh start with fresh faces. That's the only way this gets settled.
Columnist Marc Hansen can be reached at (515) 284-8534 or
mahansen@dmreg.com