Des Moines Register
05-02-07
U of I considers interview secrecy to protect candidates
By ERIN JORDAN
REGISTER IOWA CITY BUREAU
Iowa City, Ia. - University of Iowa officials are consulting with Attorney General
Tom Miller's staff about whether they must announce when semifinalists for the U of I president's job will be interviewed.
Announcing the timing of the off-campus interviews - which often are conducted at secret locations outside Iowa - could jeopardize the confidentiality of some candidates' names, said David Johnsen, chairman of the U of I presidential search committee.
"It's a small world of universities," Johnsen said after an Iowa Board of Regents meeting Tuesday.
If the dates of the interviews are made public, the absence of high-ranking officials from their home universities on those dates may indicate they are in the running for the U of I post, Johnsen said.
Some top candidates say they will withdraw from the search if there is a danger their names will be made public, Johnsen has said.
This phase of the U of I search started in December and has involved public notice of all search committee meetings. Johnsen has said that notice is required by law because the committee was formed by the regents.
The 13 members of the committee are likely to interview the semifinalists - which leads to the question of whether the date, time and location of those interviews also must be announced ahead of time.
Johnsen reported to the regents Tuesday that his committee has not yet decided whether there will be public, on-campus interviews with finalists. The group plans to forward the names of at least four finalists to the regents so the board can choose a new president by July 1.
Johnsen's report came as part of a marathon regents meeting Tuesday at the U of I.
The board held a moment of silence to honor the 32 people gunned down April
16 at Virginia Tech University.

Afterward, Regents President Michael Gartner said the board is studying campus security procedures at Iowa's three public universities.
"The governor has asked the Board of Regents and the universities for a full review of all security and safety on the campuses," Gartner said.
"It's an extremely involved issue, and we want to make sure when we make decisions they are based on facts."
Iowa State University and the U of I are the only universities in the Big Ten and
Big 12 conferences whose campus police officers do not normally carry firearms.
Tuesday's meeting was the first for four new regents: Bonnie Campbell of Des
Moines, David Miles of West Des Moines, Craig Lang of Brooklyn and Jack
Evans of Cedar Rapids.
The regents unanimously selected Miles as president pro tempore, who leads board meetings when the president is absent.
Reporter Erin Jordan can be reached at (319) 351-6527 or ejordan@dmreg.com