UNC system to outline search for president

UNC-system President Erskine Bowles has had numerous North Carolinians try to tell him how to do his job since he took office in 2006.

Now that he’s stepping down, those people will have their chance to shape who his successor will be.

But while the system’s Board of Governors hopes to get the whole state invested in the search, official policies make sure board members are the ones who call the shots.

At a meeting today, officials will likely lay out who will fill about 40 different positions involved in the search, as well as a timeline and other information about how the search will be conducted.

While details about the process are sparse, the board’s policy manual lays out a complicated procedure involving four committees with different functions and compositions. The policy rests major decisions with board members and few other stakeholders in the system.

And the manual attempts to make sure much of the search happens behind closed doors, a provision that caused controversy during the 2005 search that ended with Bowles’ selection.

“It is, in all fairness, a convoluted process,” said Greg Doucette, president of the Association of Student Governments. Doucette, a law student at N.C. Central University, will likely be the only student who gets a direct position in the search.

Bowles announced in February that he will step down by the end of 2010 or however long it takes the board to select a replacement.

Whoever the board selects will be responsible for working with the state government and managing 17 different campuses — a job that oversees more than $3 billion in state money, billions more in research funding and more than 200,000 students each year.

Observers have said a major question for the search is how much access the public should have. The board was criticized during the last search for not being open.

Subsequent searches, including searches for several chancellors, have also conducted much of their business behind closed doors.

“There was some public discussion about whether the interviews should have been open,” said former Board of Governors member Brad Wilson, who led the 2005 search.

Those who advocate for a closed search say the system won’t be able to attract strong candidates who are in good positions if their names are made public.

“I’ve felt that its awfully hard to get somebody who’s got a good job to let their name be out there,” Bowles said.

Students and faculty members — like the general public — will likely not play a large role in the search.

According to the policy manual, faculty members will hold three seats and students will hold one seat on the committee that will write the “leadership statement,” a job description to guide the search.

Neither are granted seats on the committee that makes the final nomination. Those seats are reserved for current or former board members.

Lessons from the past

While the policy manual outlines a certain procedure, the board is allowed to apply these policies however it wants. It streamlined some steps during the last search.

Back then, the board hired a consultant for $75,000 to help write the leadership statement. Search committee members then travelled the state on a “listening tour” to gather information on the state and what residents wanted.

Because of budget constraints and low turnout on the last listening tour, board Chairwoman Hannah Gage said the process could be made more efficient through technology this time around.

“I think we can do it more efficiently and hopefully more effectively if we use a Web site accompanied by a series of public service announcements on commercial and noncommercial radio and television stations that will invite public input,” Gage said in an e-mail last week.

Gage said the sort of information sought in the tour was gathered during the UNC Tomorrow process a few years ago, which sought to find out how the system could help the state meet its goals. Also, she said, since not much time has passed since the last search, much of that information is still relevant.

While the input process will likely be shortened this year, Wilson said he is confident Gage will keep the search as transparent as possible this time around.

“The process must and will have integrity,” he said.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.