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- Feed Preview Sack Secrecy
University of Arizona: Supreme Court ruling that requires open searches really more of a suggestion
Twenty-six years ago, the Arizona Supreme Court had some strong words for trustees who insisted that the public has no right to know the identities of candidates to lead a major public universit...
Kennesaw State’s “search” ends at the tip of its nose; politician walks into job uncontested
Well, you can’t accuse the state Board of Regents of doing a secretive, closed-door search for the president of Georgia’s third-largest university. Because they didn’t do a search at all...
"We are persuaded that the search was structured and engineered by the regents’ leadership from the..."
“We are persuaded that the search was structured and engineered by the regents’ leadership from the outset to identify a figure from the business world … the rest of what followed was onl...
Radford bags West Virginia State president in search criticized as “secretive”
Brian Hemphill might turn out to be a great catch for Virginia’s Radford University; he’d recently gotten a favorable evaluation and a contract extension at West Virginia State. But we’ll n...
Students: Take a courageous position of leadership and side with transparency. Trustees: Yeah right.
In a resonant front-page editorial , student editors of The Appalachian urged their university’s trustees to follow the example of the previous open-to-the-public search in 2004 that was widely...
The bag is lifted: Spellings is new UNC president
The president’s out of the bag. The University of North Carolina system’s Board of Governors unanimously elected Margaret Spellings, former U.S. education secretary under President George W...
UNC board will meet one secret presidential candidate — despite board members’ calls for more candidates
The search committee for the University of North Carolina system’s president is having an emergency, but you won’t hear any sirens or see any flashing blue lights outside its meeting place on...
UT-Austin replaces secretive president with a secret one
The University of Texas-Austin has been burned, big-time, by a president who maintained an off-the-books preferential-admission system for the under-qualified relatives of politicians. So wh...
"Nowhere"
“Nowhere” - University of North Carolina system Board of Governors chairman John Fennebresque, when asked where he sees faculty’s request to interact with the system’s presidential ca...
"We’re meant to be participants in the affairs of the university."
“We’re meant to be participants in the affairs of the university.” - Father Austin Murphy, a Benedictine monk and a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed June 22 in Illinois circuit court against...
NIU’s “hybrid” search: a hybrid of secret and REALLY REALLY secret
In 2000, Northern Illinois University gave students and employees a chance to meet and question presidential finalists during campus visits so the public could be confident the right candidate wa...
Michigan regents proud of dodging public scrutiny with “cloak and dagger” search
Michigan is pretty much where public accountability goes to die. The University of Michigan still won’t explain why it waited four years before – after his last football game – expelling ...
Texas A&M U. selects lone 'finalist' in presidential search
After a yearlong closed-door search, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents unanimously selected Michael Young as the sole “finalist” for its presidency, making his hiring a foregon...
Column: Secrecy is as secrecy does
Sometimes life is like a box of chocolates, but sometimes it’s like a Nestle Crunch bar that says “Nestle Crunch” on the wrapper: You know exactly what you’re going to get. And when you h...
Video
Shredded documents. Disguises. Secret meetings in airplane hangars and hotel loading docks. Hiring a college president shouldn’t be like running a drug ring. At many campuses, it’s hard to tell the difference. Selecting a president is one of the most important decisions a college makes — one with huge implications for students, faculty, alumni and the community. Unfortunately, too many colleges build their presidential selections around finding the most secret president, not the best one. Politically connected insiders win. Students lose. Even in states where public records and open meetings laws make college presidential searches public, college trustees have found ways to keep the process hidden, handing total control of the decision to unaccountable “executive headhunters.” That’s not just illegal — it’s wrong. Sack Secrecy is a Student Press Law Center special project to highlight secretive searches. Has your institution recently hired Bag Man as its top executive? Let us know. Take a picture with a bag over your head in front of a campus landmark and email it to us. Because your college deserves a leader. Not a bag lady.
Faculty 'embarrassed' by closed search at Kent State U.
“We’re embarrassed.” That’s what Kent State University School of Journalism faculty said in a full-page ad in the student newspaper about the institution’s decision not to disclose i...
U. of Missouri's presidential seach 'a well-kept secret'
When the University of Missouri System hired a Florida-based consulting firm to find the institution’s next president, it landed on a little-known businessman the Columbia Missourian called �...
Video
Shredded documents. Disguises. Secret meetings in airplane hangars and hotel loading docks. Hiring a college president shouldn’t be like running a drug ring. At many campuses, it’s hard to tell the difference. Selecting a president is one of the most important decisions a college makes — one with huge implications for students, faculty, alumni and the community. Unfortunately, too many colleges build their presidential selections around finding the most secret president, not the best one. Politically connected insiders win. Students lose. Even in states where public records and open meetings laws make college presidential searches public, college trustees have found ways to keep the process hidden, handing total control of the decision to unaccountable “executive headhunters.” That’s not just illegal — it’s wrong. Sack Secrecy is a Student Press Law Center special project to highlight secretive searches. Has your institution recently hired Bag Man as its top executive? Let us know. Take a picture with a bag over your head in front of a campus landmark and email it to us. Because your college deserves a leader. Not a bag lady.
Ohio State University racks up $230,000 bill for 'headhunting firm' to hire leader
After promising an “open, transparent and inclusive” presidential search, Ohio State ended up excluding the public from search committee meetings and hiring Michael Drake in January 2014 wit...
University of Georgia announces sole 'finalist'
The University of Georgia Board of Regents announced in-house candidate Jere Morehead as the sole finalist in a closed-door presidential search run by a private headhunting firm in 2013. Georg...