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MSA to recommend students to serve on advisory search panel

By Laurie Mayk
Daily Staff Reporter

Michigan Student Assembly President Flint Wainess will present the assembly's recommendations for the presidential search committee's two student representatives at a meeting tomorrow with Provost J. Bernard Machen.

"Hopefully we'll come to an agreement on names to forward to the regents," Wainess said.

The University Board of Regents announced last month that it will include two students on the advisory search panel -- a committee that will meet in closed session to consider candidates for University president.

Machen said that although the assembly's opinion will be considered, he has solicited nominations across campus for one undergraduate and one graduate student representative and expects to continue deliberations after tomorrow's meeting.

"They are not going to select the candidates," Machen said. "I will select the candidates.

"I'll probably interview a number (of student candidates) before I make a final recommendation," he said.

Machen said he plans to make his recommendations to the regents in mid-February.

Wainess, who has been working with the regents and Machen to communicate student concerns about the search, said he expects no problems reaching an agreement on the recommendations.

"MSA will be united behind this (recommendation)," said LSA Rep. Probir Mehta, campus governance committee chair. "We've already started soliciting a lot of people ... who are interested."

CGC is responsible for appointing students to various leadership positions on University and city-wide committees.

Mehta said CGC and Wainess will collaborate to choose the two "MSA-endorsed" students today. Machen, Wainess and Mehta have been accepting e-mail applications since the regents announced their plan for student involvement earlier this week. A list of student leaders used in appointing MSA committee chairs this fall has also been a resource for recruiting students, Mehta said.

"People are talking about this (search) on the streets and at the libraries," LSA Rep. Fiona Rose said. "They're really interested in who will be at the helm of the University next year."

MSA is not the only source for nominations, Machen said. He is keeping a record of the nominations he has received, currently 15 to 20 student names, and the individuals or group making the nomination. Machen said MSA is the only student group to request a meeting with him as of yet.

The assembly was expecting more student representatives on the committee and more MSA involvement in the search, Mehta said.

"We're slightly disappointed that MSA didn't get appointment powers to this committee," he said.

Although the search committee meetings will be confidential, Mehta said he hopes the selected students will keep the lines of communication open.

"They won't be able to say anything but we can tell them, `You'd better listen to student concerns here,'" he said.

Wainess said he expects MSA to play a more active role later in the search process.

"When the regents publicly receive the nominations of the advisory committee, MSA should play a strong role in commenting on those candidates," Wainess said.