Sections

Regents to reveal search plan for pres.

The Board of Regents will soon move one step closer in its search for the next University president.

At a meeting of the Presidential Search Committee last Friday, the regents announced they will publicly reveal a finalized search plan Thursday.

"I think it is essential that this committee do as we said and make this plan open," said Regent Rebecca McGowan (D-Ann Arbor). "By the end of (Thursday's) meeting we should be ready and have a search plan in place."

Regent Shirley McFee (R-Battle Creek), co-chair of the search committee, emphasized the important role the nine public forums played in forming the criteria to select the next president.

"We did feel it was only appropriate for us to do this when the forums were concluded," McFee said. "(The next president) has to have a whole cosmopolitan of characteristics and be able to do a lot of things."

"The constitution vests in the regents the ultimate authority in selecting the president of the University," Deitch said. "There are some cynical people who wish us to fail -- and we will not do so. ... We will, on a timely basis, elect a great president of the University of Michigan."

Deitch also said the regents were not divided over the details of the search process. This statement was reinforced when, after some discussion, the board voted unanimously to select Russell Reynolds Inc. to assist the search committee in its presidential hunt.

McFee said a portion of Thursday's meeting may be closed to the public to discuss legal issues with University attorneys.