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Nonregent panel will list, `star' candidates

The University Board of Regents approved a presidential search plan yesterday that will keep the names of all candidates secret until the final stage.

The plan and timetable outline the use of an advisory committee, intended to secure candidate confidentiality during the early parts of the process.

Provost J. Bernard Machen said the 12-member advisory committee, which will meet in closed sessions, complies with the Open Meetings Act. The state law requires that all board meetings of public bodies be open, including discussions about potential candidates.

Machen said the committee is exempt from the act because "the sole purpose of the PSAC (search committee) is advisory in nature."

The advisory committee will be made up of seven faculty members, two staff members, one alum and two students -- an undergraduate and graduate. The committee will "star" its top five choices and forward the list to the regents.

Machen, along with Vice President for University Relations Walter Harrison and Secretary Roberta Palmer, designed the plan after listening to public comments during nine forums held across the state.

Some media law experts have raised questions about whether the plan violates the act.

"I think it violates the law in spirit, if not in letter," said communication studies lecturer Joan Lowenstein, who specializes in media law. "I think that if recommendations are made that are for all purposes final decisions and if the recommendations are taken seriously, then it is not just an advisory board."

Machen said that while the process is not totally open, it does not violate the law.

"It is clear that what we're proposing does not fully agree with what some of the newspapers have suggested," Machen said. "I would hope that we would not get any lawsuits."

The Ann Arbor News and Detroit Free Press sued the University following the 1987-88 search that led to the selection of James J. Duderstadt. The case continued through the courts and the state Supreme Court in 1993 ruled that the regents had violated the Open Meetings Act during the search.

Although the board approved the plan presented yesterday, not all the regents supported it.

Regent Deane Baker (R-Ann Arbor) abstained from voting. Baker said he did not vote because of his opposition to the Open Meetings Act, which he says conflicts with the "constitutional autonomy" granted to the regents in the state's constitution.

"I don't think you can talk about electing a president without talking about autonomy," Baker said.

"The regents are substantially inhibited by the Open Meetings Act," he said.

Regent Andrea Fisher Newman (R-Ann Arbor) said she was concerned that Baker may not follow the procedures outlined in the plan.

But Baker said he will obey the law. "Your assumption is not correct," he told Newman during the meeting. "I intend to cooperate with it. I am surprised you made it such an issue."

Other members of the board said they would have liked Baker to vote with the board to show support for the search plan.

Baker countered, "I think support is shown because I didn't vote against it."

According to the timetable approved by the regents:

- The board will vote on members of an advisory committee in February, after - After the regents present the committee with a list of qualities they want in - The committee will meet in a closed session with a search consulting firm -- - In September, the advisory committee will give the regents a list of all the "We are very sure we can complete it by October 1996," Machen said.

Regent Shirley McFee (R-Battle Creek), a co-chair of the presidential search committee, defended the search process, saying it would help protect the candidates' reputations at their current job.

"Just because a person's name is on the list doesn't mean that they were ever considered," McFee said. "It does not mean they have any interest in pursuing it at all."

Lowenstein said the search plan will not provide any real insight into how the decisions were reached.

"All we will have are names," she said. "That doesn't seem to me to be a very open process."

Meanwhile, MSA president Flint Wainess said he has received many requests from students who would like to serve on the advisory committee.

"I think they should be students who have been around for a couple of years," Wainess said. "Students who have a vision for this institution."