During the search process for former University President James Duderstadt, the regents held private, sub-quorum meetings to interview and evaluate candidates - violating OMA's dictum. The Ann Arbor News and the Detroit Free Press sued the regents. In September 1993, the state Supreme Court ruled that the board violated OMA during Duderstadt's selection.
As early as April 1995 - five months before Duderstadt's resignation - the regents sought legal advice to "see what this act said and didn't say," Regent Shirley McFee said (R-Battle Creek). Instead of submitting to the court's decision, the regents looked for loopholes through which they could further obfuscate future presidential selections.
Last January, the regents hired private consultant Malcolm MacKay to aid the search process. Naive to the University's unique situation, MacKay stressed privacy as an integral part of the search process. Under this guise, the Presidential Search Advisory Committee held closed meetings to narrow the list of candidates - the same action that brought the regents to court eight years earlier.
After PSAC announced its top five candidates last year, the newspapers sued again. PSAC nearly scrapped months of work and thousands of dollars due to its lack of public access. The regents' attempt to evade OMA blew up in their faces - nearly forcing them back to square one.
New University President Lee Bollinger's actions will affect all aspects of the University community - his selection was too important to hold behind closed doors. The regents stressed that candidates' confidentiality must ensured to prevent threatening their present positions. If a candidate cannot stand up to public scrutiny, they will not be a strong leader and shouldn't be considered for the enormous job of University president.
McFee stated, "We had decided very early on, if and when we would need to do another search, we would do it right." Either the regents were deaf to any information that threatened their privacy or they conveniently forgot OMA counseling advice when it was time to select another president. Despite their efforts to maneuver around the public interest, lawsuits once again forced the regents to hire costly litigators.
While Bollinger is an excellent product of the search process, the regents wasted money on valueless advice - their stubborn OMA violations threatened to nullify PSAC's work. Instead of frittering away funds on advice they had no intention of taking, the regents should have used the money to improve the University's educational environment. The regents wrongfully put concerns of privacy ahead of students' education and the public's right to information.