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The OU Board of Regents meet in Oklahoma City on March 5. Chairman Clayton Bennett announced that the presidential search committee has narrowed down its search to seven candidates.
SEARCH NARROWS Board of Regents will interview seven finalists for OU’s presidency after official end to search committee’s work
T
he search for David Boren’s successor has entered its final stage, with the pool of candidates narrowed down to seven undisclosed individuals to be interviewed soon. The work of the presidential search committee is officially over following the committee’s report to the OU Board of Regents in a closed session March 5. The regents will now take over the proceedings to find OU’s 14th president from seven finalists. This process will start with interviews of candidates during the March 10 weekend. “Extraordinar y achievement, all of them,” said Clayton Bennett, chair of the Board of Regents, discussing the seven candidates. “Extraordinary life achievement. People of strong integrity, of high character. Just one after another, just very impressed. We are very excited for the task at hand.” Search committee chair David Rainbolt and vice chair Gregg Garn gave the committee’s report at the March 5 meeting with the regents. The report included information about the process of the presidential search as well as information about the candidates that the committee recommended. Rainbolt, executive chairman
NICK HAZELRIGG • @NICKHAZELRIGG at BancFirst and member of a prominent OU donor family, said participating in the search was a very positive experience. “I thought it was an extraordinarily rewarding experience,” Rainbolt said. “I love Oklahoma, I love OU. I’ve not done anything like this before. I learned a lot from Gregg about how universities work and how management inside an academic institution is different than a public company.” Garn, dean of the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education, said he was also pleased by the outcome of the search and praised Rainbolt’s leadership of the committee. “If you think about what this committee represents, it’s a number of different stakeholders, from student and faculty and alumni. David’s done an excellent job making sure people had the opportunity to express their ideas, their perceptions, their voice,” Garn said. “We didn’t always agree with one another, but I think we respected one another enough to make this a really respectable process.” Though the committee recommended the finalists, the Regents’ Policy Manual makes clear the regents are not bound to the recommendations of the
search committee. Bennett, however, said the regents were impressed by the work of the committee.
“Extraordinary life achievement. People of strong integrity, of high character. Just one after another, just very impressed. We are very excited for the task at hand.” CLAYTON BENNETT, CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS
“We were very impressed with the report, we were very impressed with the engagement of the committee — a committee that includes a broad representation of the university community,” Bennett said. “Very strong representation from the faculty and the students and the broad university community. We were very impressed with the work. They went to great detail in their investigations and their research into these candidates. We’re very excited about the report they advanced to us today.” Bennett said the seven finalists come from within and outside of OU, but that he could not
provide any further details as regents plan to maintain the same levels of confidentiality during their portion of the search as the search committee. “We’re very aware of this notion of open versus confidential process and, of course, highly interested in what all constituents have to say about where we are. We’re also at this juncture very respectful of the candidates,” Bennett said. “We know that we couldn’t have this field if not for the fact of a confidential process. That said, we want to continue to make sure we make good decisions for the university.” The constituents, most specifically OU’s faculty members, have vocally expressed displeasure at a secretive search process. Last month, Suzette Grillot, dean of the College of International Studies, created a petition asking the regents to open the process, which received more than 300 signatures from OU faculty, staff and alumni. Lobbying for an open process continued with an open letter to the regents from Sarah Ellis, Faculty Senate chair, on Feb. 5. The Faculty Senate sent another letter March 5 asking the regents for a more open forums and an opportunity to ask questions of the finalists.
“The faculty and staff have been resilient through hard times largely due to a reservoir of goodwill for the university,” the letter drafted by the Faculty Senate reads. “Open visits are crucial to creating much needed faculty, staff, and student confidence in both the process and the outcome — the next president will surely require widespread stakeholder support.” The regents have announced t h e y w i l l m e e t at 1 : 3 0 p. m. March 9 and at 8 a.m. March 10 to begin interviewing candidates. Bennett said he hoped to complete all interviews during the weekend. Bennett also said scheduling the interviews would be difficult, but that “nothing is more important” than completing this process. “There’s nothing more important that I’ll do in my civic life than be a part of this process. The university is so very important to Oklahoma and all the people it touches,” Bennett said. “The notion of finding its president is extraordinarily important. It’s daunting — we understand that — and we’re committed to doing the best that we absolutely can.” Nick Hazelrigg
hazelriggn@gmail.com
Regents name department after alumna African and African American Studies to bear name of activist EMMA KEITH @shakeitha_97
OU’s Board of Regents approved a dean search committee and recognized a civil rights
pioneer and alumna at its March 7 meeting, among other things. OU president David Boren began his portion of the meeting by proposing that the new African and African American Studies Department be named for Clara Luper, one of OU’s first black students and leader of the first sit-in during the Civil Rights Movement. The board approved Boren’s resolution to a standing ovation
from the audience, which included members of Luper’s family and of the African and African American Studies Department. Luper’s daughters, when speaking during a photo with the regents, expressed gratitude for the honor on their mother’s behalf, noting her perseverance through segregation and support from OU classmates. The board moved into internal
business after a brief break for the photo, reappointing chairman Clayton Bennett and executive secretary Chris Purcell and appointing Leslie Rainbolt-Forbes vice chair of the board. Per Boren’s proposals, the board also approved the purchase of two new compressed natural gas buses for the Norman campus’ Cleveland Area Rapid Transit system. The meeting also saw the
appointment of a search committee to find the new executive dean of OU’s College of Medicine, as well as the approval of various staff, faculty and student awards. Emma Keith
emmakeith97@ou.edu