February 20, 2010 2:04 pm
BREAKING NEWS: President Selected & Accepted
By Lara Southgate, Editor-in-chief
At the beginning of the Board of Trustees meeting on Saturday, Feb. 20, Board Chairman James P. Muldoon announced that “We have extended an offer” to the selected presidential candidate. By the middle of the meeting, the Board received news that that the candidate had, in fact, accepted. The candidate appears to be coming from another college. Muldoon said that on Monday, the candidate would notify his or her campus of the decision, and then would come forward to the St. Mary’s Community.
“This is a great week for St. Mary’s College,” Muldoon said.
I really appreciated being made part of the decision making process. Why weren’t students even allowed to hear the candidate(s) speak at an open forum?
No one other than the board and the faculty representatives were involved. Given that a small group of students and faculty poisoned the process the last time via a slash and burn campaign against Jim Bacchus who can blame the board for excluding us from the process this time?
The entire search committee — which includes student (and staff, and faculty) representatives, as well as a large number of alumni (in their capacity as Board members) — was involved.
There were no public forums this time because some of the candidates required confidentiality in order to enter the search.
T: is there a problem with students/faculty being picky about their president?
No, the problem is when a small group of students and faculty engage in character assassination in an effort to get their way.
I have to agree with T – it wasn’t about dialogue, it was about being the loudest and most strident. Unfortunately, they’re the ones that usually get the most attention.
However, I also agree with Alex, but as a staff member, we’re used to being mostly ignored. At least the students and the faculty get heard, even if they’re just being squeaky wheels.
Gotta hope the committee (which worked hard at the job, I have no doubt) and the Board made the right decision for the entire campus. Guess we’ll find out Monday.