UNITED FACULTY-AAUP CHAPTER RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA FACULTY-AAUP STATEMENT DEPLORING THE ACTIONS OF THE IOWA BOARD OF REGENTS PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
SEPTEMBER 11, 2015
According to the American Association of University Professors Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities:
“The variety and complexity of the tasks performed by institutions of higher education, produce an inescapable interdependence among governing board, administration, faculty, students and others. The relationship calls for adequate communication among these components, and full opportunity for appropriate joint planning and effort. . . .
The governing board has a special obligation to ensure that the history of the college or university shall serve as a prelude and inspiration to the future.
The president, as the chief executive officer of an institution of higher education, is measured largely by his or her capacity for institutional leadership. . . The president’s leadership role is supported by delegated authority from the board and faculty.”
According to the American Association of University Professors Statement on Faculty Participation in the Selection, Evaluation, and Retention of Administrators:
“The Association’s 1966 Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities rests largely upon the conviction that interdependence, communication, and joint action among the constituents of a college or university enhance the institution’s ability to solve educational problems. . . . The Statement on Government emphasizes the primary role of faculty and board in the search for a president. “
United Faculty – AAUP Statement in Support of University of Iowa Faculty:
The recent disclosure of various facts about the University of Iowa presidential search by the Iowa Board of Regents has undermined public confidence in the search process. The following issues are of particular concern: (1) the rapid speed in selecting candidates that prevented a thorough vetting and deliberation of all applicants; (2) the lack of diversity among the final presidential candidates; (3) the minimal voice given to University of Iowa faculty during the middle phases of the search; (4) in a significant departure from past practices, the entire search committee was dismissed shortly after final candidates were selected; (5) disregard for the appropriate academic credentials that must be possessed by a university president if s/he is to gain faculty confidence, and (6) failure to respect and give significant weight to University of Iowa faculty’s legitimate concerns about the fitness of the candidate selected by the Board of Regents.
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the totality of the issues described above leads the United Faculty-AAUP Chapter of the University of Northern Iowa to give our full support to the statement made by the University of Iowa-AAUP Chapter deploring the actions of the Iowa Board of Regents in conducting their presidential search for the University of Iowa.
Joe Gorton, Ph. D
President, United Faculty-American Association University Professors
University of Northern Iowa
