SR 15-01 - Resolution on the 2015-2016 Presidential Search at CI

Approve Date: October 20, 2015
Senate Resolution File:
SP 15-01 Resolution on the 2015-2016 Presidential Search at CI

Drafted By: Senate Executive Committee: Jeanne Grier, Stephen Clark, Cindy Wyels, Simone Aloisio, Colleen Delaney, Jacob Jenkins, Antonio Jiménez-Jiménez, Travis Hunt, Jim Meriwether, John Yudelson; ex officio: Gregory Wood, Genevieve Evans-Taylor, Gayle Hutchinson
Senate Resolution
Resolved: That the California State University Channel Islands (CI) Academic Senate calls for a search process for the next president of the university that includes transparency and opportunity for the entire campus to provide input into the decision- making process; and be it further

Resolved: That the finalists for the position officially visit the campus and that all members of the campus community have the opportunity to interact with the finalists in open meetings; and be it further

Resolved: That additional members from constituent groups (if any) appointed to the campus Advisory Committee to the Trustees Committee for the Selection of the President (ACTCSP) be from groups with strong ties to the university community and

whose members have made significant contributions to the university and to its local service area; and be it further
Resolved: That the CI Academic Senate encourages the California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees to revise their September 2011 Policy for the Selection of Presidents in consultation with the Academic Senate of the CSU so as to include mandatory visits to campuses for finalists in presidential searches; and be it further

Resolved: That this resolution be distributed to the Chair of the Board of Trustees, the Chancellor, the Chair of the Trustees Committee for the Selection of the President (TCSP) for CI, the Academic Senate of the CSU and campus senate chairs.

Rationale
CSU presidential searches are governed by the Board of Trustees Policy for the Selection of Presidents. (http://www.calstate.edu/datastore/PresidentialSearch.shtml) The policy allows for presidential candidates to retain their anonymity to the wider campus community in efforts to have larger pools of candidates; yet the potential is that if one finalist candidate wishes to remain anonymous, the entire pool will remain anonymous. This severely limits the interaction potential presidents with the campus community.

The CI Academic Senate recommends a search process that allows for more campus interaction with the finalists for the position. There are great benefits to campus visits where all members of the university community have the opportunity to meet finalists and ask them questions in a public forum. By conducting a search in this manner, most of the search would still remain confidential. It would only be at the finalist stage, and for a handful of candidates, that their decision to apply for the position would be made public to the campus community. While we recognize the benefit of having a confidential search for the candidate in many cases, keeping the search confidential through the finalist stage has disadvantages that outweigh this benefit. The assurance of confidentiality of the search up to the final stage might slightly compromise the size of the applicant pool, but the benefit would be much more campus interaction.