THE NATIONAL COLLEGE
NEWSPAPER
Report by
Charles A. Hahn
U. Editor
| his is the first of several special
reports about student issues and concerns
scheduled to appear in U The National
College Newspaper this academic year
The reports will be written or directed by
U s editors on fellowship with contributions
from members of the American Collegiate
Network
This report about students involvement
in the administrative search process exam
mes a key facet of student governance it
investigates how much input students nave
in the selection of officials at their colleges
and universities and whether they do their
part when given input
In February. U will publish a special report
about job and career opportunities tor grad
uatmg seniors in various job markets
Design by
Jacki Hampton
U. Editor
Photos by
Tommy Comeaux
Louisiana State U.
Brad Camp
Kansas State U.
Lori Wasselchuk
U. of Minnesota
Eric O’Connell
New Mexico State U.
SPECIAL REPORT — DECEMBER 1989
Contributing to the process
Students help select university administrators
When Ijouisiana State l student
Su/ette Kuhlow volunteered to
serve on the committee to select her schools
new chancellor, her expectat tons were mod
est Perhaps she would have some influence
Perhaps she would learn something
Kight months later, Kuhlow found herscll
leading finalists for the LSI' chancellorship
on tours oft he campus, giving them their only
view oftheschix)! in its spontaneous, unpack
aged form During this critical stage of the
search, a student ran the show
>> * * r \ i n ^ on me
committee was def
initely one of the
best experiences
I've had." Kuhlow
said "The universi
ty was trusting me
vs it li influencing
these people's deci
sions ”
Kuhlow is one of
many students
nationwide who
help their schools
select new officials
Student repre
sentation on admin
istratis e search
committees, which
became w idespread
during the liMiOs. is
Serving on the
committee was one
of the In-st ex|K‘ri
enees I’ve had.
—Su/ette Kuhlow,
Louisiana State l .
virwtHj ii\ siuuriu it*aiu*n* miti
alike as a v ital aspect of student governance
However, while universities acknowledge
the need to involve students, some students
question w hether their input is as significant
as officials assert
Also, many administrators and student
leaders agree that despite the importance of
searches, students often fail to show enough
interest Those willing to commit the time
required by a search are scarce, and members
of the student body frequently show little
interest in searches or the activities of their
own representatives
The LSU chancellor search
In the case of Kuhlow her involvement or
influence could not have !>een much greater
Nor. in the case of a chancellor search, could
the stakes have tieen higher
The search lasted eight months, finally
ending this past spring with the selection ol
William “Bud" Davis Kuhlow was the lone
student on the committee, which represented
various university constituencies, including
faculty and administration
After months of screening resumes, the
committee brought finalists to campus for
interviews Kuhlow found herself immersed
m an increasingly intense process
Some meetings lasted a full eight hours,
and the committee occasionally met on
Saturday
The choice of Davis lefi Kuhlow satisfied
with Ixith the final decision and her expert
ence on the committee
“He's working with students and he s mak
mg one of the issues I brought up. child care.
a school-wide priority." she said. “He’s defi
nitely living up to his campaign promises
Student input
lake Kuhlow, many students found that
they were listened to by other committee
members. “I don't know if it's some kind of rit
ual or what, but they always ask the student
for questions and input," said Michael Hull,
a Southern Illinois l,' . Carbondale student
goverment leader who served on a committee
that chose a new vice president for academic
and budgetary affairs Throughout most of
the process. Hull said, he felt thoroughly
involved and free to ask questions of candi
dates
Hull chose to focus on issues he felt
addressed the broad needs of the student
body. “I asked questions along the lines of
Why do you want this job?' and left the more
technical questions to the faculty and admin
istrators."
Sue Blodgett, a graduate student in enty
mology at Kansas State U. w ho served on a
committee seeking a new vice president for
research focused on questions of recruitment
and student needs "We were looking at mak
ing Kansas State more grad-student friend
ly.'' Blodgett said “I asked candidates
questions alxiui student stipends, day care,
health insurance, and the flexhility of univer
sity rules and policies for students with spe
cial needs
lake many other students interviewed for
this report, Blodgett characterized her input
as “equal" to that of other committee mem
bers “The committee inemliers were repre
senting different concerns and constituen
cies. and I felt like I was able to effectively
represent the concerns of students '
The search process
Search commit
tees are widely
used at colleges and
universities to
select admnistra
tive officers While
the structure and
composition of com
mittees vary wide
ly, the typical
search body con
tains 10 to 20 mem
bers and represents
a variety of con
stituencies, such as
faculty, staff,
administrators and
alumni
After a position J
has been adver- l
felt like I was
able to effectively
represent the con
ferns of students.”
—Sue Blodgett,
Kansas StaU* L’.
list'd. .1 committee reviews applications and
selects candidates to In* interviewed While
decisions can lie made by vote, typically a
committee will seek a consensus through dia
logue ()flen, two or more candidates are rec
ommended and the final hiring decision is left
to the chief officer of the administrative area
in question
While resumes are reviewed, no informa
tion about specific candidates is divulged in
order to protect i he r current jobs. This secre
cy has been know n 10 agitate students, (acui
ty. and other members of the university com
munity hungr\ li information However,
many student rc| esentatives understand
the wisdom of kee| ig candidates' indentities
s(‘cret
"The prevailm.
argument for seer'
cy is there's a lot
media attention >
searches, noti
Bliss McCracken
U. of New Mexi.
student serving
her school's pn
dentiai search e<
mittee. "Anytn
the press revi
that this person
that person tsar
didate, their r
rent job could
jeopardized A
publicity can a
the search to
politicized "
After the field
UHc* (President) is
interested in allow
ing more student
input.
—Krie Huang,
U. of Minnesota
been pared dim i
ally presented t
Students and ot
(unity to meet t
Committee mt
and a sense ol
times transcemi
stituencies
“It's almost si.
student-faculU
seen.” says C
Phillips Shivels
“Faculty and >
together to mak
cess, and the si
energy and per
slate of candidates is usu
ie university community
rs are afforded the oppor
iidates at public forums
ers often develop rapport
rnon purpose that some
he interests of their con
ising how rare it is to get
ision based on what I’ve
Minnesota Professor W
lent members often work
contribution to the pro
;ent members often add
tive ”
Sc cite problems
Not all studeii ami such a rosy picture
Some argue th ■ university personnel
searches are loo >. r Hive tor adequate input
and that the fen idents who serve on com
mittees are prod of university tokenism
Kour high-leu t Ticials were selected at
the U ofWisconsn Madison, during the past
year According t -Jane Christiansen, cam
pus news editor t r the student newspaper,
The l)ail\ ('arih 7. some students viewed
the vacancies as a hance to shake things up
“This was seen as chance to diversify which
might come alota >nce in a generation, and
some felt that tie university fell short," she
said.
Although there . as student representation
on the search committees, some student lead
ers asserted this made little difference
According to Meghan Henson, co-president of
the Wisconsin Student Association, the
WSA's call lor new blood went unheeded “The
administration didnt listen to us this time
and they rarely do," Henson said "One stu
dent’s voice on a committee can be easily out
weighed "
However. Man K. House, dean of students
at the U of Wisconsin, defended the level of
student input and noted that the WSA has
control over which students serve on commit
tees. "Every constituency, including stu
dents, ought to have a say in the affairs of the
university," she said
Paul Micklev, a student at Central
Michigan l ’ . served on the committee w hich
chose a new vice president for university rela
turns Micklev expressed some skepticism
about how much input he had despite calling
the search “a good experience "
“The people in charge listened and took my
views into account, hut whether they did
much with it I don't know," Micklev said
The committee ultimately selected Russell
Herron, a candidate from within the univer
sity
Even where students do get meaningful
representation, the impact they have can
vary At the C Minnesota, for example, a stu
dent consultative committee found its choice
for vice president of academic affairs over
looked by the administration
“I was disappointed, but I understood that
the vice president had to have the support of
the faculty and deans," said Eric Huang,
chairman of the eight-member student com
mittee charged w ith providing a student rec
ommendation.
Despite the disappointment, Huang char
acterized the amount of student input as ade
quate i'm happy with the president's
request for student
involvement He’s
interested in allow
ing more student
input."
How many
students?
Whether there is
a nationwide trend
toward more stu
dent input is dim
cult to estimate
"Almost 15 years
ago, it was difficult
for universities to
not have students
on committees
Students were
active and they had
an agenda," said
ik... you wiuit to fine!
a tiidaiKv
tin' people who ;ire
ovvrt-xtencN and die
ftcopk* who haven't
volunUfivcL
—Mike Antiporda,
New Mexico State l’.
iru .MilHIU '■Y, ' Hi < ■'1111 III «»| III! • *!*•' I
Association for Higher Kducation “Today, it
is politically possible to have no students on
a committee "
AAHK produces “The Search Committee
Handbook," a guide provided to colleges and
universities The handbook recommends
having one or more students on as many
search committees as possible This has
many lienefits. Marchesy said, including pos
sibly legitimizing a search in the eyes of the
student lx>dv
“We don’t have a flat-out rule, but to me
there should lx- a presupposition that there
should Ik- students on committees, partly
because it makes the committees more effec
tive and partly because it's a learning expe
rience for the students
Student input is often more effective when
more than one student serves, he said "II >ou
have one student, it's like bomu the token
minority It’s so much lietter to have two or
more
At the l ’ ol New
Mexico, student
leaders have sought
unsuccessfully to
provide tor multiple
students on tlie uni
versity's presided
tial search commit
ti-e "I feel that one
student can't repre
sent the broad
interests ol the stu
dent body, said
Marc Montoya, edi
tor of the universi
ty's student news
paper. "It was
brought up by stu
dent leaders that
one isn't enough,
hut that was
brushed aside "
* 1'here is not as
much student
involvement and
participation as 1
would like
—Mary K. Rouse
Dean of Students,
l . of Wisconsin
Another advantage of multiple represent;!
lion, Marches) said, is that it allows students
to feel more comfortable amidst faculty and
administrators Kuhlow, although warmly
welcomed by the chancellor committee, felt
intimidated at first "The first day I walked
in I was terrified liecause there were a lot of
high-cald>er people on the committee she
said
When should students sente?
Although the AAHK handbook recoin
mends one or more students on all search
committees, Marchesy says there is debate at
colleges and universities over w hat positions
most require student input “Everyone would
agree that there should be students on a
search committee for the dean of students
Should there also lie students on a search for
the director of the computer center'' Well
maybe"
At Central Michigan C . according to Vice
President for I'liiversity Relations Russell
Herron, "There are some committees that are
much more visible to students Our students
have varying degrees of input depending on
what the position is
The number of students and the process by
which they are chosen is sometimes deter
mined by university-wide policy, although m
other cases practices may vary from college
to college or department to department
An example is Indiana s Hall Stale I
according to student government adviser
•James Marine "The decision to put a student
on a search committee is typically made bv
the ranking officer in a particular area." he
said.
The question of apathy
One question continually raised by skeptics
is that of student apathy toward the search
process Are significant numbers of students
really interested in serving? And does the stu
dent body at large really care'
Many student leaders concede such ques
turn- .hv leptimato Must search committees
meet .11 least .in hour .1 week nut 1.111 % .uni
thru more frequently during .1 searchs latter
slap’s, and to find students willing to take on
such a committment is not easy
I’lte situation at New Mexico State l is
ssmfmhc of problems nationwide \ lot of
people m the student government are an\
ions to volunteer, Init you want to find a bal
ance lietween t he people w ho are ov on Mend
ed and the people w ho hav en t volunteered as
much before said student government \ ice
President Mike Anti|>orda
"We couldn’t possibly find a student for
even single position that iiprtts up but for
the larger positions we try to
At Southern Illinois I . students serve on
virtually every search committee lortued As
a result, said student I tody President fun
Hildebrand, it is difficult to find enough stu
dents to serve
"It seems like there are .iImiu! .t.O(H) search
es every year." he said
The problem is often underscored by mini
in a I attendance at the public candidate
forums which occur toward the end of search
es According to Herron, “not many students
showed up" at his public address during the
v ice presdent for university relations search
at Central Michigan l
“For a lot of students, admmistration is not
foremost in their minds They have a lot of
other things tugging at their time social eon
cerns, academic concerns, etc Herron said
Wisconsin Dean of Students House said st 11
dent apathy at colleges and universities mir
rors tli.it in the general society "‘There is not
as much student involvement and participa
lion as I would like, and I could generalize
the same thing with the American popula
lion." she said
Others arpte tfiat concerns aliout apathy
have In-en blown out of proportion “For the
longest time I've been hearing complaints
alnmt student apathy.” said the 1 of New
Mexico’s McCracken "Hut I’ve found that
people are willing to participate if they know
wn.it s going on
Once people learn
more about a
search, they’re
more interested "
This controversy
may have caused
some student rep
resentatives to be
held to unreason
able standards of
p a r 11 c i p a t ion
Faculty members
w ho are quiet on
committees are not
i m m e d i a t e I y
labelled as apathel
ic or uninlereseted,
AAHK’s Marchesy
notes
I ve seen slu
dents not doing .
Vor a lot of stu
dents. administra
tion is not foremost
in their minds.
—Russell Hem »n.
VI*. I niv. Relations
Central Miehi^an l .
anything next to faculty members not doing
anything, and then afterward you hear .So
we have students on committees, and they
don't do anything
See SPECIAL REPORT. Page 22