Colorado School of Mines faculty members are accusing the college’s board of trustees of excluding them from the search for the next president.
The board plans to conduct the search instead of forming a committee of professors, staff, students and administrators.
In the past, a committee has interviewed candidates and forwarded its top selections to trustees for approval. This time, trustees will act as “liaisons” to various campus groups gathering input for the search.
Faculty and other groups can nominate candidates for consideration, said board president Michael Nyikos.
Nyikos called the new process “unorthodox,” but said it allows greater confidentiality to candidates and is personalized because board members will have more intimate discussions with the campus community.
The faculty senate fired off a “memorandum of serious concern” to the board last month, saying the process is “flawed and short-sighted” because trustees have “limited experience in higher education administration and a minimal understanding of the day-to-day operations.”
The board consists of seven people appointed by the governor. At least four of them must be Mines alumni and most are involved in the energy industry.
Nyikos, who was an administrator at Mines, Mesa State College and Fort Lewis College, told faculty the board would not reconsider.
“While we are eager for faculty advice, we are completely cognizant of our fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of Colorado to manage the school,” he wrote.
Nyikos said in an interview that the board “has enough horsepower” and connections in the energy industry to recruit excellent candidates.
Trustees hope to hire a president by spring, before president John Trefny’s July 31 retirement.
Faculty are angry and in disbelief, said Bruce Honeyman, faculty senate president. About 150 professors attended a forum about the search last week, and the senate sent a second letter to trustees Friday asking them to reconsider.
“A search committee that reflects the diversity and richness of the Colorado School of Mines community is best able to select a president for the next two decades,” Honeyman said.
The last four searches for a Mines president were conducted with faculty input, said John Dorgan, a chemical engineering professor. “The board consists of very accomplished people, but they are not accomplished academics,” he said. “You’d like the input of a Formula 1 driver to develop a winning race car, not that of an accomplished horseman.”
The American Association of University Professors says in its guidelines that a presidential search should involve a faculty committee. A 12-member committee, including faculty, administrators and a student, was formed recently by the University of Colorado board of regents to search for CU’s next president.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
