The head of the University of Colorado’s Faculty Council suggested Thursday that regents suspend a $300,000 presidential search and stick with Hank Brown.
“I would see the presidential search, as clean and well-intended as it is, to be somewhat of a charade,” Rod Muth told regents at their board meeting. “It is very, very clear that Hank Brown has been an absolute godsend to the university.”
Muth’s suggestion was quite a change from last spring, when he spoke up for professors who thought they were cheated out of participating in Brown’s hasty appointment as interim president after Betsy Hoffman resigned in April. He complained to regents then that the search for a permanent president was just “window dressing.”
Muth said Thursday that he won’t dwell on regents’ “past mistakes.” Instead, he will ask his 39-member council, which includes faculty from all four CU campuses, to pass a resolution Dec. 1 in support of suspending the search.
Regents were happily surprised at Muth’s proposal and said a faculty resolution could throw traditional procedure off course.
“A lot of this is in the hands of the faculty,” Regent Michael Carrigan said. “The faculty has the opportunity to say, ‘Let’s cut to the chase.”‘
Regent Pete Steinhauer, who has said he hopes Brown ends up in the permanent job, called Muth’s idea “just outstanding.”
Muth suggested the university resume the search after Brown, 65, announces how long he is willing to stay.
Brown, always reluctant to promote himself as a candidate for the permanent job, declined an opportunity to comment on the proposal during the meeting. The former U.S. senator said earlier that he would take the job if asked but would want to stay only a few years.
Muth said that he is unsure exactly how the council will react to his idea but that faculty are concerned about spending money and time on a process that could end up with Brown as president.
Regent Steve Bosley, chairman of the 12-member presidential search committee, said regents would not ignore a recommendation from the faculty. But he noted that administrators, students and alumni also want a say in the search, which is a “time-honored tradition.”
If regents postponed the search, Brown essentially would become the permanent president, Bosley said.
Also on Thursday, regents passed a resolution in support of a draft agreement that would hold the CU Foundation to stricter accounting rules.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
