EAST LANSING, Mich. — When the MSU Board of Trustees accepted Lou Anna K. Simon's resignation as President, they vowed transparency with the students, faculty, staff and community for the hiring of the next president.
However, not long after former Interim President John Engler was in place, the search committee announced the process would no longer be public.
This upset many of the students and staff at MSU and most recently, a petition has been started to make the process of hiring a new president transparent once again.
As of Feb. 27, over 400 people have signed an online petition on change.org[change.org].
The petition calls for "open interaction" between the search committee and the top candidates to be MSU's next President.
Trustees Dianne Byrum and Melanie Foster said that the reason for the closed process was to "draw the strongest pool of candidates."
When you click on change.org, a box prompts you to sign this petition, "Today, some faculty is counting on you," it reads. "Some Faculty Senators needs your help with “MSU Community: Open the Search for MSU's Next President”. Join Some Faculty and 414 supporters today."
On the site, there is a bit of an explanation about the petition and the need for transparency.
We, the undersigned, call on MSU to open the presidential search so that top candidates can engage with the MSU community.
Trustees Byrum and Foster, the co-chairs of the presidential search committee, have stated that "confidentiality is crucial to attracting and hiring the best possible person to be the next president of MSU." We, the undersigned, believe that "the best possible person" is someone who is willing to engage with students, staff, and faculty in open dialogue to address the cultural problems at MSU.
Given the unique challenges facing MSU, the Presidential search must yield not only an experienced administrator, but one who is sensitive to the feelings of sexual assault survivors and has knowledge and experience in addressing these issues. Our President must commit to transparency, accountability, and shared governance with faculty, students, and staff. That commitment can best be signaled by a willingness to meet with our community as we near the end of the search process. There is no empirical evidence that a closed search yields 'better' results, even in normal circumstances. The circumstances at MSU are far from normal. There will be no confidence in a search that omits open dialogue between the community and the top candidates.
While a more comprehensive petition by Reclaim MSU that includes this demand has been circulated and has obtained over 1,000 signatures, this is a targeted petition to address one pressing issue at a key moment: we want the search opened so that we can engage with top candidates.
Click here [change.org]to sign the petition.
