The hunt is on for a new president.
No, not the November 2 election that looms on the horizon in the US, but a replacement for U of T’s recently departed president, Robert Birgeneau. U of T has been under the new leadership of The Hon. Frank Iacobucci since September 1, 2004; his appointment as interim president came after Birgeneau announced that he had accepted a position as chancellor at the University of California at Berkeley. Iacobucci’s temporary position as the new president is only effective until June 30, 2005, or until a new president is appointed. This week, the search for a replacement began.
At the Sept. 24 meeting of U of T’s Governing Council, the 15 members of the presidential selection committee were approved, and were to begin their search for a new president this week.
The committee consists of three alumni, five members of the teaching staff, one administrator, 2 people appointed by the lieutenant-governor-in council, the chair of Governing council, and three students (one undergraduate, graduate, and part-time undergraduate student). The undergraduate representative is Bruce Cameron, a fourth-year engineering-science student; the part-time undergraduate member is Linda Gardner, who studies fine art history; the graduate representative is Mahadeo Sukhai, who is a doctoral student in medical biophysics and current president of the Graduate Students’ Union.
The selection of the search committee involved a nomination period which was open to all individuals who met a certain criteria outlined in the “General Guidelines and Principles for Selection of the Presidential Search Committee.” Specifically, the students selected on the committee were to have a distinguished record of academic achievement, reflect the different disciplines and campuses and have been involved in university life through leadership activities.
Several SAC representatives told The Varsity that they were upset by the student representation on the committee; several full time undergraduate students from SAC were nominated, but none were selected to be on the search committee. They feel that since members of SAC are elected by the general student body, a member from SAC would have been a more appropriate representation of the student voice.
The newly formed committee will now be involved in consultations and research to determine the type of person who would best fit the role of president. Eventually a professional headhunting firm will scope out the best prospects using the specific criteria this committee determines. The candidate will have to win approval of 12 of the 15 committee members to be appointed.
It is this ratio-12 out of 15-which appears to be disconcerting to student leaders and students. Since only 12 out of 15 votes are needed, there is the possibility that the next president could be appointed without any student approval at all. The next president could be appointed without any alumni input as well, naturally, but the math has distressed some student leaders. Rini Ghosh, president of SAC-and unsuccessful candidate for the presidential search committee-said if such a situation arises, “student issues could just be ignored in the future.”
