I had the opportunity to meet with the new search firm consultant Alberto Pimentel twice last week, and he appears to be a straight shooter. He seems sincere in his promise of a clean search, for indeed he did not have to take on this gig that could potentially affect his reputation as it potentially has his predecessor Bill Funk. I had asked him how he planned to rebuild trust in the process, and of course the primary way to do so is to a) bring integrity back to the process and b) stick to his word and not play politics. I am counting on him to do both.
I think it is clear to Mr. Pimentel that the primary problem with the search thus far was the flagrant violations of process. Academics care about the process, for the process SHOULD lead us to the most qualified candidates. When the process is usurped by political cronyism and arrogance, our sensibilities are more than offended.
This was also clear in the meeting with the faculty on June 25th. Several of the more than 40 faculty members who attended made it clear that while we are glad that we have a new search firm and a consultant who seems to understand the importance of integrity in the process, the Presidential Search Advisory Committee remains the same. That is, the same folks who voted to violate process by interviewing only one person who hadn’t even applied yet are still on the committee. The faculty and students are still underrepresented on a committee filled with outside interests—mostly political. Though Pimentel doesn’t think the committee will be reset (and the BOT meeting on the 27th made this clear as well), the fact remains that political interests still rule the Search Advisory Committee, and, as I have said and Pimentel said as well, the only way to combat this is for faculty TO SHOW UP! Yes, I’m yelling for emphasis. We need to be sure to show up to everything and make our voices heard! We need to go to all of the meetings in September that we can possibly go to. We need to give the Committee and everyone else we can think of feedback, especially after the on campus interviews Sept. 15-18. We need to ask the candidates the hard questions. We need to let the Committee and the press and the state and the nation know that we are engaged and care deeply about this university and the direction that it needs to go. We need to remain vigilant and vocal. That’s essential.
Pimentel also made it clear that if someone tries to manipulate the process, he will stop that person from doing so and make that attempted manipulation public. Knowing that the presumptive political candidate has already met with decision-makers in one-on-one meetings, I was happy to hear that Pimentel agreed that doing so is not appropriate unless everyone is afforded the same opportunities. And someone asked me if it was legal for candidates to meet with decision-makers (that is, PSAC members and BOT members) in private, for the search is supposed to be public. If anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know.
Pimentel also made it clear that the faculty has sent a strong message—we want an academic as our president. This, he says, is why no one cares about what happened the last few weeks other than as a point of gossip. That is, no one cares that the process was so screwed up now that it has been righted. I took this to mean that the flawed search hasn’t scared qualified applicants away from applying for the position now that we have a deadline and a new search firm that has made a commitment to a clean search. But I think a few people read this as a negative, for it sounded like he was dismissing the damage that the violation of process has done to faculty morale and trust in this search. Again, to me this means we need to remain even more vigilant and continue to encourage the best, most qualified candidates we know to apply. You can nominate candidates by contacting Pimentel at a.pimentel@storbeckpimentel.com.
As a reminder, most candidates will apply at the last minute—September 2—and Pimentel said he even advises candidates to wait until the last minute due to the fact that names will become public shortly thereafter. This is extremely important for everyone to remember. While some folks will suggest that the lack of applications before the deadline means no one qualified has applied, it is indeed normal for people to wait until the deadline to apply--which is why the deadline is so crucial to the process.
