Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1980 [PAGE 99]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1978]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

89

It is expected that the Consultative Committee will provide advice as to the general qualities expected of a president as well as suggestions concerning specific candidates. In all likelihood, the committee will be asked to supply a panel of names of acceptable candidates or to react to suggestions received by the board from other sources. It is the trustees' intent that the committee will be an important element in the selection process. T h e board recognizes, however, that it cannot delegate its statutory obligation, that it must make the final decision, and it is prepared to exercise that authority. The constituencies identified above will be asked to make their selections of committee members by the scheduled October 20, 1978, meeting of the board. T h e board designates the secretary of the board as its agent in the procedural and liaison tasks involved in the selection of a president of the University. T h e secretary of the board is directed to prepare an estimate of anticipated expenses to be incurred by the board and the committee and to present a request for a special appropriation at the October 20 meeting.

Charge to the Consultative Committee to Assist in the Selection of a President

In addition to establishing the Consultative Committee it is necessary for the trustees to specify the charge of the committee and the general procedures within which it will operate: 1 Although the several broad constituencies of the University are reflected in the structure of the committee, in no sense does the board regard the members as "representatives" or "delegates" of any single interest group. Rather, each member is expected to serve as an individual, exercising his or her own best judgment in the interest of the University of Illinois as a whole. T h e committee's first task will be to recommend criteria to be used as the basis of judging the qualifications of candidates for the office of president of the University; and, second, to assemble a list of names of individuals judged to be suitable for the position. (In this regard, the trustees urge the committee to give careful consideration to the "guidelines" developed by the Consultative Committee of 1970-71 and approved by the board on July 22, 1970.) T h e several constituencies of the University should be invited to suggest suitable possible candidates, and suggestions might be sought from other appropriate sources, including other institutions of higher learning. T h e trustees will of course maintain a continuing interest in the identification of outstanding candidates and may wish to suggest names. Soon after the committee has been organized, the trustees will arrange a meeting with it, to discuss and fix criteria to be used in judging candidates and procedures to be followed in later stages of the search. T h e trustees will follow, and expect the committee to follow, all of the regular University affirmative action policies in the conduct of the search and the appointment of a president of the University. After a list of possible candidates has been assembled, the committee should conduct a preliminary screening designed to identify a number of individuals judged to be the most promising on the list. Detailed information should then be secured concerning these individuals, initially from public records such as professional directories and bibliographic sources. At this point, care should be taken neither to approach prospective candidates nor to solicit formal evaluations of candidates by non-University persons, inasmuch as such inquiries may prove to be embarrassing to the candidates or to the University. Informal inquiries may be made by the committee, but only with clearance from the president of the Board of Trustees, and it should be made clear that the

1 The committee is expected to develop its own rules and internal procedures, within the limits of this charge and after consultation with the Board of Trustees.