Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1972 [PAGE 46]

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES OPEN MEETING RECONVENED

[Juty 22

PROPOSED GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING PROSPECTS FOR THE PRESIDENCY

(49) I. What the Presidency Requires A. Understanding of contemporary society and higher education. The President should have a clear understanding of the changes occurring in our society and their implications for publicly-supported higher education. He should have a deep and thorough understanding of academic values and traditions, while remaining flexible in adapting these values to social change. He must be sensitive to new roles which the University is developing and receptive to associated changes in university structure. B. Effective leadership in a situation of very diffuse authority. The President will have to deal with a complex web of governance within the University, with numerous state agencies such as the Board of Higher Education and the Budget Bureau, with the state legislature, with taxpayers and alumni, with other institutions of higher education, and with federal agencies. Successful leadership in such a context requires skill in diplomacy and negotiation, and skill in resolving disagreements and conflicts among these many publics. It also requires sensitiveness and receptiveness to widely diverse views originating within and without the University. The President should be able to articulate clearly the University's goals and values. He should be able to communicate and defend these goals and values to the divergent groups to which the University is accountable, and command the confidence of faculty and students as their spokesman. At the same time, he should be able to interpret their concerns and expectations to members of the University community. The need to persuade and inspire confidence in widely disparate groups requires that the President have a consistent, well-articulated position about higher education and its administration. Obviously, exercise of leadership of the sort described above is not a oneman job; it requires teamwork and extensive delegation of authority. Hence the President should have the wisdom to select and the ability to attract outstanding associates who complement his own strengths. C. Personal characteristics which will contribute to the kind of effective leadership described above. If the President is to hold respect in all the groups with which he deals, his integrity, courage, and decisiveness should be beyond doubt. He should not be one who would utilize, or appear to utilize, the office for his own advancement, or for projection into national prominence for a desired election or appointment to another high position. He should have great energy, aggressiveness, and capacity for work. He should be articulate and persuasive. In dealing with a wide range of people, he should be able to remain open-minded, flexible, and considerate, and show extraordinary patience and self-control. The President should have a comprehension of what constitutes excellence in teaching and scholarship, and a commitment to its support. II. Evidence to be used in assessing qualifications A. Desirable areas of experience. Certain kinds of experience will be especially convincing evidence that a prospect can satisfy the requirements of the presidency. Successful high-level administration in a large, publicly-supported university is the most persuasive sort of evidence. A record of success as a responsible administrator of a complex organization — preferably a tax-supported organization, and preferably a university — is essential. It would be highly desirable, particularly in the absence of academic administrative experience, that a prospect have had successful experience as a faculty member; as a spokesman for higher education in dealing with a variety of constituencies outside the university; or as a negotiator, in formal advocacy, labor negotiations, or other forms of conflict resolution. Effective highlevel leadership in professional and civic organizations would also be relevant. B. Personal background and outside associations. The prospect's race, sex, religion, and geographic origin should not be factors in selection. The President should be of an age and physical condition which give