Presidential search remains confidential
Provisions in the Sunshine Law allow hiring discussions to be closed.
April 27, 2007
The UM system is keeping a secret, and it might not reveal it for a while.
Members of the presidential search committee, the advisory search committee and Baker Parker and Associates executive search firm participated in a telephone conference on Monday.
In the meeting, Chairman Don Walsworth said the names of the finalists would not be released, and the identity of UM system President Elson Floyd's successor would be kept confidential until an official announcement.
The meeting was the first between the 19-member panel of faculty, alumni and others from the UM system campuses. The UM system is composed of MU, UM-Rolla, UM-Kansas City and UM-St. Louis.
Walsworth cited the importance of the presidential selection as the reason the presidential search committee would keep the process closed.
"It's not an overstatement to say that the selection of the president of the University of Missouri is the biggest responsibility," Walsworth said. "The presidential search advisory committee will have the opportunity to have an impact on the important decision that will have an effect on the University of Missouri."
Jerry Baker, a partner in the Baker Parker firm, said he is the only person to speak to any of the candidates at this point.
"This search can be broken and fall apart if confidentiality is betrayed," he said.
Walsworth said the candidates for the job requested complete confidentiality.
"We have been cautioned throughout the process that if we are to find the best possible candidate, we must keep this information secret and confidential," he said.
Walsworth said that in order to keep the identity of each candidate secret, the meetings would have to be closed.
In the telephone conference, UM system General Counsel Bunky Wright explained rules and provisions of the Sunshine Law, so everyone in the committee understood the importance of keeping the information confidential.
Missouri Sunshine Law requires a government agency to open its official meetings and records to the general public.
Wright said certain provisions allow the meetings to be closed.
"If you take any votes in closed session, those votes can and will be made available except if you are making a specific vote on candidates for a specific job," Wright said.
He told committee members to consider the importance of secrecy, especially through e-mail, which can at times be considered a meeting.
After discussing the confidentiality of candidates, the panel turned its discussion toward its goals and accomplishments.
"So far, we began the search process by hiring the Baker Parker search firm, and the search committee developed a desired-qualities list," Walsworth said. "We also circulated to Missouri communities with public forums."
Walsworth said the board hopes to have three to five candidates "very soon."
Once that list of candidates is set, the board will seek advice from the advisory committee.
The board is scheduled to have its first interviews with the candidates sometime in the next month.
"We are proactively, aggressively seeking men and women of stature," Baker said. "The responses we are getting so far are very encouraging."
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