'Student curator' interviews secret
May 1, 2007
In an attempt to avoid publicizing the names and faces of those applying for the position of student representative to the UM system Board of Curators, the Intercampus Student Council has still not released the names of the applicants and kept interviews on Sunday secretive.
After a day's worth of interviews, members of ISC, a board made up of student leaders from each of the four UM system campuses, confirmed that they have narrowed the field of possible student representatives from six candidates to three.
The student representative would be the solitary student voice on the nine-member Board of Curators. The board makes all decisions regarding the UM system, including building projects, tuition and hiring leadership. The student representative serves for two years.
In a news release provided by ISC Chairman Nicholas Koechig, the council selected finalists to submit to Gov. Matt Blunt after the meeting, which ended at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Koechig stated the names would be en route to Blunt today.
The release did not include any further information regarding names, timelines or interview questions in order to keep the process confidential.
The governor has the final say about which of the three candidates he will appoint. The student representative would start his or her term once the governor appoints the new representative or at the start of the next school year.
The first student representative interviews began at 9 a.m. in a conference room in A022 Brady Commons. The interviews were behind closed doors.
ISC members and the applicants agreed that the applicants would not speak with the media until a final decision on the representative was made, the release stated.
After the first two interviews, ISC members left Brady Commons out the back door of A022 Brady. Between 11 and 3:30 p.m., no more interviews were conducted at this location.
Members of ISC returned to Brady Commons to deliberate decisions before 4:45 p.m., after they had completed the remaining four interviews.
During the several-hour lapse, members of ISC did not answer repeated phone calls.
An ISC member, who asked not to be identified because all comment was to go through Koechig, confirmed the location had been moved elsewhere on campus in order to prevent the names of the remaining four candidates from being revealed.
"We have an obligation to protect their identities," the source said, citing an agreement applicants signed when they applied that promised the candidates their names would not be revealed.
ISC conducted the remaining four interviews at this undisclosed location.
Koechig gave no explanation as to why two applicants for the position were held in Brady Commons and the remaining four interviews were held at an undisclosed location.
The ISC member said the group made an agreement not to describe any aspects of the interview process beyond Sunday's news release.
Koechig declined to describe any part of the interview process or what policies ISC used to prevent any conflicts of interest among candidates.
"The selection process was fair," Koechig said.
Blunt has no set deadline as to when he will appoint a student representative. Representatives for Blunt were contacted but did not respond.
Koechig confirmed ISC received 12 applicants after nominee applications were due April 4. On April 16, Koechig said another round of interviews had shrunk the list of candidates from 12 to six.
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