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March 28, 1994 - Image 1

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Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1994-03-28

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cl 11

of 4r" 41v

t

One hundred three years of editorial freedom
0199 The Mchiga Dail

THE AGONY OF DEFEAT

I)uaerstadt not No.

1

Jimmy King walks off the court after fouling out. The Wolverines' drive to ,
return to the Final Four ended yesterday. See SPORTSMonday for details.
Phase one UGLi
renvII ation finished

choic(
After a six year legal battle with
two newspapers, the University Board
of Regents finally released all docu-
ments pertaining to the presidential
search Monday. The Daily received
some of the documents Friday after-
noon. This article was reported by
JamesR. Cho andDavidShepardson.
In June 1988, having interviewed
the five finalists for president, the
University Board of Regents was
ready to offer the job to Vartan
Gregorian, president of the New York
Public Library.
While all of his colleagues fa-
vored Gregorian, Regent Deane Baker
(R-Ann Arbor) did not sit by quietly.
Without informing any of his col-
leagues, Baker went over the head of
Regent Paul Brown (D-Petoskey),
chair of the Presidential Selection
Committee, and made an eleventh-
hour phone call to Gregorian.
"I did call the man. I told him I
would not support him," Baker said in
an interview with the Daily Saturday
afternoon, "I did what I thought was
good for the University."
Gregorian was so incensed, he with-
drew his name from consideration.
In Saturday's Detroit Free Press,
Gregorian said it was Baker who con-
vinced him not to take the job.
"When Regent Paul Brown called
to ask if I had made a decision, I told
him I did not want to go to a place
where someone was pledging guer-
rilla warfare," Gregorian said.
By then, the pool of candidates
had been reduced to two. The other
four finalists were never seen as vi-
able candidates. Two had withdrawn
and another was not seen as a worthy
candidate - Gregorian's withdrawal
left Duderstadt alone.
Baker defended his call, saying he
had "good and sufficient reasons" to
oppose Gregorian, but declined to
disclose them.
"This is a point that hasn't been
made before. He could have come if
he wanted to. It was 7-1. Rarely do the
regents agree on something as con-
troversial as this. The ball was in his
court, so to speak," Baker said.
Earlier in the search, the regents
had been divided - four in favor of
Gregorian and four for Duderstadt.
But a consensus had grown, among
the faculty committee, which had sup-
ported Gregorian.
Gregorian, an immigrant from
Armenia, is currently president of
Brown University.
U..
On May 14, 1987, Regent Thomas
Roach (D-Ann Arbor), speaking for
the board at its monthly meeting, ex-
pressed regret that University Presi-
dent Harold T. Shapiro was leaving
Jan. 3, 1988 for Princeton University.
He also laid out the rules for the
presidential search - a search that
would cost more than $90,000 and
take 14 months and an additional
$377,000 in legal fees.
"I am pleased to announce that all
of the regents believe that we should
follow the same procedure in our
search for the eleventh president that
was used in our successful search for
the tenth president ... We will insist
that strict confidentiality be main-

tained concerning all nominees to the

for pnsidency
end that only the name of the person
finally selected will be made public.
The search will be biased for or against
either inside or outside candidates."
A review of thousands of search THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
documents paints a picture of regents President eet onommittee
obsessed with secrecy, a mutinous
faculty advisory committee and a
search process that left the regents PERSONAL AND CONFIUENT At
with their backs up against a wall.
Six years ago, the University MEMORANDUM
moved into rooms 3281C and 3281B
TO: Virginia B. Nordby
in the School of Business Adminis- Executive Assistant to the President
tration under "cloak and dagger" se- Director of Affirmative Action
crecy to setup the Office of the Presi- FROM: oriscett oth eid election
dential Search Committee. Committee
The regents appointed Doris Estep DATE: February 22, 1988
to provide staff services to the selec- RE: Affirmative Action in the Selection Process
tion committee and an initial budget
of $50,000. In response to your query with respect to affirmative action in the
The eight-member Board of Re- presidentil selection process, the following is submitted to you for your
gents met in sub-quorum, closed-door There were approximately 230-250 names submitted to the Regents for the,
meetings to hammer out an initial list position of president of the University. The first cut included 138 names of
of 250 possible candidates to two which 20 were women( )and9 were minority (65%).
finalists. The regents met with a stu- The second cut Included 72 names of which 14 were women (19.4%) and S were
minority (6.9%). The list was then cut to 42 names; 6 women (14.2%) and 2
dent, alumni and faculty advisory minority (4.8%).
committees throughout the process At this point, there are 27names on the list including 2 women (74%>) and
but the ultimate decision rested with 3 minority (11%).
the regents. If I can be of further assistance, please let e know.
President Jimmy Carter, then-
Michigan State University President
John DiBaggio, U.S. Secretary of
Education William Bennett, Yale
President Bart Giamatti who later
became Major League Baseball com- F
missioner were among the more than
200 candidates nominated to the listF ew m ino
of candidates by third parties - most
of the candidates did not know they
had been nominated for the top spot. WUT
The regents met in groups of four
to circumvent the Open Meetings Act.
A quorum of public officials is pro- By JAMES R. CHO number of minorities and women.
hibited from meeting in secret. and DAVID SHEPARDSON By Feb. 22, 1988, 27 candidates
To protect the privacy of candi- DAILY STAFF REPORTERS remained on the list and the regent
dates and prevent top candidates from The University Board of Regents' had eliminated all but two females
withdrawing for fear of public scru secret 1988 presidential search ap- and three minorities.
tiny, regents divulged little informa- pears to have circumvented an inter- Of the six finalists, there were nc
tion about the search - documents nal University policy requiring the women and only one minority. Walte
were confidential, meetings were con- director of the Office of Affirmative Massey, vice president for research al
ducted away from campus and travel Action to ensure that the pool of can- the University of Chicago, was placed
receipts did not include destinations. didates was significantly diverse and back on the list - he had been elimi-
Roach said in a press conference the search process had been equitable nated on the cut to 42 names - and
kicking off the search, "We will insist While in the end, the Virginia made a finalist because there were n
that strict confidentiality be main- Nordby, then- other minorities on the finalist list.
tamed concerning all nominees, to executive assis- The five presidential search inter-
the end that only the name of the tant to the presi- $ $ view committees - each composed
person finally selected will be made dent and direc- of four regents, two students, twc
public. This practice is indispensable tor of affirma- faculty and two alumni - did not
if we are to attract the pool of candi- tive action, "ap- interview any women for the posi
dates that the University deserves." proved" the tion. The only two women contacted
Faculty members on the advisory search, she did both declined to be considered: Hanna
committee, however, expressed frus- it with limited Gray, president of the University of
trationwiththeclumsinessofthesearch. access to the Chicago, and Patricia Graham, dea
Regents responded that prudence in records. Nordby of the graduate school of education.
protecting the interest of protecting the This was nothing new; the Affir- Nordby said in an interview Sat
candidates outweighed efficiency. maive Action office's oversight role urday she viewed the entire procesi
"We're just not getting anywhere," had been severely hampered in the as "disappointing."
one member said Feb. 22, 1988. The 10th search in 1979 as well. In February 1988, Nordby strongly
faculty's frustration was detailed in The University stated its commit- urged the regents to consider mor
minutes of the faculty committee. ment to diversity in its fifth of 18 women and minorities and to pul
At one point, the committee even criteria for potential candidates in fall women and minorities back on the
threatened to resign to force the 1988. list.
regents to make hard decisions in "Have a strong commitment to, "My job was to make sure the
cutting the number of possible candi- and preferably an established record numbers were adequate ... I was dis
dates down to a reasonable number. of achievement in, affirmative action appointed with (the numbers) and I
Thomas Kauper, chair of the fac- to increase participation by under- said they should look back to the pool
ulty advisory committee, said, "The represented minorities and women." to an additional," Nordby said.
problem seems to be that either a At the same time, the Presidential Nordby requested a breakdown of
significant number of people on the Selection Committee waited more the ethnic and gender makeup of the
list have one or two supporters among than nine months to report to the Of- pool of candidates. In a Feb. 22, 198

the regents or the regents are unwilling fice of Affirmative Action whether
to make hard choices. I am apalled at they were considering a sufficient See MINORITIES, Page.2
See SEARCH, Page 8

By MEGAN SCHIMPF
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
The Undergraduate Library is fac-
ing a new problem as its second floor
reopens tomorrow.
It's no longer ugly.
Since construction began last sum-
mer, the Undergraduate Library
(UGLi) has been shrouded in drop
cloths and construction fences. To-
morrow, the first portion of the final
product will be unveiled as the sec-
ond floor reopens.
"I think students deserve the best,
and we've worked hard to give it to
them," said Barbara MacAdam, the
head of the UGLi.
The floor has been given a facelift
and several new resources have been
relocated there.
The University Library Reserve
Service and the Film and Video Li-
brary will move to the second floor at
the end of the term.
A new microcomputer center fea-
turing Macintosh and IBM-compat-
ible computers will open in mid-April.
The room will be available for stu-
dent use as well as to professors to
teach classes there.
MacAdam said she expects the
new layout to be less confusing for
students.
"The great thing is that it brings so
* much of the undergraduate resources
onto one floor," she said. "I think
students will find using the collection
is much easier."
New carpeting, painting and a new
ceiling have been installed, and light-
ing has been improved.
During the exterior renovation,

building and is used for small group
study rooms. The number of group
study rooms on the second floor has
doubled to 12.
"The whole while it's been closed,
(study rooms) have been what people
have been clamoring for," said circu-
lation desk coordinator Linda Ripley.
"I think students will like it a lot
more."
Motion detectors have been in-
stalled on the lights in the study rooms
to make the system more efficient.
The lights turn off after 15 minutes
without motion.
Michael Horne, an LSA sopho-
more, studied on the second floor
during his first year at the University,
but now studies in the basement.
"I'm glad to hear they're opening
the second floor. I prefer studying
there over the basement," he said.
"It's just the location."
Fire safety has also been improved
by adding a sprinkler system to the
UGLi and installing fire alarms that
will use both a noise and a strobe light
for hearing-impaired students.
The construction has lowered the
number of people coming into the
UGLi by 25-30 percent, MacAdam
said. The UGLi has been crowded,
and temperatures reached below freez-
ing in some parts of the building dur-
ing the winter.
"We've maintained library opera-
tions, but I don't think it's been very
pleasant for the students," she added.
The construction has been a inter-
ruption to some students.
"I know the building was heinously
ugly before, but this is incredibly dis-

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