U of Iowa Students/Faculty Dismayed by Regents' Power Grab

by Linda Thieman

Iowa City faculty/staff/student event planned for this Monday, January 30, at 3:30pm, Terrace Room (Room 166) of the Iowa Memorial Union to share their commitment to self-determination

With University of Iowa president David Skorton leaving to take the post of president at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, U of I faculty and staff are faced with the long hunt for a new leader.  At least, they thought they were.

Come to find out, according to a statement released on Friday by the University of Iowa Student Government (UISG), how Skorton will be replaced is fraught with controversy.  For more than 40 years, any search for a new president at the U of I has been led by faculty through a UI search committee with input from “a sufficiently diverse array of UI students, faculty and staff.”  According to Radio Iowa, Skorton was actually chosen from the UI medical faculty just three years ago to fill the head position.
 
One of the main concerns, the UISG message states, is that since the UI “tradition of shared self-governance and engagement is strong and getting stronger, [w]e deserve a leader who will continue these traditions.”

According to the Des Moines Register, Michael Gartner, president of the Iowa Board of Regents, intends to bypass the traditional UI system of self-selection in favor of hiring an outside headhunting firm.  It is believed in some circles that this will cement the Board of Regents' power grab as they are also at this time hiring out to replace University of Northern Iowa president Robert Koob.

Once the universities go, it’s all over.