State senator questions work of UT consultant
NASHVILLE (AP) — The consulting firm helping the University of Tennessee find a new president isn’t doing enough to investigate the candidates vying to replace the man who resigned in disgrace last year, a state senator said Wednesday.
Sen. Randy McNally, who chairs the chamber’s Education Committee, particularly has questions about two of the 12 finalists chosen earlier this week by the Presidential Search Advisory Council.
Both Karen Hitchcock, former president of the State University of New York at Albany, and Thomas Meredith, chancellor of the University System of Georgia, were among a group of 15 presented by search consultant Gary Daugherty as the best of 47 candidates interested in the job.
But in the two days since their selection, information was revealed about the two that McNally says threatens their credibility.
“I’m very concerned,” McNally, R-Oak Ridge, said. “There are some good candidates left in the pool. But we don’t want a president that is a do-nothing, who hurts the university the way the previous two have.”
In Monday’s meeting to narrow the candidate list, Daugherty read brief biographies of each presidential hopeful. He introduced Hitchcock as president of SUNY-Albany, adding that she planned to retire from the job effective June 2004.
What he didn’t tell the council, at least in the public meeting, was that Hitchcock stepped aside as president last fall and an interim president was named. Members also weren’t told Hitchcock left after failing to land the University of Florida presidency and amid reports of discord between her and SUNY Chancellor Robert King.
As for Meredith, news reports Monday indicated he had been named in a sex and age discrimination lawsuit in 2002 over his actions as chancellor of the University of Alabama system.
That information also wasn’t divulged to the council. When questioned about the lawsuit later, Daugherty responded, “I don’t think, based upon what I know, it is relevant” to Meredith’s candidacy for the job.
McNally disagreed, saying both Daugherty’s consulting group, Atlanta-based Baker Parker and Associates, and the council itself needs to do some “more investigating of the individuals” in contention for the job.
“We’re paying these consultants a lot of money … and it just doesn’t seem like we’re getting our money’s worth,” McNally said.
News stories had previously reported on Hitchcock and Meredith’s actions.
Search council members Spruell Driver, incoming president of the UT National Alumni Association, and Roger Dickson, an alumni representative from Knoxville, said they were unaware of both the details of Hitchcock’s resignation and the lawsuit against Meredith.
Driver said he expects to receive more detailed information about each candidate after site visits and interviews are conducted.
“There’s additional due diligence work to be done that was not going to be done until after the list was narrowed,” said Driver, a Nashville lawyer. “Baker Parker has done fine this far. I haven’t received any information yet that’s caused me to think otherwise.”
Daugherty said in a phone interview Wednesday that the vetting process is ongoing, with “deeper background investigations” including criminal, credit and motor vehicle checks being conducted this week. Two trustees spoke with Hitchcock and Meredith this week about their past, he said.
“I absolutely agree with the senator that making sure we know as much about the candidate as possible is an objective we all have,” he said.
UT instituted an unusually open search process in response to the downfalls of John Shumaker and J. Wade Gilley.
Shumaker resigned in August when his penchant for lavish living at the university’s expense was exposed after 14 months on the job. Gilley quit in 2001 citing poor health and personal concerns after the release of e-mails suggested an affair with a subordinate.
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On the Net:
UT Search: http://pr.tennessee.edu/presidentialsearch/