The Mississippi State University Faculty Senate passed a resolution Friday calling for the Institutions of Higher Learning to allow more faculty input into the search for a new president for MSU. “Virtually everyone I’ve talked to, faculty and alumni alike, is disappointed in the way the process ran its course last spring,” Faculty Senate Chairman Walter Diehl said.
MSU has been without a president since January 2002 when Malcolm Portera resigned to become chancellor of the University of Alabama system. IHL launched a nationwide search for a president for MSU that has since been halted.
The IHL Board of Trustees stopped the search for a new president for MSU in August after months of disagreements about the type of leader MSU needs.
A campus advisory committee for the presidential search, made up of members appointed by the College Board, meets Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Mitchell Memorial Library, but the Faculty Senate wants more faculty input in the process.
The resolution that passed 33-0 asks the Board of Trustees to start a new campus advisory committee that has elected faculty members.
The resolution also advises the Board to hire a president for MSU who:
*Values the principles of academic freedom and integrity, promotes excellence in teaching, advances MSU’s prominence in research and fosters an appreciation for service.
*Recognizes that a university is not a business in the traditional sense but that it must be run in a business-like manner.
*Has a successful career as a faculty member, administrator and leader and possesses executive experience in an academic environment similar to MSU.
“We hope that they will find an excellent president for this university that everyone, as much of this university’s community as possible, can rally behind,” Diehl said.
The resolution was sent to Tom Layzell, the commissioner of IHL’s Board of Trustees. Layzell was asked to share the resolution with members of the Board.
The IHL Board of Trustees meets Thursday at the Mississippi University for Women.