The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees is preparing to review a policy change in January that could prevent a future interim university president from being considered a candidate during his or her university’s presidential search.
Under the new policy, interim presidents could be considered for future executive positions that become available after their temporary term leading the university. Also, interims can be considered for other executive jobs at different universities in the state.
Annie Mitchell, IHL director of media relations, said the board approved the first reading of the policy change during its regular November meeting and approved to have the second reading in January.
The IHL introduced the proposed policy change on the heels of completing presidential searches for Mississippi State University and Mississippi Valley State University.
Throughout the search, many members of various MSU constituency groups said the IHL created the allusion that former MSU Interim President Vance Watson had an inside track for the top MSU job when the Board of Trustees named him interim president.
IHL Interim Commissioner Aubrey Lucas said the policy change will increase the size of future pools of presidential applicants.
“There is a feeling that if an incumbent acting president gets in the search, there are candidates who won’t apply because they will fear the [interim] will have the inside track,” he said. “The board is constantly changing its policy as we go from search to search.”
Student Association President Braxton Coombs said Watson was the right choice as interim at the time, but he said he feels interims should not be able to seek the permanent presidential job.
“I have a great deal of respect for Vance Watson,” he said. “However, any time you have an interim president that is also a candidate, it will deter people from applying. It gives the perception that the job is [the interim’s] for the taking.”
Sen. Doug Davis, R-Hernando, said the proposed policy change shows the IHL is attempting to correct flaws in the established IHL search process. Davis chairs the Universities and Colleges Committee in the Mississippi Senate.
“I think that if this policy was in effect earlier on, Mississippi State and Mississippi Valley State would have had a greater number of presidential applicants,” he said.
Current MSU Interim President Roy Ruby said he took the interim position knowing he would not be considered for the job. He said he believes the policy change will help spare state colleges in the future from the problems MSU experienced during its search process.
“When I was asked to be interim, it was clear to both sides [the IHL and Ruby] that I wasn’t going to be a candidate,” he said. “Me being brought in was a reaction to the problems in the past.”
Rep. Steve Holland, D-Lee, said he hopes the IHL continues to tweak its presidential search process in order to secure a better functioning process for the future of all state colleges.
“Our college searches seem to get weirder and weirder every time we lose a president,” he said. “I hope through all of this madness, the IHL has learned a very valuable lesson: streamline our process so we won’t have to endure another one like it.”
Phone calls to IHL Board of Trustees President Amy Whitten, board vice president Scott Ross and Faculty Senate President David Nagel were unreturned at the time of publication.