By Emily Riley
Students and staff gathered at the Hoff Theatre in the Stamp Student Union to share what they’re looking for in a new university president at an open search forum Sept. 24 hosted by the presidential Search Committee. The new president will replace current University President Wallace Loh, who will retire June 2020.
The event, which was advertised by the Student Government Association (SGA), allows students to share their concerns with the UMD Presidential Search Committee. 18 out of 20 members of the presidential search committee attended the forum. Although the committee analyzes the concerns and searches for a future candidate, the Board of Regents will make the final decision and hire a new president. But today, only one undergraduate student, Manpreet Dayal, spoke.
“This meeting was held during a time when most students aren’t able to attend,” said the junior public policy and sociology major. “I feel like ignoring one of the main stakeholders within this process was the initial problem that many students had.”
According to Dayal, the committee and Board of Regents need to make an active effort to “include students within this loop of what is going on politically” and not write students off as “people who are unable to express concerns within the university and how the actions of the president may affect faculty members, facilities, and other services, such as mental health services.”
Professors, staff members, graduate students, department heads, a campus champlain and UMPD staff member spoke at the meeting. An overlying concern of many speakers was how a potential president would handle crises, especially in light of events such as the death of students Jordan McNair and Olivia Paregol.
“The challenges are reflecting the way in which we communicate to our campus community,” said Nacie Grigsby, the Assistant Director of Administration of Family Science for the School of Public Health. “I think as faculty and staff we sit in a very privileged space as it relates to communication and information that is shared, but I feel like it gets trickled down to the students when upper administration sees fit,” she added.
Another concern was that the description of the presidential position doesn’t include mention of affirmative action.
“The [job] posting mentioned many anti-discrimination categories that apply to this position, but fails to mention several protected categories such as gender identity or expression, protected veteran status and personal appearance,” said Shige Sakurai, Director of Leadership Initiatives and Associate Director of the LGBT Equity Center. “These categories normally appear in all of our job postings and should especially appear on this one,” they said.
Sakurai, who specifically spoke at the last open forum in May about the significance of transgender inclusion, called for a revision to current search guidelines.
Other topics brought up were diversity and inclusion, funding, safety, and the University’s reputation. The committee urged those who were unable to attend or had further comments to send them in to umcp-presidential-search@usmd.edu as well as nominate potential candidates on their website.
Another forum was held at 3 p.m. in the Hoff Theatre.
Editor’s Note: a previous version of this story said the Student Government Association, rather than the Search Committee, hosted this event. The story has been corrected.
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