The Iowa Board of Regents announced today that it would start an entirely new search for a president of the University of Iowa, less than two weeks after a meeting with Gov. Tom Vilsack prompted board members to resume a search process they terminated last month. In a news release, the board’s president, Michael G. Gartner, said that after reconsidering the four presidential finalists, the regents decided to recontact one of them, but the unidentified candidate pulled out.

Faculty, staff, and student leaders at the university threatened no-confidence votes against the regents after they first abandoned the search, on November 17, but the campus leaders decided to hold off on the votes after meeting with Mr. Vilsack, a Democrat, and board leaders on November 27. With today’s development, faculty and staff members are considering no-confidence votes anew, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reported.