April 28, 2008

U. of Wisconsin at Madison Mistakenly Releases Name of Applicant for Chancellor Job

Whether to make public the list of applicants for the top job at a university can be a tricky proposition, as the University of Wisconsin at Madison has just been reminded.

The university said last week that 55 people had applied to be the next chancellor of the Madison campus. University officials also released the names of nine candidates who they said had not requested confidentiality. But, unfortunately, one of the now-public candidates had indeed asked that his name be kept private.

Jorge V. José, vice president for research at the State University of New York at Buffalo, told The Badger Herald, the Madison student newspaper, that he was “stunned” to hear that his name had been released. Both the university and Academic Search Inc., the firm that is handling the search, apologized for the mistake, according to the Associated Press. —Paul Fain

Comments

1. OOOPs, you sound soooo bitter. Why go for the silly conspiracy route (please, both in Madison and in the outside academic search firm?) rather than the far more likely fact this was simply a mistake? And just looking at Mr. Jose’s background—though he may have brought diversity—he simply doesn’t have the kind of high level background necessary to be a chancellor at a major institution.

   Sounds like you have an axe to grind. I am sure UW Madison will do fine without you and the next chancellor will be another in a distinguished line of academics following in the footsteps of Donna Shallala, David Ward and the current Chancellor, John Wiley.

   — fflambeau    Apr 29, 02:34 AM    #

2. This may indeed have been just an error, but I wonder if fflambeau realizes that she or he is helping prove Merino’s point? If someone were to have released the name deliberately to sabotage a candidacy, having people take exactly the sort of shots in public that fflambeau has is an excellent way to deep-six it. For all we know, Mr. Jose may have the sort of fresh ideas, not hide bound, that can indeed move UW forward into the 21st Century.

   — Bob M.    Apr 29, 07:01 AM    #

3. Let’s face it — these national search firms are designed to keep out diversity. The reality is that they keep recycling the same deadly dull fools from one institution to another. The key is once they land you a job — well they expect to “help” you when you do another high-level search.

   Anyone who’s had one of these firms “assist” in a search knows full well that they are shaping higher ed. These firms only push who’s drunk the kool-aid – hey you’ll never find a zero gravity thinker in any search pool much less a candidate who’s decent and actually cares about the students and faculty. When a search committee stumbles upon such a person and then begins to move their candidacy forward — the search firm’s MO is to scuttle that candidate. They won’t get any repeat business if they have not “shaped” the process.

   IMO these firms are responsible for the idiots that now “lead” higher education in the US. U Dub will end up with some lifeless ghost of a President….and all of the deadly dull fools associated with the process will shout hurrah! Back on the ranch, those who care will keep trying to staunch U Dub – fleeing faculty, etc. while the administration hires more administrators because they are so busy.

   — NY Pocho    Apr 29, 07:51 AM    #

4. Any person ashamed to be known to being considered by a particular university should be immediately removed from consideration by that university.

   — mike    Apr 29, 08:27 AM    #

5. As Judith Martin (Miss Manners) put it so well, although she was talking about unwelcome invitations to skinny dip, disrobe, fool around, etc. from a host who tries to coerce guests by asking them, “What are you ashamed of?” it is a mistake to confuse a sense of privacy with a sense of shame. I know exactly nothing about Jorge V. José except what I’ve read here, but he deserved the confidentiality he requested. Why he or anyone else would want to work at an institution with such a casual attitude toward one’s privacy that they would “accidentally” betray such a trust, I can’t imagine. Not to subscribe to paranoia, but this story tests the principle that there is far more stupidity in the world than there is evil. Of course, those aren’t mutually exclusive, are they?

   — Dan    Apr 29, 08:45 AM    #

6. mike (#5) – Perhaps Mr. José, uncertain as he must be about this position, decided he didn’t want to damage his working relationship with SUNY Buffalo?

   Our employment culture has become such that it is almost impossible to advance career-wise without changing employers (it happens, but not often). However, just because a person is contemplating an employment change doesn’t mean they are willing to put their current employment in jeopardy. Indeed, only a fool would do so.

   — a different Dan    Apr 29, 08:49 AM    #

7. From my experience, Academic Search Inc. is a firm of utmost integrity. There are other firms, some big ones, with which I won’t even consider engaging. Their reputations are so destroyed by the behavior of their consultants that the only candidates they get are those who have never engaged them.

   — Jason    Apr 29, 08:57 AM    #

8. Look on the bright side: At least this time Wisconsin actually HAD a minority; they didn’t just Photoshop him in.

   — GRF    Apr 29, 09:24 AM    #

9. My personal experience with search firms has been extremely disappointing. In two cases I was considered an internal candidate—or in the view of the search firm not a credible candidate because they couldn’t take credit for finding me and convincing me to apply. They would rather continue to circulate their regulars, regardless of whether they are the best candidates for the position.

   But beyond my personal questions about the value of a search firm, how is it in this era of diminishing budgets at colleges and universities there is still money to hire search firms? Does this mean that the personnel departments on those same campuses are being dismantled? Not likely.

   — Dakota    Apr 29, 09:25 AM    #

10. Madison is a city that actively, aggressively courts diversity in leadership. It has a lesbian, American Indian fire chief. Donna Shallala was chancellor. How many other candidates requesting confidentiality were also minorities? People with an axe to grind easily find opportunities. It’s easier to blame their own misfortunes on a vast conspiracy against their (fill in the blank – minority status, progressive ideas etc.) rather than take accountability. I agree with #6 – you would be right most often to blame stupidity rather than some evil conspiracy.

    — JohnS    Apr 29, 09:30 AM    #

11. “a different Dan” (#7) has made a sensible comment as one in academic world should do. I do think that the Academic Serach, Inc. carries a larger portion of the blame for this faux pas.
    —Sam

    — Sam    Apr 29, 09:33 AM    #

12. Like democracy, the manner in which we select university presidents is terrible, but better than any known alternative.

    One should not generalize about search firms. They vary greatly in competence, experience and willingness to look beyond the old boy network. They are often “used,” but not always paid attention to. They become window dressing and clerical support to a committee comprised of trustees who are looking for a business manager, and representatives of the various constituency, or veto, groups – each of which is looking for something different. No candidate can meet the requirements of all the disparate interests, but in my 40 years in higher education, on both sides of the table in many presidential searches, I have discerned one general truth: the best qualiied candidates usually survive t he first several cuts, but when it comes to selecting among the final three or four, the safest candidate still standing will be chosen. Those who aspire to presidencies, therefore, in their earlier administrative jobs are wise to avoid makiing hard decisions, creating waves, and attracting enemies. Consequently, seldom does a university in need of vigorous leadership get it.

    Someone once said that academics are the most liberal people in the world about everyone else’s business, and the most conservative about their own. The fact that a survivor will trump a risk taker almost every time in leadership searches is perhaps a reflection of that adage.

    — /case hardened    Apr 29, 12:51 PM    #

13. What seems to have escaped many of those who have commented on this event is that normally one only applies for positions that are considered a step up from the one currently held. Unfortunately, many of one’s supervisors in the current position don’t necessarily consider this the case and will treat it as an act of disloyalty, thus damaging one’s future in the current job.

    I once staffed Board of Regents presidential searches and time and again saw Regents who wanted to “shoot down” a particular applicant release his or her name to the student newspaper on the home campus. Now the people in state A may consider the president of an institution in state M or T would better himself by getting that job, but the people in states M and T don’t feel that way.

    Thus, when a candidate’s name is disclosed prematurely the standard protocol is to say something like, “Yes, I was asked to apply for that position, I took a look at it, and discovered how much more my present position has to offer, so I withdrew my name.”

    — sundevil    Apr 29, 01:13 PM    #

14. Merino, Do you know Mr. Jose personally? If you do not then how do you know he was a diversity applicant? Did you make your conclusion based solely upon his name? If so I would certainly find that to be problematic.

    Conspiracies happen. As others have pointed out so does stupidity. This seems to fall under the “stupidity” category.

    Having said that, this treatment of Mr. Jose is inexcusable, no matter what the cause.

    — HM    Apr 29, 02:09 PM    #

15. The University of Wisconsin is in a very sorry state. The posts here raise the issue of privacy and diversity. As to privacy, the mistake seems pretty clear. As to diversity, the lack of it, the way that the University pretends to appreciate it, and its general lack of grace and commitment to it—even in its African studies department, African American Studies Dept, and other ethnic departments demonstrates its indifference. It has a history of photo-shopping students of color into photographs, and it would be far better off with more conservatives than the lazy liberals that currently bask in the glory of being “good” to the helpless minorities. For them, the pleasure is being able to claim credit for anything constructive that people of color achieve at the University. Perhaps that’s why minority faculty that the UW snubbed are on the faculties at Yale, NYU, Columbia, and other more highly ranked schools?
    Worse, however, is the mismanagement of the university. The UW is losing faculty in droves. Its decanal leadership in quite a few departments is in need of serious overhaul. Gone are its glory days. It starves its faculty, and plays politics on race and gender issues. But, for what it’s worth—it probably will not change. It needs to lose members of the faculty that will not leave—and are no longer productive. The better faculty members are gone. Shalala was its last good Chancellor and she couldn’t wait to leave.

    — Anonymous    Apr 30, 11:37 AM    #

16. Anyone who does not understand the importance of anonymity has obviously never faced the situation of trying to keep a job while applying for a better one.
    On search firms: if they realize they have no arguable way of “getting credit” for bringing a candidate to the table, they ignore the candidate in question. I have seen this happen over and over, from all sides of the hiring process.

    — Anonymous    May 1, 11:54 AM    #

17. Search firms are like apples; some are great, some rotten. A search firm in a neighboring college required the local presidential search committee to refrain from independent investigation of the short list of candidates. Why? Because one of the firm’s candidates had been the recipient of two votes of no confidence at her previous college. This was hidden from the search committee until after the candidate got the job. She hung on for four painful years. The search firm laughed all the way to the proverbial bank.

    — observer    May 1, 04:53 PM    #

18. JohnS (#11) hits the nail on the head. UW Madison has had a female, of Lebanese descent (Donna Shalala) as recent Chancellor followed by a Brit. (David Ward) and now John Wiley. The current head of their largest College, Letters and Science, is of Native American descent; 6 of the 21 top administrators (mostly deans of colleges) are female. So the numbers in the case of this institution do not indicate a university that thumbs its nose at diversity. Poster #17 who chooses to be anonymous could not be farther from the truth. D. Shalala left to become a cabinet head (Sect. of HHS) but remains very close to Madison, and returns often. She has many close and affectionate ties to Madison. Moreover, the university is 2nd only to Johns Hopkins in federal funding and has for the past 3 years been among the top 10 or so universities nationally in increasing its endowment. In biotechnology, it is the world’s leader, so to say that it is “in a sorry state” is a slur on its past, very effective leadership and just demonstrates bias. With regard to Dr. Jose, he (and others) should be old and responsible enough to know that humans commit mistakes. To blow this up into a conspirary theory (when 54 other candidates of unknown ethnicity still remain) is ludicrous, and yes, paranoid.

    — fflambeau    May 2, 01:18 AM    #

19. Those misguided posters above who seem to think that this mistake is a result of a conspiracy to sabotage diversity should have a look at the composition of the Chancellor Search and Screen Committee at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Please go to www.chancellorsearch.wisc.edu/search-committee.html
    There you will find lots of distinguished academics of both sexes,and many different races and ethnic groups. The Chair and Co-chair are both women.

    — fflambeau    May 2, 01:48 AM    #

20. Oh please, Madison is racist to the core. They will hire the next chancellor right out of madison. Wiley and Ward, former chancellors are from madison. The last two provosts were from madison. They got rid of Paul Barrows. If I were a minority I would stay away from Wisconsin. Over the past five years they have fired five minority administrators. So one thing we know for sure the next chancellor of Madision will be white.

    — macke    May 3, 11:34 AM    #

21. Oliver,

    You’re getting a bit wild with your posts—even to the point of sending them twice. Does that make your weak arguments twice as effective in your mind?

    Let’s take a look at the State of Wisconsin since UW Madison is the flagship of that state. As a state, its population is 91.52% white with only 6.15% black, 1.3% native American, and 1.92% Asian. Those stats courtesy of Wikipedia.

    Given the composition of the state that its flagship university rests in, I think they have done a pretty good job of diversity in terms of both students, faculty and staff. Or is the state university supposed to mirror the statistical composition, in your mind, of the entire nation? world? universe?

    I think the university will be looking for a leader who not so much fits into a quota system as one who has the ability to creatively lead the university forward in troubled financial times. Those troubles, by the way, are not only found in Wisconsin but in almost every state of the nation under Bush-Cheney. Even a private school like U. of Chicago with its Rockefeller money has not been able to keep up with the real big boys in endowment (Harvard, Yale and Stanford). Finances for both privates and publics is troublesome now and probably always will be.

    — fflambeau    May 4, 06:12 AM    #

22. The University of Wisconsin, Madison’s very diverse and balanced Chancellor Search Committee has just selected 4 finalists for the Madison Chancellor position. I believe these 4 selections completely disprove the “ax grinders” who have posted here.

    The 4 finalists (see www.wisc.edu) are:
    1) Rebecca Blank, Former Dean, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and Henry Carter Adams Prof. of Economics, U. of Michigan

    2) Biddy Martin, Provost, Cornell University

    3) R. Timothy Mulcahy, V.P. Research, U. of Minnesota

    4) Gary Sandefur, Dean, College of Letters and Sciences, U. Wisconsin, Madison

    Thus, 2 of the finalists are women (Blank and Martin) and Sandefur is a Native American and former head of the Native American Studies program at Madison.

    Interesting (and I think wise) that all 4 of the finalists have ties to Madison. Blank was a visiting Fellow at Madison’s Poverty Center; Martin received her Ph.D. in women’s studies and German from Madison; Mulcahy received his Ph.D. in Pathology and Radiology from Madison and also served in high admin positions before leaving for Minnesota; Sandefur has been in the sociology-American Indian Studies program and L& S for years in Madison. I think this is good because it brings some knowledge from all finalists about Madison’s challenges and yet most have valuable outside experience too. I think the Madison campus will be in good hands regardless of which finalist ends up with the job.

    — fflambeau    May 8, 12:14 AM    #

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