Search to have broad focus

IU's Presidential Search Committee, meeting for the first time Wednesday, declared that it would not limit its search to the academic world.\nCommittee members said they would consider hiring business and government officials to lead IU.\n"It's going to arch an eyebrow, but we need to drop the net broadly," said member Sarah Barker, who spoke to the committee via telephone. "It's better we see what's really out there."\nIn the past, IU has hired presidents from both camps. Herman B Wells was originally a banker, and more recently, President Myles Brand holds a Ph.D. in philosophy. \nThe issue has already split the committee in two. \nDean Kumble Subbaswamy said he wants an academic to lead IU. He said it's unlikely IU will find a non-academician as good as Wells. \n"We would love to have the next Herman B Wells walk in," he said. "But for every Herman B Wells, there are 100 failures."\nExecutive consultant Jerry Baker, hired by the University to assist in the search, said it would indeed be a risk for IU to hire a non-academician. \nHe said more and more universities are hiring business and government officials to lead their institutions. Recently Harvard and three Florida schools selected former government officials to lead their institutions.\nCommittee chairman Steve Ferguson said faculty support will still be the critical issue when deciding who gets the job. No president can survive without backing from the academics, he said.\nThe 17 members on the presidential search committee represent students, faculty, staff and trustees. \nTrustee Sue Talbot said she will sell the IU presidency as the "crown jewel of a career." She said it will be the committee's job to persuade the candidates to accept the IU presidency. \nThe first meeting of the Search Committee is also the last to be open to the public. The remaining meetings will be kept private to preserve the confidentiality of the search, Ferguson said.\n"If the names get out, you probably lose that candidate," Ferguson said. \nHe said only the name of the finalist will be released to the public.\nBob Eno said the search committee should push IU's unique campus structure when trying to sell the presidency. \n"There is no system that resembles IU," he said. "It's complex and enormously challenging, and that could be the biggest selling point."\nMembers also want to see someone who will continue to carry out the current agenda, be a spokesperson for undergraduate education and can lobby the legislature for money. They agreed they want a leader IU can be proud of, someone with uncommon people skills and someone with a distinct vision for aligning IU's eight campus system.\n"We're a very diverse group, and in some cases, we don't know each other," Ferguson said. "We've got to do that and look for a common ground"