After contacting more than 200 candidates nominated for the job of president of IU and receiving the dossiers of those interested in the position, the presidential search committee is now giving out grades. The 17-member committee is evaluating the candidates on an "A, B, C" grading scale to facilitate discussion on who should be interviewed by the committee at its executive session meeting in Bloomington, today, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.\n"With everyone using a standard sheet to make their comments, it will give us an indication on how the group feels about the candidates," presidential search committee chair and vice president of the board of trustees Steve Ferguson said.\nEach member of the committee is recording his or her findings in individual notebooks labeled with his or her name. They will be used to distinguish which candidates stand out against others. \nFerguson said the uniform grading system, which includes such qualities as leadership, experience and academic credentials, will keep candidates thinking about the qualifications decided during the University's campus interviews. Some variety in opinion will occur, Ferguson said, and such differences in opinions are beneficial to the discussion.\n"That is why you have a committee of such diverse people," he said. "Some people are good judges of academic credentials, other are strong judges of leadership."\nAlthough different committee members will look at different things, they all are focused on the quality they previously decided was most important, the capability to run a large state university.\n"The candidates must be familiar with running a large, complex organization similar to a public university," IU spokesperson Bill Stephan said.\nThe discussions will be fairly informal. Any committee member can suggest to look at any of the candidates' dossiers to discuss their qualifications. \nFerguson said he hopes to decide on most of the ten to 15 candidates the committee wishes to interview. He does not know when the interviews will take place.\n"It will depend on the availability of both the candidates on the committee," he said. "Plus, it depends on how the meetings go, so it is hard to say."\nAfter the committee interviews the candidates, it will discuss them again and then select five to seven nominees for the board of trustees to interview in April. The trustees will then vote on the replacement and will announce it tentatively by July 1. \nWith time running out, the committee feels confident but knows it has a lot of work ahead.\n"I expect we will use all five hours," Ferguson said. "It will be a long meeting."
Financial Reviews\nThe IU trustees finance and audit committee will meet today at Reams Asset Management Co., in Columbus, Ind., a investment firm which handles the University's money, to review the company's performance.\nFinance and Audit Committee Chair Steven A. Backer said the process is undertaken every year. Given the state's economy, the University needs to take considerable note of its investments, he said.\nBacker said the investments are fairly short term and are not high risk like the stock market; therefore, they do not give huge paybacks.\n'We aren't buying a thousand shares of GM, so we aren't going to make a lot," he said. "But at the same time if the University needs money quickly, these are important."\nBacker noted these investments are necessary for liquidation, when the University needs some quick cash.\n"Given when people pay tuition and when we get state funding, there is only about two big times a year when we get money," he said. "So if we need extra money for salaries or maintenance, we can use these funds."\nBacker said these funds are important to follow even in good times, but given the General Assembly's troubled times, the trustees should be especially watchful.\n"Say if our state funding runs out, then we will have to turn to these funds for cash," he said.
