Faculty question Herbert as leader

Faculty members continued to raise questions about President Adam Herbert's leadership Monday, calling for a meeting of the faculty to discuss the state of the IU-Bloomington chancellor search and Herbert's role as IU president.\nBloomington Faculty Council President Ted Miller received a petition calling for a special meeting signed by 133 IUB faculty members. The faculty will meet at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 15 in the IU Auditorium.\nHerbert has come under increasing scrutiny from members of the faculty after rejecting the final candidates for IUB chancellor after a 10-month committee search.\nMany professors have said they are beginning to question Herbert's announcement last week to restart the search and want his presidency to be evaluated.\n"I think there is virtually unanimous support for this," said Fred Cate, law professor and co-chair of the Alliance of Distinguished and Titled Professors.\nCate wrote a letter on behalf of the alliance outlining problems with the chancellor search and Herbert's leadership, as well as recommendations to fix the problems. The letter is one of several sent to Herbert circulating among professors.\n"There is a general dissatisfaction with the president's job performance," said Ted Widlanski, chemistry professor and associate dean for research and infrastructure for the College of Arts and Sciences.\nWidlanski added that "the fact that the president made such a bizarre decision made people think twice about his leadership."\nSome faculty have also expressed discontent with Herbert's decision to reject COAS Dean Kumble Subbaswamy for the chancellor position. \nWidlanski thinks the new search will not be effective.\n"It's very unlikely that we'll pop out a stellar chancellor," he said. "Why should one suspect that an abbreviated search like this is going to do better?"\nThere is some question among chancellor search committee members that the Jan. 1 deadline set by trustees at their Friday meeting is unrealistic.\nSearch committee member and School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor Robert Kravchuk said there is "no way" they will be able to find an exceptional candidate by the start of the spring semester and said he is surprised the board of trustees didn't ask for input from the committee.\n"They didn't ask us where we stood," Kravchuk said. He added the trustees might have set a deadline, but said the committee will finish on its own deadline.\nSeveral professors think there needs to be an adjustment in the job description for the chancellor. The post has two titles -- IUB chancellor and senior vice president for academic affairs, a University-wide post with responsibilities to all the IU campuses.\nSome think the position's structure might lead to a conflict of interest because the chancellor cannot fully concentrate on the Bloomington campus.\n"I think the campus is better served by having a real advocate for the campus, and often those two jobs are in conflict," Cate said.\nIU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said Herbert had no comment in response to faculty criticism but noted the president would be meeting with several small groups of faculty members during the course of the week.\n"It's possible that the critics may want to change their minds" after speaking with Herbert, MacIntyre said.\nIUB has not had a permanent chancellor since October 2003, when Sharon Brehm resigned. Former IUB chancellor Ken Gros Louis has filled the position on an interim basis since November 2003.\nAccording to an e-mail circulated to faculty members Monday, 800 members of the faculty are required to be present at the BFC meeting Nov. 15 to ratify any action taken. Decisions must be ratified by a majority of the faculty present.