Search for chancellor temporarily halted

The already troubled hunt for a new IU-Bloomington chancellor and senior vice president for academic affairs took a turn for the worse Monday when IU President Adam Herbert put the search committee on hold until after Saturday's special board of trustees meeting. Members said they are concerned the committee might soon be dissolved.\nCommittee members and trustees confirmed that there is still some question about the structure of the chancellor position and whether to create a separate job for a senior vice president for academic affairs.\nFormer School of Journalism Dean and committee chair Trevor Brown said Herbert told the group to put the search on hold at Monday's committee meeting.\nCommittee member and School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor Robert Kravchuk said he is worried that a long, drawn-out search might alienate some candidates.\n"I am concerned that the University will be embarrassed by a lack of follow-through, with respect to (the candidates recruited by the search committee). These are well-known individuals, of national caliber," he said.\nKravchuk said the search has not progressed very far since Herbert rejected three final candidates Oct. 31, 2005.\n"The president apparently told the search firm (hired to help evaluate potential candidates) to stop supporting our efforts a month ago," he said. \nHe added that the committee has been operating under the assumption that they should still be recruiting candidates. \nThe committee members recruited candidates on an individual basis during winter break. Kravchuk said the committee found 17 to 20 possible candidates, but of those only six to nine were interested.\nHowever, the job description for chancellor might change after Saturday's trustee meeting.\nThe trustees plan to hold several executive sessions to discuss the chancellor search and two resolutions approved by members of the IUB faculty. Some committee members said they believe the trustees might vote to split the positions of IUB chancellor and senior vice president for academic affairs.\n"The campus faculty expressed a concern that the position (should be) split among two possibly conflicting functions. They wanted to see that there was a Bloomington-focused position," Kravchuk said.\nInterim IUB Chancellor Ken Gros Louis said he believes "the trustees are considering some restructuring, particularly in the position of chancellor."\nCommittee members said that because there might be two separate positions to fill, the original search committee might be dissolved.\n"The (current) committee has no plans to meet again," said Kravchuk.\nBrown cautioned that no decision about the search will be made until Saturday's trustee meeting, but said, "I don't know whether as a committee we will be asked to continue."\nHerbert has already been criticized for taking too much time in appointing a chancellor search committee. IUB has been without a permanent chancellor since Sharon Brehm resigned in October, 2003. The search committee did not start meeting until January 2005.\nThe board of trustees is expected to make a decision about the structure of the IUB leadership at Saturday's meeting, as well as deciding on a response to a faculty resolution asking for a comprehensive review of Herbert.\nIU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said Herbert has no comment on the issue.