How a failed chancellor search led to the quest for Herbert's successor

When Michael McRobbie is inaugurated as IU president, it will bring to a close an ongoing fight over the leadership of the University.\nThe past several years have been filled with confrontation, drama and winners and losers – with a beloved dean leaving, changes in the basic structure of IU’s leadership and the public downfall of a man once considered a steadfast president.\nThe entire episode illustrates how faculty unrest and weak or unpopular leadership can force change, even up to the highest position on campus.\nIt all started when then-IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm stepped down in October 2003. The unpopular campus leader left office in January 2004 to make way for a string of interim administrators who are still in office today. Brehm’s resignation came just months after Adam Herbert was named president, a move that would shape the rest of his time in office.\nThe search for Brehm’s replacement would take longer than anyone expected. Even after a 10-month search that yielded three finalists, IU President Herbert was not satisfied. Members of the Bloomington faculty rose up in anger after Herbert turned down the most popular and public candidate, then-dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Kumble Subbaswamy. After the rejection, Subbaswamy bolted from IU to become the provost at the University of Kentucky before the 2006-2007 school year. \nThat was the turning point in Herbert’s presidency. Members of the faculty held a mass meeting at the IU Auditorium in November 2005, in which they blasted Herbert, asking that the board of trustees conduct a special review of his presidency. Herbert was accused of passing up the best candidate and extending a search that had already taken too long. Murmurs of a resignation floated through campus, and prominent faculty wrote damning letters citing inadequacies in Herbert’s leadership.\nTwo months later, at the January 2006 board of trustees meeting, Herbert recommended the chancellor position be eliminated altogether. He installed his protege, McRobbie, as interim provost – a move that meant there would be even more time without a permanent campus leader. The board of trustees stood by their man and refused to review Herbert, who said he would step down at the end of his five-year contract.\nBut the damage had been done. Faculty members were still demanding change, and it became clear that Herbert was losing his footing quickly. He stepped up the timetable for finding a new president, which would in turn allow for the hiring of a compatible provost.\nMcRobbie will face pressure to find a suitable provost, and quickly. The faculty discontent of 2005 wasn’t just the rabble of a few angry teachers: Out of 1,058 eligible faculty members, 754 voted for a special review of Herbert, while 229 voted against the review. The measure was approved by more than a 3-1 ratio.\nMcRobbie will also be pressured to be visible on campus – not just in Bloomington, but at the seven other IU campuses too. Herbert was criticized at the mass faculty meeting in November 2005 for spending too much time away from the University.\nWhatever the expectations are, McRobbie can expect to be watched closely.