.
S.98-39
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
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/ amendet
Memorandum ?
4
Apr
To:
?
Senate
From: ?
Senate Committee on Agenda and Rules
Date: ?
March 18, 1998
Subject:
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Motion re Presidential Search Procedures
At the March 2, 1998 Senate meeting, a Notice of Motion was submitted by George
Kirczenow for the next meeUng of Senate. The following motion is presented to Senate
for consideration.
"
Motion: "that Senate recommejrdto the Board of Governors that the
procedures for the reçdmmendation and selection of candidates for
president of SFU be'feviewed and that a revised version be brought
to Senate, for discussion and approval at least twelve months before
the next residential search begins."
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MOTION FOR THE APRIL 1998 MEETING OF SENATE:
That Senate recommend to the Board of Governors that the procedures for
the recommendation and selection of candidates for president of SFU be
reviewed and that a revised version be brought to Senate for discussion
and approval at least twelve months before the next presidential search
begins.
Rationale:
The presidential selection procedures that were approved in 1995 and
have been in place since then were not followed by the Board during the
recent appointment of President Blaney. While this appears to have been
partly due to unusual circumstances, a reading of the terms of reference
and composition of presidential search committees that are presently in
effect reveals serious deficiencies that should be corrected. These include:
1.
With the presently mandated total of 16 members, the presidential
search committee is so large as to be unwieldy.
2.
The academics on the committee (4 faculty, 2 deans and 1 vice
president) are a minority of the committee's membership. This is
inappropriate since the committee is charged with choosing a president
who according to the University Act is supposed to "supervise and direct
the academic work of the university," whereas a clear majority of the
committee's members do not have the knowledge or experience needed to
assess the academic leadership of the candidates being considered.
3.
The same committee is charged with carrying out a review of the
university's institutional needs and objectives. The majority of the
committee's members do not have the knowledge or experience needed to
do this well.
4.
The same committee is supposed to develop selection criteria (for the
presidential search) for submission to the Board for approval. The same
criticism as in points 2 and 3 above applies here too.
Such a committee with such terms of reference is as likely as not to
develop inappropriate criteria and procedures for the presidential search
and to choose a less than satisfactory president. For example, in the past
such a search committee chose to use a commercial headhunter in a
presidential search, with dismal results.
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Headhunters may seem like a good idea to the non-academic members of
the search committee since they are commonly used to find heads for
corporations. Increasingly head-hunting firms are seeing academic head-
hunting as a potentially lucrative sideline -- see page B7 in the business
section of the Feb. 9, 1998 issue of the Vancouver Sun. Some firms
specialize in academic head-hunting. However even a headhunter that
specializes in university administrators need not understand what makes
SFU unique or what sort of a president would be best for this university. It
also needs to be understood that a headhunter is a professional
salesperson, in the business of promoting his/her own candidates for
profit. A search committee (and especially one with a majority of non-
academics) that employs a headhunter is therefore susceptible to being
misdirected and choosing an unsuitable president for the university.
.
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PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE
Members
Chair of the Board of
Conditions
Chair
Governors (or designate)
Member, Board of Governors
Appointed by the
Member, Board of Governors
Chair, normally from
OIC members
Vice-President, or Associate
Selected by the Vice-
Vice-President
Presidents
Dean
Selected
Dean
by the Deans after the
faculty members have
-
?
-
been elected
Faculty Member
Elected by and
Faculty Member
from faculty members
Faculty Member
jointly with no more than
one to be elected from
any Faculty
Undergraduate Student
Elected by and from
Undergraduate Student
undergraduate student body
Graduate Student
Elected by and from
Graduate Student body
President, Faculty Association
(or designate)
President, Student Society
(or designate)
President, Alumni Association
(or designate)
Employee
Elected by and from full-time
employees who are not faculty
members
The Board's Charge to the Committee
(a)
The Board will provide the Committee with a statement of the leadership qualities sought in the new
President.
(b)
The Board will set the date by which it expects to receive recommendations from the Committee.
(c)
The Board will express a preference as to the number of candidates to be submitted.
(d)
The Board will instruct the Committee to rank the names and to provide relevant documentation to
the Board.
Terms of Reference:
. 1. The Committee is empowered to search out candidates for the Presidency and make
recommendations to the Board. The University community will be canvassed and everyone will be
encouraged to assist in the recruiting of candidates. The search committee will screen all
candidates and prepare a short list for presentation to the Board of Governors who will select the
President.
2.
The Committee will carry out a review of institutional needs and objectives.
3.
The Committee will submit an estimated budget for the search proceedings to the Board for
approval.
4.
The Committee will develop selection criteria for submission to the Board for approval.
5.
The Committee will endeavour to present unanimous recommendations to the Board but, if it
cannot do so, the recommendations should have the support of at least 11 members of the 16-
member Committee.
Membership approved by the Board on Nov. 1, 1977 and approved by
Senate with clarification Dec. 5, 1977. Terms of Reference (Operations)
approved by the Board Dec. 6, 1977 and by Senate Jan. 9, 1978. Re-
affirmed by the Board of Governors April 28, 1992. Revision to
Membership, Charge and Terms of Reference approved by Senate Sept.
18, 1995.
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