Members of Kennesaw State’s faculty senate created a subcommittee that plans to draft and send a letter inviting presidential search finalists to campus after they are announced by the Board of Regents.
The faculty senate passed a motion to create the subcommittee at a meeting held Feb. 26 — just 10 days before the presidential search and screen committee announced that the BOR would invite the finalists to campus themselves.
Dr. Carolyn Carlson, assistant director of the journalism and emerging media program and a member of the subcommittee, said she believes the faculty senate had a major influence on the BOR’s decision.
During the earlier faculty senate meeting, several motions were passed during their discussion of the presidential search, including a motion saying the faculty senate would draft a letter to the search and screen committee asking them to reconsider their decision to keep their search closed and to encourage the BOR to invite the finalists to campus.
Before the faculty senate could draft the letter to the committee, Committee Chair Douglas Moodie emailed faculty to announce they had voted unanimously to ask the BOR to invite the finalists to campus “during the interval between the announcement of the name(s) of finalist(s) and the final confirming vote by the Board of Regents.”
Carlson said they are no longer planning on sending that letter because “it is a moot point,” but they still plan to send a letter inviting the finalists to campus after the BOR announces them.
“I proposed that motion because I think it is something the faculty senate can do, and it doesn’t have to have anything to do with the committee,” Carlson said.
Associate professor of conflict management Heather Pincock and Carlson worked together to draft the letter. Carlson said they have written the first draft and sent it to the faculty senate for approval.
Carlson said the faculty senate has a larger influence over KSU than she originally thought. She said the first time she realized how much power the faculty senate has over the university was after former President Sam Olens announced his resignation in December.
His resignation came shortly after the faculty senate had drafted and sent a letter to him about his time at KSU, and she believes the letter had a large influence over the reasons he resigned when he did.
Moodie said the committee plans to finish their portion of the search quickly. Their goal is to put together their list recommendations within 60 days, and they plan to choose at least 10 candidates later on to conduct airport interviews.
