The Presidential Search Committee recently completed their search for a new president of the university to replace current OCU President Martha Burger. The committee announced on March 23 that Dr. Kenneth Evans will take over as president starting July 1.
To read more on Dr. Kenneth Evans, visit this story.
However, many members of the campus community have taken issue the lack of student and staff representation on the Presidential Search Committee, and many do not feel as though they were represented. Reid Powell, Student Government Association president, wrote in a letter to the editor about his shock in learning there would be no student representation on the committee
In the past, the SGA president would serve as the student representative on the committee, but during this selection process, the Board of Trustees decided not to involve students. Similarly, there is not a position on the Presidential Search Committee dedicated to a staff representative.
The Presidential Search affects every member of the campus community. For students, it affects their future and how their university is seen by others. For staff and faculty, it affects their livelihood. Not including these large sections of the campus community in this monumental decision for the university can only result in negative consequences.
In regard to OCU’s staff, they make up the backbone of the university. If the staff doesn’t work, the campus would not be able to run. Because of this reason, their needs and desires should play an important part in who runs the university.
For students, the OCU administration has already lost a lot of trust from the student body. This process greatly affects the students and families who are paying tens of thousands in tuition, and excluding students makes it hard for the students to believe the administration wants what is best for them.
David Brennen, one of the finalists for the president position, said he asked the committee why there were no students on the committee, to which he said they answered the candidates needed to be kept a secret, and they were worried that the students would not be able to do that. The lack of representation and the alleged reasoning behind it paints a picture of a university that doesn’t trust its students. If the university doesn’t trust its students, why should the students trust the university?
The Board of Trustees should trust and represent these two groups in the presidential search process because without these two groups, there is no OCU.
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