So three of the board's nine trustees met with various groups on campus throughout the afternoon, listening to WSU faculty leaders, student trustees and staff members.
Two messages emerged from those sessions, board Chairman Daniel Duval said Friday. The first: We're comfortable with the selection of Goldenberg, the WSU medical school dean who was runner-up in WSU's last presidential search in 1993.
The second: The campus doesn't need a long, drawn-out search, especially if
it results in the appointment of an outside candidate who might feel inclined
to throw out the extensive planning that's been done recently and start from
scratch.
The three trustees listened, conferred with the other six board members,
talked with Goldenberg himself, then voted unanimously Thursday night to give
Goldenberg the job permanently - no interim, no national search.
"It's a bold move, but one the board is comfortable with and proud of,"
Duval said.
Not everyone agrees. Mel Goldfinger, president of the WSU chapter of the
American Association of University Professors (AAUP), said the board's action
prohibited the faculty from having a full and effective voice in the decision.
That violated the democratic principles and collegial spirit that are supposed
to be woven into the governance of the university, Goldfinger said.
The AAUP chapter president has spearheaded a drive to unionize WSU's
faculty - a drive that will culminate in a vote, probably next month, on
whether the faculty will affiliate fully with the AAUP for
collective-bargaining purposes. His criticism of the trustees' decision-making
process is at odds with the elected president of the faculty, Jim Sayer, who
said Thursday night he strongly supported the board's move.
WSU is the second local public college to forego a national search in
naming a new president. Sinclair Community College trustees last year named
Ned Sifferlen, who had worked at the college 30 years, to succeed David Ponitz
without an extensive search.
Duval said board members weighed the considerations brought up by
Goldfinger against the disadvantages of conducting a search. There was a sense
on campus that WSU had been in a holding pattern for the last six months, with
few initiatives moving forward, Duval said.
Flack had helped devise, and trustees had approved, a long-term "Vision
2020" document for the university and a five-year strategic plan through 2003
to help the university achieve some of those goals.
A thorough national search would take at least a year, then a new president
would take several months to settle in and hit stride. That would extend the
"holding pattern" to nearly two years, Duval said. And that, in the end, was
not acceptable to trustees.
Wright State is a key player in the Miami Valley's economic well-being. WSU
boasts 54,000 graduates over its 30-year history, a $200 million annual budget
and extensive links with Miami Valley businesses, industries, school districts
and non-profit agencies.
Though its reputation locally is that of a commuter school, its student
enrollment data suggests that view may be outdated. More than half of WSU's
entering students last fall come from beyond the four-counties that surround
the university: Montgomery, Greene, Miami and Clark.
Goldenberg, 51, succeeds Harley E. Flack, who served from February 1994
through November 1997, when he began a medical leave of absence to battle
cancer. Flack died March 29 at age 55.
Customarily, in higher-education circles, when an outsider is chosen over
an inside candidate for a presidency, the inside candidate rather swiftly
finds a job elsewhere. But after trustees selected Flack over Goldenberg in
late 1993, Goldenberg said he arranged a meeting with the new president.
The two talked at length, Goldenberg recalled Friday morning. The dean
explained his philosophy of guiding the medical school, and asked Flack
whether his approach was consistent with the new president's own vision for
the school. If it wasn't, Goldenberg told Flack, he would start looking for a
new job and a graceful exit.
Flack told Goldenberg to stay put. And so Goldenberg did, until recently,
when trustees approached him about the possibility of serving as president,
probably on an interim basis. The request, Goldenberg said, "caught me off
guard," in part because he was deeply involved in several community-health
initiatives that the college of medicine was spearheading.
"All my energies were going into that," Goldenberg said. "So much so that I
didn't really give the board a clear decision until Wednesday" that he would
accept an appointment.
Goldenberg said his first duties will involve meeting with the many
constituencies on campus and establishing priorities.
Board chairman Duval said he and fellow board members are optimistic.
"We feel we have the right man, and it's time to move the university
forward," he said.
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* CONTACT Mark Fisher at 225-2258; or e-mail him at mark_fisher@coxohio.com
PHOTO CREDIT: JIM WITMER/DAYTON DAILY NEWS