The University of Michigan's Board of Regents announced Friday that College Provost Lee Bollinger is one of four finalists in the search for a new Michigan president.
Bollinger, who was a professor and dean at the Michigan Law School, said he was "obviously very pleased to be considered for the position."
There are a great number of factors which Bollinger said he will consider if offered the job. The principle factor, he said, would be his view of "where the institution intends to go."
Bollinger said his decision regarding whether to take the job would depend on how closely the the Regents' vision for the university's future matches his own.
"Unless you believe in what the people want, you really shouldn't take the job," he said.
Making the cut
The other three candidates are Carol T. Christ, vice chancellor, provost and English professor at the University of California at Berkeley; Stanley A. Chodorow, provost and professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, and Larry R. Faulkner, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
The university presented its final recommendations to the Board of Regents on Thursday after the search committee narrowed its list of possible candidates to four from a pool of 302.
The members of the Board of Regents then had the opportunity to review materials about the recommended finalists and others on the earlier list of 302 candidates. Both of the sessions were open to the public.
The Regents unanimously accepted the search committee's recommendations.
Jeffrey Lehman, dean of the University of Michigan Law School and chair of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee told The Dartmouth he thinks the Regents "were quite impressed with the qualities and credentials of all four of the finalists."
Lehman said the four finalists "meet the stringent standards given to the committee by the Board of Regents."
"We were looking for an academic visionary, a leader of the highest integrity, someone who has a profound understanding of academic values and the missions of a research university, who is deeply curious and has the capacity to inspire others," Lehman said.
Lehman said he is unable to speak about specific candidates because a court order has restricted communication between the search advisory committee and the Regents.
College President James Freedman said he believes Bollinger would be the right man for the job.
He said Bollinger would be "an outstanding president of any university," and described him as "a person of intelligence and principle who understands the academic world."
"He's eminently qualified to be the president of an outstanding university like the University of Michigan," Freedman said.
Catharine MacKinnon, a professor at Michigan Law School who has known Bollinger for almost a decade, said she believes "no one is more qualified for the position."
MacKinnon, who taught at the Law School while Bollinger was dean there, described him as "a brilliant administrator."
"He is a particularly good leader in an educational institution because he is so respected as a scholar," she said.
After serving as an assistant professor at Michigan's Law School, Bollinger became an associate professor in 1976, professor in 1979 and served as dean of the Law School from 1987 until 1994. During that time, he said he developed "an enormous fondness for [the University of] Michigan."
"The University of Michigan is one of the great institutions in the country and one of the two finest public institutions of higher education," he said.
Next steps in the process
The process will continue today when Christ visits the campus for a series of meetings. According to the Board's plan, each candidate will be on campus for one day, and every meeting during his or her stay will be open to the press and the public.
Bollinger is scheduled to visit Thursday when he is scheduled to participate in an interview, a meeting and social functions. He will first be interviewed by the Board of Regents.
Then he will meet with members of the University community and the general public in a town meeting.
He is also scheduled to attend a reception, which will be open to the public and a social function with a mix of invited guests. At the conclusion of the campus visits, the Board of Regents will meet to determine the next steps in the process.
Bollinger said it was his impression the Regents "wanted to finish the process by Thanksgiving."
Lehman said he believes the board will reach a decision "well before Thanksgiving."
The 12-member search committee has logged more than 2,000 hours since they began their work in March.
Caught up in court
The search was delayed for 10 days after a lawsuit forced the committee to stop the search process. The lawsuit involved the committee's original plan to holdclosed meetings and individual candidate interviews with Regents.
A suit, filed by The Ann Arbor News, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, alleges the board's original plan violated a permanent injunction and state laws requiring all presidential searches to be open.
Last Tuesday, Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge Melinda Morris issued a preliminary injunction against the Regents preventing them from holding some closed meetings. The ruling also forced the Regents to release almost all documents pertaining to presidential candidates.
Morris declared two parts of the intended search plan completely illegal.
She ruled that both the closed meetings in which the Regents planned to individually review confidential documents and one-on-one meetings between the Regents and those with individual presidential candidates violated the previous injunction and state law.
Morris did rule that a closed question and answer session between the Regents, Lehman and a search consultant would be permitted as long as the group discusses only materials applicants wish to remain confidential.
Besides affecting the process of the search, the court's ruling also altered the committee's final list of candidates. The final nominee list originally included five candidates. As a result of the changes made to the process after the injunction, one candidate withdrew from consideration.
According to The Michigan Daily, Lehman said the candidate withdrew because he or she wanted the opportunity to meet with individual Regents, which would be barred by the injunction.
Lehman told the Regents on Thursday, "I deeply regret the fact that we have only four names to bring before you today. The lawsuit has harmed the University by depriving you the opportunity to consider that candidate," according to the Michigan Daily.