Author: Lilliane Ballesteros and Ben Dalgetty
On Tuesday, November 20, the day following President Susan Prager’s resignation, members of the Board of Trustees met with faculty to discuss plans for the future. Chair of the Board of Trustees Dennis Collins stressed the need for unity on campus as well as decisive action. While the Board of Trustees traditionally refrains from intervening in the affairs of the College, Collins said, “the reality today is that we do not have that kind of time.”
Collins announced the beginning of the search for an interim president. “It is essential we establish stability in the administration,” Collins said.
The search will be conducted by a small trustee task force including alumni and will be advised by ASOC President Ryan Bowen and Faculty President Movindri Reddy. The committee is focusing on candidates that have previous administrative experience at other institutions, although it will consider candidates from Occidental as well.
Due to the need to search for an interim president, Collins said that the current dean search will be suspended. Dean Eric Frank will continue to serve as dean until June of 2010. The decision to appoint Frank to the position without faculty consultation was made due to the exceptional times, Collins said.
In an interview with the Weekly, Dean Frank explained his position as interim Dean of the College. He said that it has been “limiting,” and that he “tried to do the best thing for the College in the long term.” He also explained that he has served three 10-month appointments as dean and spoke about the Board’s decision to halt the search for a permanent dean during the upcoming presidential search. “It would have been difficult with the [discontinuity],” he said.
Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees John Farmer also spoke at the faulty meeting regarding the financial standing of the school. As part of Oxy’s capital campaign fundraising effort, Institutional Advancement set a goal of $16.5 million, of which $5.5 million has currently been raised. Both Farmer and Interim Vice President for Institutional Advancement Lakshmi Dastur-Johnson said that the fundraising target would still be reached despite President Prager’s resignation.
Faculty members expressed concern over both the decision to unilaterally appoint Dean Frank to his position as well as the direction of the College. “I think re-changing positions does not address systematic problems at Oxy,” one professor said. Faculty also noted that “we have lost ground with salaries.”
Collins began the Tuesday, November 20 campus-wide meeting with a statement to the student body about the status of the College. “Your college is healthy and fine,” he said.
Collins then addressed the plan for finding a new president. President Prager will remain in office until the end of December, and a group of about six trustees will work to identity an interim president, Collins said. Collins said that the time schedule to find an interim president by mid-December is “aggressive and timely,” and that he is “confident we will be able to meet that calendar.”
Collins said he expects the interim president to remain in office for 18 months—until June 30, 2009—so that a committee will be able to perform a “full, comprehensive, national search” for the new president. During the last search for a new president to replace Ted Mitchell, Collins said the committee consisted of trustees, administrators, faculty, a student and a parent. If the committee begins their search in February, it would be unlikely they would find a new president by July 2008, Collins said.
“There is a rhythm to the search process that leads to any new president assuming office July 1. There is not enough time to consider a search for 2008, since the ideal search takes nine months to a year,” Board of Trustees member David Berkus said in an e-mail response.
Responding to student questions about whether the committee for finding an interim president would consider current members of the Occidental community, Collins stated the committee would “not preclude anyone currently at the institution,” nor people who have been at the College previously.
“I believe we need to work to balance the needs of all constituencies during a future search to better reflect the focusing of duties of a future president upon the big picture issues of strategic planning and fund-raising,” Berkus said.
After the meeting, Collins remained at the front of the auditorium to field further questions from students. During this time, students expressed concerns about a gap in communication between the student body and the administration. Students asked how their voices would be incorporated into the process to find a new president. Collins said he will hold an open forum for the main search for a new president. “You can hold me to it,” he said.
Berkus explained student involvement in the next month. “Students will have little say in the appointment of an interim president merely because of the need for speed to match President Prager’s December 31 resignation date, overlapping the holiday break,” he said. “As in the past two searches (1999 and 2006), students will be fully represented in the search process and their representatives’ opinions weighted equally along with faculty, trustees and other constituencies on the search committee.”
Brett Safford (senior) served on the Presidential Search Committee, which aided in the selection process leading to Prager’s presidential appointment, and said he was surprised at Prager’s resignation. “It is more shocking than anything else. For students here it is frustrating to have had four heads of school.”
In an interview with the Weekly, President Prager explained what she plans to do in her last month as the College’s President. “I’d like to concentrate most of my time in this last month on fundraising and further groundwork for fundraising,” she said. She explained that she has been working on several long-term projects, including “significantly improved indoor athletic facilities” and the “concept of an interdisciplinary arts building.” These are projects the College will continue to discuss.
“I think this was a shock for many people,” Prager said, in regards to her resignation. “Some people were sad and I shared in the sadness.” She added, though, “This decision is in the best interest of Oxy.”
When asked why the resignation was announced halfway through the academic year instead of at the end of the year, Prager responded by saying, “The Trustee leadership wanted to move to make the change as quickly as possible once it became clear that a change was going to be made. I think it would have been better if the announcement had been coupled with the announcement of the interim president.”
“I don’t think it’s ideal to have it happen in the middle of the school year,” she said.
When asked about her plans to return to Occidental in the 2009 spring semester as a tenured history professor, Prager said, “I think it would be very different.” She explained that she was granted tenure at her presidency appointment, something she said is not unusual.
This Thursday, November 29, ASOC will be holding a GA meeting to discuss the thoughts and views of the student body on the appointment of an interim president.
Additional reporting by Kendra Dority
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