The Special Committee on the Nomination of a President held two more forums yesterday for University community members to discuss the presidential selection process.\nAs before, the forums were open to the public so that the search committee could hear people's opinions about a number of issues related to the search.\nIn particular, though, participants were asked to consider what opportunities and challenges they see the University facing in the next 10 years, and also what qualifications and leadership characteristics the next president should possess to deal with these opportunities and challenges.\nGraduate College student Alexander Cohen, a former Cavalier Daily Opinion columnist, suggested that the next president would need to be committed to the University's values. He noted though, that current University President John T. Casteen III's successor should be careful to avoid being tied down by tradition to lead the University into the future.\n"Another distinctive factor [about the University] is student self-governance," Cohen said. "Some of the powers that would otherwise be exercised by a university president are ... exercised by students."\nHe noted that a new president could potentially hinder the amount of student authority at the University. As a result, Cohen said, the new president must respect the principle of student self-governance and should be willing to not sacrifice in the face of short-term goals.\nEmma Edmunds, director of the Editorial & Design group in the Department of Public Affairs, said while she values global issues, the University should not lose sight of local concerns. Many of these concerns, Edmunds said, pertain to disparities among the commonwealth's different populations and different geographic areas.\n"I think that U.Va., although it receives very little public funding, admittedly, still has a public obligation to the state," Edmunds said.\nThird-year College Student Francesca Tuazon, meanwhile, said the administration must do more to support scientific departments. For example, she said the biology department has only added a few faculty members recently despite the fact that there are 300 or 400 more biology majors now than in previous years.\n"I would really like to see the University grow as an innovator ... especially since we're one of the top universities [in the nation]," Tuazon said.\nLeah Puryear, director of the Upward Bound program, said it will be very important to select a forward-thinking president. Puryear said the University's commitment to diversity - as well as the University departments that seek to foster diversity - should be prioritized and respected more than they are now.\n"I think if we are concerned about diversity and how we are perceived, I think we need to look at programs that are here and can assist you in bridging the gap, rather than saying they are small and don't matter," Puryear said.\nAnthropology department Chair Susan McKinnon raised the concern that the declining level of public funding may be sending public higher education into a crisis.\nFor example, the pressure for private money often means that the University is overly concerned with the needs and desires of donors, McKinnon said. In addition, the pressure to raise funds may shift decision making from the faculty to the administration, she said.\nOther speakers brought up concerns such as the University's need to focus more aggressively on sustainability and research, as well as its obligation to address not only the positive aspects of its past, but also negative ones such as slavery.\nUniversity spokesperson Carol Wood said the forums in general have seemed to foster a valuable exchange.\n"People who spoke came prepared, many were passionate about the issues that they thought the candidates for president needed to think about ... [and] I think people were also grateful to be asked their opinions," Wood said.\nAnother forum will be held Sept. 12 at Alumni Hall. Like the four that have been held thus far, the forum will be open to the public, but the University hopes to see attendance from alumni and parents who will be visiting for Saturday's football game, Wood said.\nIn addition to the forums, the search committee is accepting responses from an online form. More than a hundred pages of responses have been submitted so far, Wood said.\nMoreover, videos of the forums will be posted online, so that members of the University community can stay better informed about the discussion and progress being made in the search process. So far, audio recordings of the first two forums from last week have been posted on the University's Web site, and anyone who missed the events can listen and submit their own thoughts, Wood said.
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