Congratulations to Suresh Garimella, 23rd president of the University of Arizona.
We have every hope that Dr. Garimella will fulfill the confidence that the Arizona Board of Regents displayed in naming him as the only finalist they considered.
Which is absurd on its face.
Garimella, currently the president of the University of Vermont, was not the only candidate ABOR and its search committee seriously considered. He was just the only one they wanted to disclose.
Which displays a regrettable arrogance and a disregard for the public’s interest in the search process.
A slew of interests come down on the side of nondisclosure. ABOR clearly didn’t want the complication of disclosing multiple candidates, which could lead to disagreement and controversy — not to mention aggressive vetting by the media. And for unsuccessful candidates, disclosure as a finalist can mean complications with their current employers, and an “also-ran” taint that can have a chilling effect on other potential opportunities.
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Far cleaner, then, to announce one finalist and hire him the next day.
The undeniable fact is that is a perversion of what should be a relatively open process to hire an incredibly important public servant. This behind-closed-doors procedure parallels how slow the University of Arizona has been to produce public records during the crisis that consumed Garimella’s predecessor.
We are disappointed in ABOR’s cynical and opaque maneuver. But we have great optimism for the tenure of the new president.
We sincerely welcome Dr. Garimella — and offer him one suggestion: Administer the affairs of the University of Arizona much more transparently than his predecessor, Dr. Robert C. Robbins, has done.
Which will make him a far better leader than the Regents who selected him.
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Publish date : 2024-08-11 01:45:00
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