Wichita Secrecy University? Regents OK another closed search for WSU’s president

Once again, the Kansas Board of Regents has decided that protecting the identity of a few potential job candidates is more important than openness, trust and credibility at Wichita State University.

The board, which oversees state universities and colleges, voted 8-0 Wednesday to conduct a closed search for WSU’s new president.

The reasoning — same as last year, when WSU set out to replace late president John Bardo — is that we’ll miss out on good candidates unless the process is secret.

That’s simply not true, as numerous past presidential searches have proven.

Unfortunately, another closed-door process means another chance for Wichita State to bypass public scrutiny. And it comes as the university has suffered several big hits to its credibility:

WSU hired Jay Golden last fall without public vetting or questioning, and fired him in September without explanation.

It investigated allegations of physical and verbal abuse by basketball coach Gregg Marshall, but sealed the findings and paid Marshall $7.75 million to go away.

Over the past few years, university officials have barred reporters from a discussion about student fees, leased campus property to a private school without a public vote, hiked fees for a controversial new on-campus YMCA, and leased space at a privately built apartment complex without state approval.

Are you starting to see a pattern here?

Regents had a choice this week. They could have returned to the days when candidates seeking the WSU presidency would visit the campus, meet with constituent groups and answer questions in open forums from students, faculty, media and the public. They could have made the process above-board, honest and transparent.

Instead, Board of Regents member Jon Rolph moved to hire a search firm, create a search committee, appoint a committee chairman — Wichita attorney Dan Peare — and keep the names of job candidates secret.

Rolph said he talked with people at Wichita State, and “I think a closed search is the right thing to produce the best candidates right now.”

It could be the easy thing. Maybe even the predictable thing.

Confidential searches benefit headhunters and potential candidates because they keep names out of the public eye and lessen the chance of a recruit being outed to his or her current employer.

But secrecy doesn’t help public universities, particularly ones suffering from widespread mistrust. And hiring WSU’s new president — one of the state’s most powerful and highest-paid education leaders — in secret isn’t the right thing.

This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 2:36 PM.