ODU faculty leaders urge extending search for new president

NORFOLK

Leaders of Old Dominion University's Faculty Senate don't think either of two finalists for ODU president are good enough and urged that the search committee find stronger candidates, the Senate chairman said in a mass e-mail Monday to his campus peers.

Much of the talk around campus Monday, two days after the identities of the finalists were reported publicly, concerned why such an important decision should be rushed and why John R. Broderick should not be left as acting president, said Paul Champagne, the Senate chairman and a business professor.

"We don't see any reason to go forward with this thing unless we're really sure," Champagne said in a later interview. "A year, or even a little more, wouldn't be a problem."

The Virginian-Pilot reported Saturday that the finalists are Deborah Stanley, a lawyer who is president of the State University of New York at Oswego, and Richard Davenport, a speech scientist who heads Minnesota State University Mankato. ODU's Board of Visitors is scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss the candidates.

In Champagne's e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by The Pilot, he wrote that officers of the Faculty Senate interviewed the two finalists.

"The consensus view, which I sent to the search committee and I presume the board, was that neither was acceptable," Champagne wrote in part. "We believe that John Broderick will do a fine job and there is no need to act hastily."

Broderick, who became acting president in June and is to serve until a new president arrives, is vice president for institutional advancement and admissions.

Champagne in the interview described many faculty as "frustrated and upset" at the choices to replace Roseann Runte, president since 2001, who left in June for the same position at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

ODU is working to shed its commuter-school image and increase its research footprint. Stanley and Davenport head smaller schools than 22,000-student ODU. Both also come from state higher-education systems that are more controlled than that of Virginia, where presidents have to fight more independently for state funding.

"They're just not at the same level of schools," Champagne said. "If you're looking for someone to take you somewhere, you don't want someone who hasn't been there yet."

Runte also came from a smaller school - 4,000-student Victoria University in Toronto - but Champagne called it more of a flagship institution.

Stanley couldn't be reached late Monday afternoon. Davenport issued a statement Friday to the Mankato Free Press, saying he was recruited for ODU by a search firm and was flattered to be a finalist at such a "highly respected research institution." He also said he was happy where he was and had "made no commitment to the Old Dominion Board of Visitors."

ODU board Rector Marc Jacobson, who has served as the lone designated spokesman for the search committee and board during the search process, couldn't be reached by phone Monday.

Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-3893, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com