5 regents met Bruce Harreld weeks before interviews

At least five members of the Iowa Board of Regents met with Bruce Harreld in the weeks before he was selected as the next president of the University of Iowa, according to a statement released Thursday by board president Bruce Rastetter.

The meetings are being viewed by a skeptical UI campus community as further evidence that Harreld, a businessman with no experience in university administration, was given preferential treatment during the recent search process.

During a series of July 30 meetings in Ames, Harreld met regents Katie Mulholland, Milt Dakovich, Mary Andringa and Larry McKibben, according to Rastetter. Harreld also had dinner that evening with Iowa State University President Steven Leath.

Along with Rastetter, who had met with Harreld on July 8 in Iowa City, Mulholland and Dakovich were on the 21-member UI Presidential Search and Screen Committee tasked with vetting presidential candidates.

“It certainly is getting more and more difficult to believe that the regents meant it when they said they would take campus input into account and that the search was a real search in which all the finalists had a shot,” said Christina Bohannan, president of the UI Faculty Senate and a member of the search committee.

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Bohannan, who said she did not know about the July 30 meetings until Thursday, said there is nothing inherently wrong with a prospective presidential candidate visiting a campus and seeking out more information before making a decision about whether to apply for the job. She, for example, met with Harreld for lunch in Iowa City on July 8 — a meeting that had been arranged by Jean Robillard, the chairman of the search committee and UI's interim president, and attended by Rastetter.

But Bohannan said she has concerns about Harreld's meeting with two members of the regents, Andringa and McKibben, who weren't on the committee.

“That opportunity gave (Harreld) more time with the people who would ultimately make the decision," Bohannan said. "The other finalists had only their interviews (with the full board) on the final day.”

Rastetter, who recruited Harreld along with five other candidates for president, said in his statement that the meetings in Ames and Iowa City were appropriate and within the goals of the presidential search process.

"I considered Mr. Harreld’s requests for these additional meetings on July 30 not only appropriate, but due diligence on his part," Rastetter said. "He wanted to gather as many facts as he could about the position. I appreciate the fact that he was interested enough to want to do his research on the job, and took his time gathering facts."

Rastetter did not attend the July 30 meetings, but he did facilitate them. Emails released Thursday show an invitation to the Ames meeting sent to Andringa from an email account at Summit Agricultural Group, where Rastetter is CEO.

The subsequent email exchange between Harreld and Andringa, who also serves as CEO of Vermeer Corporation in Pella, show that the former IBM executive was still considering whether to apply for the UI job.

In a July 31 email to Andringa — a day after he met with her — Harreld attached an article on “punctuated change" that he had co-authored for an essay collection titled, "Leading Sustainable Change."

“I haven’t had the time to ‘study’ it, but in skimming it, I totally agree with the premise, the process and the opportunity for Proactive Punctuated Change!” Andringa wrote in reply a few hours later. "I look forward to spending some more time with the materials you so graciously shared.”

Andringa also urged Harreld to stay open to the idea of serving as UI president and “to give us in Iowa a chance to tap into your great skill set, experience and passion for excellence through strategic change.”

“Higher education, as you articulated in our meeting, is heading toward crisis,” she said. “Crisis necessitates change — it may be the big challenge that can energize you in the next 5 years.”

That same day, the members of the search committee received access to the application materials of the 46 applicants for president. The committee eventually chose Harreld to be among the nine candidates who took part Aug. 11 and 12 in airport interviews in the Chicago area.

BACKGROUND:

HARRELD: Who he is | UI announces choice

Who he is | UI announces choice SURVEY: Harreld viewed as least qualified UI finalist

Reach Jeff Charis-Carlson at 319-887-5435 or jcharisc@press-citizen.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jeffcharis.