KENT, Ohio -- A group of Kent State University journalism faculty are calling for transparency in the search to replace President Beverly Warren, arguing the current process violates the state’s open records law.

A statement Monday, signed by a group of about 14 faculty from Kent State’s school of communication and journalism, asks for the university to release information about the finalists, including relevant documents. When Warren was hired, the university kept the names of the finalists confidential and did not release search documents after she was named president.

Instead, the university had signed a contract which allowed the search firm conducting the process to decide which records were released, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. One member of the search committee told the newspaper that the university shredded his notes.

“Despite spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on the search, the first the university community learned of any candidate for the job was when the Board of Trustees announced President Beverly Warren had been hired,” faculty wrote in the statement. “Through no fault of her own, Warren started as president under a cloud of suspicion because of the secrecy surrounding her hiring.”

Read the full statement in the document viewer at the end of this post.

This year, the university launched a website providing information about the search process and released the proposals submitted by firms hoping to conduct the search when requested.

“The Board of Trustees and Kent State University will adhere to all applicable laws and policies related to the presidential search, and will conduct the search with the goal of identifying the most highly qualified candidate as Kent State’s next president,” university spokesman Eric Mansfield said in an email when asked about the faculty statement.

Russell Reynolds Associates will conduct the search and recommends that it remains confidential, though the decision is left to the search committee. Kent State will pay the firm $170,000 plus a $9,000 administrative charge.

University officials have not clarified whether they will release names or documents related to finalists, but a contract between the search firm and Kent State shows officials agreed that Russell Reynolds can withhold documents on the basis of their being trade secrets, including any written correspondence.