The abrupt resignation of interim President John Engler should help, not hurt, Michigan State University’s search for a new permanent president, says Dianne Byrum, chair of the MSU Board of Trustees and co-chair of the board’s presidential search committee.

“If anything, (Engler’s departure) will enhance our search. This isn’t just my opinion. I’ve talked to our search firm,” Byrum said. “It’s not helpful to be recruiting for a new president if you’re a university in the headlines -- and national headlines -- on a regular basis, and we were on the cusp of that.”

Engler, who has appointed MSU interim president a year ago, was pressured to resign this week after suggesting that some victims in the Larry Nassar scandal were “enjoying” the spotlight. It was the most recent in a series of inflammatory remarks or interactions involving Engler and the women abused by Nassar, a former MSU doctor who molested hundreds of patients.

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At an emergency board meeting Thursday, trustees named Satish Udpa as the new interim. Upda has been MSU’s executive vice president of administrative services since 2013.

Engler took over for MSU President Lou Anna Simon, who resigned Jan. 24, 2018 amid a storm of criticism over her handling of the Nassar scandal.

The board kicked off the search for a new president last summer, with the hiring of a search firm, a search consultant and a series of community input session to get public feedback on qualities desired in a new leader.

The university is now in the process of creating a pool of applicants interested in the job. Byrum said the process is on track to have a new president named in June.

“I’m ecstatic with the pool” of candidates so far, Byrum said. “It’s very high caliber and I’m pretty upbeat about the board identifying a top leader for Michigan State.”

At this point, she said, “there are no favorites. We have not started interviews. Nobody has their ringer in there. It truly has been an open search.”

She added that the new president “most likely” will be some from outside the university.

Board Vice Chair Dan Kelly said he’s also impressed by the candidate pool. “We’ve already received some excellent applications,” he said.

The board has been criticized for conducting a closed search, in which the names of candidates and finalists are not publicly released and the selection process will be confidential until the board reveals the name of the new president.

Byrum says she understands the call for openness and transparency. But, she said, the board’s search firm and search consultant Teresa Sullivan, former president of the University of Virginia, both recommended a closed search in order to recruit the best candidates.

In the course of 30-some sessions to get public input about the presidential search, Byrum said, it was clear that a top priorities were getting “the strongest pool of applicants we can get” and finding “the best person to lead Michigan State University.”

“So when you put that lens on, the only way we can get the best possible pool of candidates is to have a confidential search,” she said. "The first question we’re asked (by potential candidates) is whether it’s a confidential search.

“You’re not going to get a sitting college president to apply” if candidate names are public, Byrum said. And sitting presidents “are arguably the most qualified kind of applicants you’ll have in your pool. You’re going to take out that whole layer of candidates out of your pool if you have an open search.”

“We believe this position is too important, both now and in the future, to take the most qualified applicants out of consideration,” she said.

Byrum added the the issue was discussed with the 19-member search committee, which is comprised of a cross-section of MSU faculty, staff, students and alumni. Initially, Byrum said, the committee was “pretty evenly split” about whether a confidential search was a good idea. But after hearing the pros and cons from Sullivan and the search committee, “a majority backed a confidential search in the end.”

Moreover, while the search is confidential, the 19-member committee remains part of the process and is serving as surrogates for the public at large, Byrum said.

“Search committee, I would argue, is of the highest caliber," she said. “It is very representative of the broader MSU community and they are empowered to really have significant influence in this process. … They will sit with the board until the board is ready to make this decision.”

The final decision will be made by the eight-member board.

Byrum urged the public to rely on the MSU presidential webpage to keep updated on the status of the search.