In episode six, The Portal, we mentioned that North Carolina State’s current chancellor, Randy Woodsen, was chosen in a secret search. This is true of all North Carolina public university chancellors. Universities there have interpreted an open records law exemption related to public employee personal records to mean that university chancellor searches must be secret.
But, other positions at the university are often chosen through open, public searches.
In fact, one of the first things that Woodsen did at chancellor was to conduct a public search for a provost.
This highlights the fact that our research shows and our guests pointed out — that good, qualified candidates can be found in open searches.
Meanwhile… then entire UNC system is considering a change to its search process — allowing the system president to insert his or her own finalist, bypassing the board. It’s something that has drawn criticism from faculty.