University of Arkansas (MS) to keep exec hunt private - NWAnews.com
UAMS to keep exec hunt private BY KENNETH HEARD Posted on Thursday, September 4, 2008 The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will use a private search firm to help find its next chancellor. But the University of Arkansas Foundation Inc., not the university, hired the firm to keep applicants' names private, said B. Alan Sugg, president of the University of Arkansas System. "The firm will be talking to candidates about the possibility of coming here," said Sugg, who will serve as chairman of a search advisory committee that includes faculty, health-care executives and corporate leaders. "They [the candidates ] might not want that information released. We want this to be done quietly. We're in the investigation phase now. We'll release names when we get finalists." Because the UA Foundation is funded through private donations, it is not subject to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act and the applicants' names don't have to be released, UA System officials said Wednesday. Applications of people applying for public jobs are open records in Arkansas. Tom Larimer, executive director of the Arkansas Press Association, said in a telephone interview Wednesday evening that private search firms oper- ate in a "gray area." "It's not the first time a company has used a third party to circumvent the Freedom of Information Act," he said. "They say it's legal because they're using private funds, but it doesn't mean it's right. It should be open to the public eye. If any public money is used at all, it will be open." Peter Emanuel, the director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and a member of the UAMS search advisory committee, said the use of private search firms is typical for medically based academic searches.
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