University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy on Friday called for a review of all active employment searches at the state’s public universities after the search that yielded the University of Maine at Augusta’s new president led to a no-confidence vote in Malloy.
Malloy on Friday also asked for a review of the system’s policies on employment searches, a move he said he expects will result in changes.
The latest steps follow BDN reporting that Malloy and the head of the search committee for UMA’s next president, system trustee Sven Bartholomew, were aware of a no-confidence vote against Michael Laliberte, the man ultimately chosen for the job, from staff at his current institution and never informed the rest of the search committee.
The steps Malloy outlined Friday also come less than two days after faculty at UMA cast a vote of no confidence in Malloy’s leadership and asked the university system to restart its search for UMA’s next president.
The university system announced last month that Laliberte, who currently leads the State University of New York at Delhi, will become UMA’s president on Aug. 1. He faced no-confidence votes from both the College Senate and student government at SUNY Delhi less than a year ago.
Bartholomew didn’t inform fellow committee members of the senate’s no-confidence vote despite signing a code of ethics, obtained by the BDN, designed to “ensure that a decision is reached based on the most complete and accurate information.”
By signing the code, search committee members agreed to “guard against inaccuracies, carelessness, bias, and distortion made through either emphasis or omission of information” and pledged “to be fair, accurate, honest, and responsible in my management of information.”
After the BDN reported on the code of ethics and Bartholomew’s failure to inform fellow search committee members of the no-confidence vote against Laliberte, the university system defended Bartholomew by saying he was following the advice of the outside consultant hired to assist in the search.
Malloy’s statement on Friday specifically highlighted employment searches relying on outside consultants.
“It is critically important that our employment searches are managed with integrity and that all relevant information about applicants for employment is available to be carefully considered by those charged with responsibility for vetting candidates and making recommendations to the hiring manager or authority,” Malloy said. “This is true whether or not the search is led, supported, or facilitated by an outside vendor retained by UMS for that purpose.”
Malloy also announced this week that he would propose revisions to search policies for president and provost positions to require that candidates disclose whether they have ever been the subject of a no-confidence vote.
Last night, the system’s board of trustees released a statement saying it was reviewing what could be done and should be changed in light of the UMA faculty’s votes on Malloy and the presidential search.
