We’ve all heard the news: Santa is not coming to town this year. Or, at least not to UBC.
Besides wondering how much of a raise he’ll be getting as the new President of the University of Michigan, the biggest question many students have right now is how and when we’re getting a new president.
Here’s a breakdown of how UBC hires its presidents, and how long we may be waiting.
Presidents are selected and recommended by a Presidential Search Committee, chaired by the chancellor of the university alongside at least 14 additional members that include members of the Board of Governors (BoG), senators, faculty, deans, the chair of the Board of Directors of alumni UBC, UBC students and staff. The past two search committees had 21 and 22 members.
The Board of Governors will establish this search committee, according to recent comments from BoG Chair Nancy McKenzie. She said it was still too early for many of the details around the membership of the search committee for Ono’s replacement to be finalized. According to UBC policy, the Board is only able to select the BoG representatives on the committee, while the other representatives are selected in separate processes.
The committee is dictated by a set of guiding principles and procedures, including confidentiality, transparency and clarity of process, accountability and more.
While the committee must communicate the process as it progresses, the documents and deliberations involved remain confidential. At the beginning of the search process, the committee decides whether the search should be open or closed — if the short-listed candidates will be made public or not.
Regardless of the search type, the process must include extensive consultations with the university community and external constituents in order to ensure collegiality and transparency.
In the search for Ono’s replacement, McKenzie said community consultations will centre around what qualities students, faculty and staff want in the next president.
The search committee must try to make a recommendation to the Board within six months of the position becoming vacant, although it can be extended by up to three months. Ono was appointed in 2016 after a six-month search.
In the meantime, McKenzie said the Board will work with Ono to select an acting president to take over at the time of his departure in October.
While Policy GA-1 outlines the order of succession should a president be “absent or unable to act, or if there is a vacancy in that office,” Matthew Ramsey, directory of university affairs at UBC Media Relations said in a statement to The Ubyssey that it it too early to outline the process to identify the acting president and that it is up to the Board’s discretion.
This piece was update at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, July 25, 2022. A previous version said Board of Governors Chair Nancy McKenzie told The Ubyssey the Board would select the members on the search committee, when she said it would establish the committee. The Ubyssey regrets this error.