The Board of Trustees at Michigan State University has appointed the most recent permanent and interim Presidents of this university without a search. The current board closed ranks around the previous President at a critical juncture, showing their loyalty to her rather than their loyalty to this institution and to our community. In addition, in the appointment of the interim President, they disregarded the advice of faculty, students, and deans.

We, the undersigned, stand with the wide range of students, faculty, and staff who have called on the Board of Trustees to resign. We also believe that no matter who sits on the Board of Trustees, it is critical that the bylaws of the Board are changed to allow full participation of faculty and students in governance of the university and to ensure that the search for our university President includes faculty, students and staff.

We believe that it is critical that members of the MSU community play a central role throughout the process of searching for and selecting a new President, including: articulating the qualities and qualifications required for a President; having representatives from the faculty, students and staff on the search committee; and, engaging with top candidates in open forums. Moreover, we believe that if two thirds of the members of the Academic Congress should oppose the selected candidate for President, the Board of Trustees should not be able to select this candidate as President of our university.

For more about Reclaim MSU, please visit http://www.reclaimmsu.com.

A full policy proposal can be found here: http://bit.ly/2p6IblA