Presidential Candidate Search Committee Meetings

Minutes for Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008, 11:30 a.m.

 

I. Charge to Committee from Chairman of the Board: Chairman Loadholt called on Mr. Adams who offered the following charge to the committee:

I thank all of you for serving on this committee. I think you are going to find that it will be both rewarding and time consuming. I thank you for the sacrifice that you will make in the next several months.

 

As you look at the duties and responsibilities of the Board of Trustees, you will see the most important responsibility that the Board of Trustees has is to select a president. And, this committee basically is more important than the Board of Trustees in that you bring to the Board the candidates from whom the Board will make that selection.

 

I want you to find us a leader who will lead us to new and greater heights, building on the excellence that we already have in place. I want you to bring us a person of energy and vision who will understand that we have high expectations.

 

I want you to take a look at the Bylaws, and I have asked that a copy be distributed to everyone, and on pages 29-30 you will see the job description for the President of the University of South Carolina. As you look at this information, I think you will notice that this is a very, very tough assignment.

 

I also ask you, if you would, to take a look at the bottom paragraph on page 11 of the Bylaws, because this committee is charged to bring the name of four acceptable candidates for the presidency to the Board of Trustees.

 

This has been done in the last two searches in two different manners. In 1990, we brought four names and four individuals on the same day to the Board of Trustees. For the last search, we had four candidates but they were looked at more individually than all at one time.

 

I think you will find it is going to be tough to bring four people on one day here to talk to us and have their names exposed. But this is a matter on which this committee has the right to help determine how we present the four names for the presidency.

 

We did something a little different this time from the Board's standpoint. As you look at the makeup of the committee, we are charged by the Bylaws to have five Board members on the committee. We added to that an alternate this time. In looking back and researching it in our minutes, Tommy Stepp said that the Executive Committee has the authority to appoint an alternate.

 

We took the liberty to do so this time and Wes Jones is that alternate. He has the authority to vote on any matter that comes up when there is a trustee who is not at the meeting and not available to vote. For that reason, Wes will be as much an integral part of all of the information as everyone else. He will be exposed to everything.

 

There are a number of books that are published by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges and previously we examined some of that information. I think this is something that you may want to take a look at so that you better understand what our responsibilities are in trying to search and bring to the Board the four candidates.

 

So, I hope that you will prepare yourselves and that you will take this job very seriously, which I know you will. You would not be appointed to this committee if you were not thought to be a person who would take your responsibility in a way to do what is best for the University of South Carolina. And, that's what I also ask you to do.

 

Remember, as you bring us candidates, there are lots of things that tug on us as individuals. We are friends of people; we are political party members. I simply ask you to understand that we have one responsibility and that is to the University of South Carolina. We need to bring four candidates who will understand that.

 

I thank you again for your time. I appreciate very much what you are about to do.