(Editors note: This is the first of a three-part series looking at what campus leaders want in Eastern’s next president. The second installment will run Nov. 26.)

As Eastern searches for a new president, student leaders provide insight into what they would like to see in the university’s next leader.

The search for Eastern’s next president began last month with the formation of an 11-member search committee comprised of members of various campus constituencies.

The committee’s task is to interview qualified candidates in the hope of finding a permanent replacement for the university’s eighth president, Carol Surles, who resigned in July in order to seek treatment for breast cancer.

Lou Hencken, an Eastern employee for more than 35 years and the vice president for academic affairs since 1992, has taken over the role of president in the interim.

Katie Cox, a senior political science major, has witnessed the tenures of both Hencken and Surles. Cox, who served as student body president last year, has been chosen as the student representative on the Presidential Search Advisory Committee. She also chairs the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s Student Advisory Committee and the Student Action Team and serves on the Council for University Planning and Budget.

“I think, quite obviously to everyone, the quality that President Surles brought to us that we most needed was fund-raising ability,” Cox said, also noting Surles’ commitment to enhancing technology at Eastern. “She put a strong emphasis on technology and technology-based curriculum, which is, whether people want it or not, needed because the board of higher ed won’t keep supporting us so long if we don’t move in that direction.”

While she appreciates Surles’ efforts to enhance the university, Cox has also been impressed with Hencken’s presence on campus.

“I appreciate the fact that he’s been here. He knows everyone. I like the idea that even students, I shouldn’t say even students, but that’s really how it seems, even students can see him on the sidewalk and say ‘Hi Lou’ and its not President Hencken or interim President Hencken it’s ‘Hi Lou,'” she said. “I really appreciate that. I want to see that in the next person.”

Hugh O’Hara, a graduate student in political science, serves as the current student body president. He appointed Cox to the Presidential Search Advisory Committee and shares a lot of her views on Eastern presidents past, present and future.

“President Surles had great skills in Springfield that were a whole lot better than what we’ve had in the past, so that’s something that we definitely need,” he said. “I think that what we like in President Hencken is not only does he take the time to listen to us, but when he listens he takes that into consideration — it’s not just, yeah, sure, I’ll listen and blow you off. He takes what we say very seriously, and I think that’s what we look for —someone who not only listens, but also respects our opinion and believes that students can and should have a very large voice on campus.”

O’Hara, who was elected last spring, noted that while Surles’ fund-raising work is well documented, he didn’t work with the former president enough to comment on her campus involvement.

In general, he stressed the importance of students having a voice on campus and said student government helps provide that voice.

“We probably have a better working relationship with the administration than any other group on campus, especially the president and vice presidents,” O’Hara said. “There are really no other student groups that get the access to them that we get. So, I’d say, yeah, we’re definitely a bridge between.”

Down to earth

Amy Grammer leads one of the other campus groups that provides a link between students and the administration. The senior management major serves as president of the Residence Hall Association. Grammer echoed Cox’ remarks, emphasizing that the students want a president they can relate to on a personal level, someone who’s not intimidating.

“Just the way that (the president’s) presence is not a high and mighty presence is probably the most important,” she said. “That that person is on the same playing level as all of the students, who is able to kick back and have fun and still maintain a professional image at the same time.”

Grammer said she’s witnessed that down-to-earth persona this semester with Hencken.

“Being at parent’s day for the casino night and seeing the president there —that was just exciting to me —to see President Hencken walking around playing bingo with everybody else,” she said.

Working with faculty

While all three student leaders want to maintain an open line of communication between students and the university president, they also want Eastern’s next president to communicate well with the faculty.

“In the past, my own personal perception was that there was a lot of tension between the administration and the faculty. Among the students there were rampant rumors that the faculty would be striking and that would affect their grades. All that turned out just to be rumor, you know the students getting carried away with things, but there was always that tension and I don’t see that right now,” O’Hara said. “I think that the next president is going to have to be able to work with faculty and they’re also going to have to be able to work in an environment where the faculty are unionized, which is not such a common thing.”

Cox also said she would like Eastern’s next president to have collective bargaining experience as well as other career experiences that would allow that person to relate well with the faculty.

“I would prefer that they have teaching experience,” she said. “I would prefer that they would have been a faculty member, achieved tenure, worked their way up through the ranks. That would just be my preference because I feel like it would allow them to relate with all the constituencies on campus, because obviously they were a student at some point.”

However, Cox maintains that her role on the search committee is to represent the concerns of students. Cox said in accordance with that role, she would be willing to contact student leaders at the schools of the top 10 or 12 candidates and ask them how they feel about the individual.

“I want to know how they relate to the students basically,” Cox said. “I want to know that they can work with the faculty because that’s been an issue as well in the past, but I feel like faculty members on the committee will ensure that they get along well with the candidates so, I’m out for the students.”

Here to stay?

All three students leaders said they hope that Eastern’s ninth president will stick around for a while. To help achieve that goal, they want a candidate’s track record to be a consideration in the evaluation process.

“Just like any time you go on a job interview, that’s what a prospective employer is looking at,” Grammer said. “They’re looking to see how long have you stayed at a job. Can you keep a job longer than a few years, or a few months, or a few weeks sometimes? And I think that’s something that we need to be considering as well.”

Cox said a candidate’s previous employment will be considered in the search, but that a person wouldn’t be discounted without first evaluating the situation.

“If they’ve had a pretty good record of staying with positions for five-to-seven years and then had like a two-year stint somewhere, obviously we would check into why,” she said. “Maybe it just wasn’t a good fit for them.”

O’Hara said he would like ensure that the next president comes to Eastern to further the university’s mission, not his or her career.

“Eastern has always had an identity, it’s always stuck pretty much within that identity of a extremely good undergrad institution. I think we need a president who’s going to stick around and continue that mission,” he said. “We don’t need someone who’s going to come here as a stepping stone to moving on to a Big 10 school.”