Interim President Lou Hencken said Thursday he will “very, very seriously” consider becoming Eastern’s ninth full-time president if the Board of Trustees extends him the offer next week.

The Presidential Search Committee met Wednesday with intentions to set the date that applications for the postion would be accepted. However, search consultant Jim Appleberry suggested the committee first consult the BOT and have them determine if a search for a new president would be in the university’s best interests.

“I didn’t expect the opportunity to investigate establishing Lou as our president,” said Bill Davidson, the BOT student representative on the search committee. “As many people in the university were, we were under the impression, based on a lot of talk, of Lou retiring.

“Who knows what’s going to go on? It’s ultimately up to the (BOT) at this point.”

The board will meet early next week for a special-session conference call via telephone. A specific day is not yet confirmed, Hencken said.

Eastern has searched for a full-time president since Carol Surles resigned July 2001. Hencken assumed the position on an interim basis Aug. 1, 2001.

The university conducted a nationwide search that began in fall 2001 and lasted until spring 2002, but the top candidate turned down the offer for another university.

The immediacy of the current potential decision has some faculty wondering if the BOT is acting unilaterally. If the BOT decides a change in leadership is unnecessary, Hencken would be named president with minimal consultation from the 13-member search committee.

Foreign languages professor Luis Clay-Mendez, who represents the Faculty Senate on the search committee, opposes such a quick decision.

“I am very upset,” Clay-Mendez said. “And I hope the board doesn’t unilaterally extend the contract instead of re-establishing the search; that’s what it’s supposed to do.”

The Faculty Senate passed a motion by a 7-5 vote Tuesday to recommend the search committee require a doctoral or terminal educational degree, along with some academic experience for candidates.

Hencken does not have a doctorate degree and, until this year, had never taught a class.

“It’s either got to be now, or you move forward,” Hencken said. “The university itself has to know either we’re going to search for a president or this is your president.”

Hencken says he has two or three good years left

At the BOT meeting Sept. 15, a couple of BOT members asked Hencken if he would consider “staying on.”

“You know me, it’s very rare that I am speechless; I was speechless,” Hencken said. “I didn’t know what to say … so, I said let’s go through the meeting, and after the meeting I said I would at least consider it. And that’s it, I will consider it.”

However, Hencken said if the BOT chooses to begin the search process, which he estimated has already cost the university $100,000, he will not apply.

If the search produces a new president, Hencken said he or she should stay at Eastern for at least five years. Hencken believes if he accepted the position after a search, a negative revolving-door image might occur after he retires. He predicted he has the energy for two or three years of good work.

“To people who follow this, it’s like every two years there’s an ad (for president) coming out of Eastern Illinois University, and what’s wrong with Eastern Illinois University?” Hencken said.

When Appleberry visited campus Sept. 11 he asked Hencken if he would apply for the job. Hencken told him no, but continued interest especially from the BOT members persuaded him to amend his stance.

“My plan was to leave,” Hencken said.

Hencken appointment might bring unrest within faculty

The motion for Eastern’s next president to have a doctorate or terminal degree was an issue of establishing credibility for the Faculty Senate. Clay-Mendez said working in academics provides an immediate understanding of the concerns and experiences of the faculty and the students because “that’s where the trenches are.”

Clay-Mendez, who was also on the unsuccessful 2001 committee, said Hencken’s appointment would prove he was the BOT’s man all along.

“It seemed to me that the board has predetermined to disregard the concept of shared governance and to proceed to appoint the president without going through the normal process,” he said.

The ideal candidate, as described by the Faculty Senate motion, is one who has worked as a faculty member and worked his or her way to administration.

“He’s a great man but he doesn’t have the academic, the scholarly or the degree that attest to pursuing a field to its highest point,” Clay-Mendez said of Hencken. “That’s what we stand for: pursuit, and academic pursuit and scholarship. This is an academic constitution with an academic mission.

“Hencken doesn’t have experience as an academist.”

Hencken said he was accepted to two universities and was ready to pursue his doctorate degree more than 25 years ago but hit a snag when he married his wife, Mary Kay. He stands by his ability to communicate with people in the community, at Eastern and in the state government.

“I don’t have a Ph D., and I won’t have it by this time next month, and I won’t have it at this time next year,” he said.

Clay-Mendez said: “If the board decides to go through and appoint Hencken as president, there’s going to be considerable disagreement and turmoil in the community, and it’s going to be a long time before the Board regains the trust and respect of many of the faculty.”

Betsy Mitchell, chair of the search committee and BOT member, said Appleberry suggested it might be a bad time for a change of leadership because of the budget situation and with the North Central Accreditation process coming in 2005.

BOT President Nate Anderson said next week’s meeting will discuss the search committee’s results.

“My opinion on interim President Hencken and his interim position service has been good,” Anderson said. “We’ll be very favorable, regardless of his credentials. His service serving as interim president has been good.”

Administration editor Tim Martin can be reached at [email protected].