It is well known that the university is in the process of finding a new president to replace Pres. Buchannan, but the drama has shown no sign of slowing down. The presidential search committee does not plan on releasing the names of the candidates to the media or the public and so the debate continues.
About two weeks ago, Judge Donnell ruled on the side of the media outlets suing the university, saying that UW has to release the names. As of Monday afternoon both the Wyoming house and senate passed HB 223 saying that the names do not have to be released. Now, depending on how much the media pushes back, the names could remain secret. The staff senate, Wyoming public and the university students will have no say over who will lead one of the most powerful institutions in the state, or even know who the next president will be until they take office.
By passing HB 223 the state legislature ignores a fundamental Wyoming value of not allowing the government to dictate what people can and cannot do.
Wyomingites regularly vote against government mandates on health care and limiting firearms, but by passing a bill that allows the names of the presidential candidates to remain secret, the people of Wyoming, and most of all the students of the University of Wyoming, will have no say in who will lead the lone four year university.
The public has a right to know who will be the next president. It was disappointing that both same sex marriage and civil unions failed to pass, laws that would increase personal freedom, but it is surprising to see the state legislator pass a bill to over rule Judge Donnell’s ruling.
The university president will have more power than most students realize. This is an issue that affects the entire Wyoming community, not just who gets a designated parking space outside of Old Main. It is important to have transparency and credibility in the process.
In finding the last University president in 2005, the names of the candidates were released and all the other candidates dropped out except Buchannan. It would seem that the search committee is trying to avoid another public uproar, but instead it is creating more. There are rumors floating around campus that former Gov. Freudenthal is one of the candidates and without releasing the names he could be among a list of candidates that includes Sarah Palin, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and anyone else.
It is expected that Gov. Mead will sign the bill into law and from there we can only hope that the case reaches the Wyoming Supreme Court before the University of Wyoming has a new president and the people of Wyoming are kept out of the decision making process.
For a state that values individual freedom and limited government interference it is disappointing that the freedom of the press that Judge Donnell upheld was overthrown. If you are outraged by the Wyoming legislator’s decision, please let your representatives know what you think.
