The university announced that on Nov. 19, the Board of Trustees voted to postpone the planned comprehensive review of President Ed Seidel until next year, “as a result of highly unusual conditions related to the COVID-10 pandemic.”
“The pandemic and related financial and other challenges created a situation in which it just wasn’t possible for the president to move forward with his agenda as he would have liked and for the board to assess his work in a comprehensive manner,” UW Board of Trustees Chair Jeff Marsh said in a statement. “This delay will give the board time to fulfill its contractual obligation and conduct a proper, thorough review with input from various stakeholders.”
Comprehensive institutional reviews are a staple of higher education programs and are generally conducted in a department-by-department basis. In this case, the review is not of a certain academic department or a program, but rather of Seidel and his performance thus far as president of the university.
Seidel’s tenure as president was initially set for three years on a contract that began on Jul. 1 of 2020. The contract stipulated that Seidel would be subject to a comprehensive review near the end of the 2021 calendar year.
The Trustees voted on Thursday, Nov. 18 to amend the stipulation of the contract and push the review to the summer of 2022.
Seidel has currently not released any statements regarding the extension. The Branding Iron reached out to Seidel’s office for comment, but was not able to connect for an interview.
The delayed comprehensive review comes on the heels of major decisions in the university including the academic reorganization, the shift between online and in-person schooling, and a fluctuating state economy.
While the Trustees have not shared any other public comment regarding the decision to postpone the delay, the choice to push the date of the assessment out to the next summer semester gives Seidel the opportunity to make more changes ahead of the assessment.
Expected changes to come from the university include further progress on the academic reorganization, a presentation of the School of Computing proposal to the Board in January, and potentially bringing the university back to full pre-pandemic operations.
Amongst the amendments to the contract, a provision has been made that calls for the Board of Trustees to gather and review feedback from multiple on campus groups ahead of the summer review.
According to the statement released by the university, the Trustees will seek feedback from faculty, staff, students, and stakeholders. The method of gathering this feedback has not yet been determined or released.
According to the statement, “A process to obtain such input is in development.”
The review is slated to be critical in the Trustee’s consideration on extending Seidel’s contract or offering him a new one for the presidential position. Such reviews have been conducted before and are standard in the process of electing, removing, re-hiring, or any other action taken on presidential candidates or incumbents.
Faculty, staff, and student feedback are expected to play a considerable role in the review process, however the standards of assessment or the methods that will be used to assess Seidel have not been shared by the Trustees or the university.
The Board of Trustees next meeting will be on Dec. 15 at which point they will have the chance to cement their decision regarding the review delay or reverse it.
Barring any reversals, the comprehensive review of Seidel will take place in summer of 2022 with the feedback collection process likely taking place before it during the spring of 2021 or alongside it.
