As the media have announced that Michael Young is the new President of the UW, the UW AAUP expresses welcome and concern about the process.
Dear Colleagues,
The Board of Regents still has not announced who will be the new President of UW, but with the Seattle Times running front-page stories on Michael Young as the new President, it is perhaps not too soon to offer a few comments from AAUP-UW.
First, AAUP-UW contends that this search should not have been conducted in secrecy. UW is a public institution and should be committed to a public process. The final few candidates should have been invited to campus to meet with members of the University community, as has been the case with 
candidates for other important positions within the university, such as the Provost. If indeed the Board of Regents announces tomorrow that Michael Young of the University of Utah will be our new president, this calls into question both the necessity and the possibility of secrecy in such a search: Young’s candidacy for the position has been public knowledge for months, since it was first reported by a Salt Lake City news source. The publicity does not seem to have dissuaded Mr. Young from remaining a candidate, nor to have damaged the good opinion of him held by many people in Utah.
If Michael Young is named as the new President, AAUP-UW welcomes the strong scholarly background and international profile that he brings to the position. We are also pleased to note that Mr. Young comes to UW with a strong record of positive working relations with elected faculty representatives at his previous institution, the University of Utah. When his name first surfaced in connection with the UW Presidential search, some months ago, AAUP-UW’s leadership inquired with AAUP members on faculty at the University of Utah (many of whom have also held leadership positions in the Academic Senate there), seeking information regarding his record with regard to faculty issues and shared governance. We received in response many positive testimonials from faculty who praised him for his willingness and ability to work closely with faculty representatives, and for his deft handling of several difficult issues that have arisen during his tenure there.
While UU faculty with whom we have spoken have had many positive things to say about Mr. Young’s qualities and commitments as an individual, his generally positive working relationship with faculty there also reflects an important *structural* difference, in that the University of Utah has a stronger faculty governance system than UW. Our UU colleagues explain that:
- – the administration *cannot* present anything to the Board of Regents without first securing the approval of their Academic Senate
- – the Senate President goes to all the President’s Cabinet meetings as a voting member, and attends all Deans’ Council meetings as well as various leadership groups (like Associate VPs meetings)
- – their system for adjudication of grievances is (in the words of one UU colleague), “elegant” and effective
We hope and expect that a new President who comes to UW with such a previous experience will welcome the opportunity to repair the damage done to shared governance during the final year of Mark Emmert’s tenure, and work with elected faculty representatives to strengthen the system of shared governance at this institution.
Our investigation cannot substitute for an open process, but AAUP-UW has sought to do due diligence (within the limits imposed by the secret search) with regard to assessing this candidate’s record with regard to issues of special concern to faculty. The results of these inquiries have been mostly quite heartening. Should Michael Young be named the new President of UW, we welcome him, and look forward to working with him.
Janelle Taylor,
President, AAUP-UW
A Mormon friend and neighbor asked me to comment on why some faculty have concerns about Michael Young.
Here is my response and my comment abput the AAUP letter:
Dear Neighbor
The PI comment is correct but it is not necessarily about my concerns. I was asked to comment on how the faculty feels.
My own feelings look like this:
1. The comments were not particualy about Young but about the search process. You might lok at the letter form Janelle Taylof of the AAUP to get an idea of the wide spread concerns about the process.
I shared those concern that the Regents would not find a President committed to excellence without drawing on the expertise of the UW’s own prestigious faculty. My concerns were not assuaged by n the current board of regents that is chared by an activist who supported the creation of UW Tacoma.
Nonetheless, I am very happy that the Regents found a scholar. This is the first time since Gerberding that we will have a President with real academic prestige.
Young is a lawyer with impressive credentials in academic law. He also promoted entrepreneurial growth at the University of Utah. These are good things. However, during his regime, the Utah legislature cut funding for the humanities. I will be very interested in heating abut Young’s commitment t5o the humanities.
A great university needs to be a great cultural institution.
2. Like the AAUP worry about the process.
I understand the need for secrecy in the search process and hope that the Committee did avail itself, quietly, of the advice it could have gotten from a selection of faculty.
3. I am also a bit concerned about Young’s new salary.
His current UU salary is too high but that is a wide spread problem in people doing Young’s job. As UW President, Dr. Young could make a great start by NOT taking the sort of salary Emmert earned or even by taking a cut.
4. Given the far right, corporatist nature of today’s GOP, I am intrigued by Young’s to the Republican Party.
Young’s connections to the current of GOP clan and even some of its local members , will create questions it ……… unless he turns out to be one of those Republicans who is willing to go along with the crazy majority of today’s party.
Given Young’s previous record I hope that is not true. Seattle is not Salt Lake City and a rational Republican here might actually do a lot of good!
5. Aside from any religious issue, Young’s ties to the Mormon community could be an issue. The Mormon community in SLC has been very supportive of Robert Mendenhall and his Western Governors University.
There is wide spread concern by faculty that legislators and the corporate world see WGU as a free cure for the escalating costs of higher ed.
6. Finally, doubt that Young’s religion this will ever be an issue for the faculty.
I suspect the only way this could be a problem is if he were to get caught in the local equivalent of the California Prop 8. He is too smart to do that but I can imagine a gay activist making it an issue. On the other hand, his support for religious freedom and the ACLU would play very well here.