Open up chancellor selection

Holden Thorp's selection as chancellor at UNC-Chapel Hill provides more evidence of why searches for the top jobs at UNC campuses should be open.

Thorp, 43, is a Fayetteville native who did his undergraduate work at Chapel Hill and returned there to teach in 1993. He has been dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for the past year.

"I'm so grateful for the opportunity to lead the best university in the world," he said when his new job was announced.

If the search committee had required him to run across campus in only his underwear, surely he would have done so. "I don't know about that," Thorp said last week, "but I wanted the job."

The committee conducted a private search and recommended candidates to Erskine Bowles, UNC system president.

Bowles chose Thorp, offering him the job as Bowles pumped gas at an Exxon in Greensboro as they traveled back from a meeting. (That prompted this great quote: "It's a good thing I didn't run in to get some Nabs," Thorp said.)

Thorp said he would have applied if the search committee had released the names of the finalists. In some searches, finalists appear on campus to answer questions from students and faculty.

But he said he's not sure he would have done so if he had been applying for the top job at another university: "That would have created a lot of problems for me back home at the college."

Those who run searches often fear that some good candidates won't apply if their names are made public. It's a legitimate concern, although overstated.

Being a finalist to run a top-notch organization and not getting the job doesn't hurt a career; it can help it, as long as the move would have been a clear step up.

That some candidates might not apply for a job needs to be balanced against the many benefits of having a search in which the finalists are named publicly.

Robert Fox, president of New Dominion Bank in Charlotte, led the search in 2004 for a new chancellor at Appalachian State. Fox said he was advised by a consultant and then-UNC system President Molly Broad to conduct a private search. They feared good candidates would not apply if he named finalists, Fox said.

But Fox gauged his risks and rewards. He knew the faculty wanted to be part of the process. "As a businessman assessing risk, I thought the lesser risk was to have the faculty on board instead of against you," he said last week.

His committee named six finalists who visited the campus and met with students, professors and residents. His committee recommended three candidates.

No candidate dropped out of the process when informed that names would be made public. Broad chose Kenneth Peacock, who has been a successful chancellor.

When hiring at the highest levels, you can't afford to make a mistake. A public process helps avoid mistakes. The candidates' strengths are highlighted and weaknesses are exposed.

"It was kind of a further background check," Fox said. "I assure you there's no way [a private firm] could have done the kind of job a group of faculty and staff members could do in having colleagues all over the country."

"There's always something," Gov. Willie Stark said in "All the King's Men," and he was right. You want to know that something before making a decision, not when it's too late.

Littleton was first

In this column two weeks ago, I credited The Carolina Journal with leading the way on the story that led to the imprisonment of former U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance. Actually, The Littleton Observer was first on that story.