Monday, December 4 marked the start of a month long series of public forums in which the Board of Regents collect opinion from faculty, students, staff, alumni and the public regarding choosing Duderstadt's successor. The forums will be held at various locations throughout the state, including Grand Rapids, Metropolitan Detroit, and the U-M Dearborn and Flint facilities. Two forums on the Ann Arbor campus occurred on the 4th: the first, for faculty and deans, was held from 2:30 to 4:30 at Rackham Hall, and the second, for students only, was from 6 to 8:00pm at the Michigan Union Kuenzel Room. The student forum is cochaired by MSA President Flint Wainess and Maureen Hartford, U-M vice-president for student affairs.
The Board of Regents have given responsibilities to Provost J. Bernard Machen, Vice President Walter Harrison, and Secretary Roberta Palmer that go beyond arranging for the public forums. According to the Regents' statement, these tasks include: "envisioning the University's needs over the next decade, defining the qualities the next president must have, and advising us on the best process fro conducting a search."
The review process will no doubt involve an examination of candidates' character, a task which the Board says they will "approach...with the unified resolve to find the best person for the most important leadership role, a person in the tradition most recently defined by Harlan Hatcher, Robben Fleming, Harold Shapiro, and James Duderstadt".
As well encouraging people to attend the public forums, the Regents welcome input and guidance via letter, fax and electronic mail. While "clarity and community" are two important principles held by the Regents, they nonetheless still hold "the ultimate authority to select the president."