It's been a tumultuous month for the Michigan State University Board of Trustees. Three new trustees joined, the university president was ousted, an acting president pointed and now Trustee Brianna Scott will take Trustee Joel Ferguson’s spot on the school's Presidential Search Committee.
MSU has been searching for a permanent President since Lou Anna K. Simon resigned over a year ago. The committee to select the long term replacement is made up of students, faculty, and alumni in charge of selecting candidates for the position.
Chairwoman Dianne Byrum said there was consensus amongst trustees that a new trustee should be placed on the committee. “There was a conversation about bringing on one of the newer trustees and in the course of that conversation Trustee Ferguson stepped up and agreed to step aside so that Trustee Scott could join the committee.”
Scott represents part of the change-making faction of new trustees on the board, and said in a statement Tuesday that she hopes to make the presidential search more open.
But, Byrum said the search will still remain confidential. “ I don’t think it will change the course but I do think she has a voice that represents the new blood, the new trustees on the board. And it will be earlier in the process.”
Many board critics and survivor advocates have called for an open presidential search given the school’s volatile past two years.
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