The Montana Board of Regents voted unanimously Thursday to hire Clay Christian for the University System’s top job, after hearing both hearty approval of the man the regents chose and some criticism of the way they went about choosing.
Christian, 46, a Missoula businessman, will take over March 1 as commissioner of higher education. The regents, without comment, approved his two-year contract and $283,300 salary during their meeting, streamed live online from Helena.
Christian was the regents chairman until Dec. 22, when the board suddenly announced that he had resigned and been chosen as the only finalist for the commissioner’s job.
Todd Buchanan, regents vice chairman, took pains to explain the board’s unconventional decision. Buchanan said the consultant hired to conduct a national search heard the kind of qualities Montanans wanted and approached Christian to see if he would be interested, without the awareness of the other regents. When told Christian was interested, the regents decided he had to remove himself from the search committee. At a confidential meeting, they asked him a lot of questions and decided he was the right candidate.
The regents faced a Catch-22, Regent Stephen Barrett of Bozeman said. If they made Christian’s candidacy public, outside candidates probably wouldn’t apply. If the regents kept his candidacy confidential, continued with a national search and flew outside candidates in for interviews, it would be “disingenuous,” Barrett said.
“We acted in good faith,” Buchanan said. Legally, the board could use any process, Buchanan said, adding it was within bounds for people to raise questions.
Jen Gursky, University of Montana student body president, said students felt the regents’ process “failed” to keep students informed and involved. Gursky said she was told in November the search would take months and was assured students could be involved through the student regent.
Yet over winter break, she got an email saying Christian had been chosen. Students are disappointed, Gursky said, that ideals of “shared governance” and participation were not honored.
“That said,” Gursky added, she welcomed Christian as a “strong advocate for access and affordability… I know you are the right candidate.”
Marvin Lansverk, Montana State University Faculty Senate chair, said he was still hearing from professors disappointed by the process.
“National searches are the gold standard in the stage we play on,” Lansverk said.
The faculty criticism was of “the process, not the outcome,” Lansverk said. “Everybody can agree the outcome is a great one.”
Sheila Stearns, who is retiring as commissioner after nine years, said of the eight or nine commissioners hired in the last generation, at least four were hired without a national search.
The regents later voted to elect Angela McLean, a teacher from Anaconda, as the new board chair.
Gail Schontzler can be reached at gails@dailychronicle.com or 582-2633.
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