University of Virginia Library

Organizing the Search

The First Meeting of the Special Committee was held on 14 February 1973. The Secretary to the Special Committee, who had been elected as the first order of business, was asked to report on the procedures used by the Special Committee of the Board of Visitors under the chairmanship of Rector Frank Talbott, Jr. in its search for a successor to President Colgate W. Darden, Jr. in 1958 and 1959. We wish to say at the outset that the experience of that Committee was most helpful to us in organizing our work.

The Special Committee then turned to the ways by which the assistance of the faculty, students, alumni, and friends of the University could best be secured in the nominating process. As a result of this meeting, the Rector on 16 February 1973 wrote to the Chairman of the University Faculty Senate and the President of the Student Council asking each of those bodies to select a committee to provide assistance in nominating the fifth President of the University. These letters requested the two committees: (1) to prepare a report on the qualifications of a President and on the office of the President, especially as to the needs of the University during the next ten to fifteen years; and (2) to serve as committees to screen and classify the names of individuals which came to the attention of the Special Committee.

On that same date, 16 February 1973, the Rector wrote a letter to the President of the University of Virginia Alumni Association asking the assistance and guidance of this special segment of the University family. Specifically, the President of the Alumni Association was requested to bring the matter to the attention of the Board of Managers of the Association and to publicize in the Alumni News the need for suggestions of individuals for the Presidency. Also, a letter was addressed on that same date to the Chancellor of Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia requesting his assistance and that of his faculty in suggesting nominees.

On 6 March 1973, the Rector wrote to forty-five institutions in the United States holding membership in the Association of American Universities, of which the University of Virginia has been a long-time and active member, asking the Presidents of those institutions to suggest the names of individuals who might be considered for the Presidency. Special requests for nominees were made to the entire faculty of the University of Virginia on two occasions.

While the names of nominees were being forwarded to the office of the Secretary to the Special Committee, the Faculty Senate Committee and the Student Committee met frequently and spent long hours developing reports on the qualifications of a President and the office of the President. The Faculty Senate Committee, previously elected by the University Faculty Senate, organized on 7 March 1973. It was composed of eleven members, three of whom were from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and one member from each of the remaining eight schools of the University. Likewise, on 27 February 1973 the Student Committee, composed of fourteen members, one of whom, the new President of the Student Council to be elected at the April student elections constituted an at-large member on the committee, was selected by the Student Council.

On 16 April 1973 the Special Committee at its Second Meeting consulted separately with the Faculty Senate Committee and the Student Committee. At that time, the Rector summarized the work to be done by each committee and requested that their reports on the qualifications of a President and the office of the President be submitted to the Special Committee not later than 4 May 1973. In addition, he requested that each committee's screening efforts be completed and the results submitted to the Special Committee not later than 1 June 1973.