Faculty and Black groups at Michigan State University (MSU) are calling for campus stakeholders to be able to interview MSU’s sole presidential candidate, given his role in a number of race-related controversies, The State News reported.
Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz
The call from the MSU faculty senate, Michigan State University Black Alumni (MSUBA) and the MSU Black Faculty, Staff and Administrators Association (BFSAA) are based around Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz’s history of race relations at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and his handling of the tenure application of Nikole Hannah-Jones, a Pulitzer Prize winning Black journalist.
Guskiewicz, chancellor of UNC Chapel Hill, has said he is deliberating on whether to accept the presidency.
"Given the concerns being raised publicly about the candidate, we are requesting an opportunity for stakeholders' groups to ask questions of this candidate, including MSUBA and BFSAA, and give feedback before the final selection and decision is made," MSUBA President La Verne Wilson said in an email to MSU trustees.
The interview would be open to all MSU representatives. Guskiewicz refused the faculty senate’s earlier meeting request, with presidential search firm Isaacson Miller citing scheduling conflicts.
Firm chair John Isaacson said Guskiewicz was committed to "engaging not just the faculty but every constituency" eventually, but likely not this week during deliberations over the role.
