The state Board of Regents will meet Sunday morning to discuss the four finalists for the University of Iowa presidency. The board will receive the final report on the candidates from the presidential search committee on Saturday.
One of the four candidates looking to become the next U-of-I president says people, facilities and money are the keys to a successful university.
University of South Carolina Provost Mark Becker interviewed on the Iowa City campus Tuesday. Becker says elected officials’ "lack of understanding" of university needs is one of the greatest challenges facing higher education. In addition, Becker says universities must guard their independence when it comes to research. "If we do not get out in front and bring up the solutions ourselves, we don’t know what will happen to us," Becker says. "(University officials) would rather have a say in how we get there and I want to be at the table when it happens rather than finding out what they’re going to do to us."
Becker spoke Tuesday at a public forum on the Iowa City campus.