IOWA CITY, Iowa - A committee searching for the University of Iowa’s next president is holding a virtual meeting next week that'll be open to the public.
The committee has been under pressure to be transparent after 10 meetings last year were largely closed to the public.
A previous secretive search for a president in 2015 led to wide criticism and lawsuits that resulted in a payout from the school.
Next week's virtual meeting will take place Wednesday at 9 a.m. with the open portion of the meeting available at the Board of Regents website.
Current University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld is retiring two years ahead of his contract expiration, but has promised to stay until a replacement is named.
Harreld has had a strained relationship with faculty members and was criticized after thousands of students and staff were sickened from a COVID-19 outbreak on campus.
Faculty members were concerned when the former IBM executive was appointed to lead the school in 2015.
More recently, some students, faculty and staff members staged a sick-out in protest of the university’s reopening and demanded that in-person classes be canceled during the pandemic. Iowa City became a COVID-19 hot spot shortly afterward.
The Iowa Board of Regents plan to have a replacement for Harreld named by April 30.