Readers Write: University of Minnesota presidential selection process, the state of discourse, hunting photos, men and loneliness

The recent editorial endorsing the "lone" finalist scheme concocted by the University of Minnesota Board of Regents for selecting the successor to outgoing President Eric Kaler (himself the product of that same "sole" selection process) clings to the shibboleth that a more transparent arrangement with multiple finalists would deter applications by some quality candidates currently in other high-level academic positions ("Taking stock of U's finalist for top post," Dec. 10).

There is scant evidence to support this oft-repeated myth. To the contrary, experiences in other states and even in Minnesota for other top-tier academic positions or other public-sector jobs reflect that disclosure of names of applicants results in a better, more credible process composed of an ample group of attractive candidates.

Even if it does deter some prospects, there are transcendent reasons for eschewing the lone finalist practice. Sunshine laws are not intended to constitute a job-security vehicle for anxious academics. Their purpose is to maximize widespread scrutiny of the selection process and facilitate input from the public about the strengths and deficiencies, including past behavior patterns, of the candidates, which may not surface in the type of opaque arrangement devised by the U.

This newspaper was at the forefront of the litigation preceding Kaler's selection that resulted in a determination by the state Supreme Court in 2004 that the university's lone finalist format violated those sunshine measures and admonished it not to repeat the ruse.

But the U contemptuously did so in choosing Kaler six years later and, again, last week with the virtually certain selection of his successor, University of South Carolina Provost Joan Gabel.

Rather than extolling the process, the public should be disdainfully uttering the aphorism "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

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It seems incongruous that the Star Tribune Editorial Board is advising the Legislature to "review state statutes to ensure that the law's disclosure requirements don't impede Minnesota's higher education institutions as they compete for top executive talent." A primary purpose of a newspaper is to provide citizens with information about the operation of their public institutions.

The governing statute provides that the names of applicants for public posts are no longer classified as private data in two circumstances: when they are certified as eligible for appointment or when considered by the appointing authority to be finalists (Minnesota Statute 13.43, Subdivision 3).

The regents instructed the search committee to recommend three to four lead candidates for president. At their Sep. 14 meeting, the regents declared that they "are committed to selecting a president who has gone through the application process and has been thoroughly vetted and recommended by the PSAC [the presidential search advisory committee]."

So here the recommendation of the lead candidates is equivalent to certifying the candidates as eligible for appointment. The names of the three lead candidates are no longer private data once the search committee certified them as eligible for appointment.

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Mr. Hewitt,

I agree.

But the "creep of cruelty into our everyday lives" did not begin with television and culminate with David Letterman, "Saturday Night Live" and "The Daily Show."

It began hundreds of years ago with slavery, lynchings and racism. And these days, torture, poisoning peoples' drinking water, demonizing Mexicans, denying poor people medical care, locking up kids in cages — you know, real cruelty.

Satire does not kill people. Your cynical use of rhetoric to distract and spread blame may not kill anyone. But you're not helping.

It is clear in reading a Dec. 10 letter equating hunting pictures to pornography and promoting gun violence that the writer has very little to no experience as an outdoorsman. The young hunters in the photos he laments are not what ails our society. These young hunters are learning proper gun safety and the value of spending time with family and friends in the outdoors. The letter writer is correct in that hunter numbers are decreasing, though perhaps the reduction of young hunters correlates with the increase in gun violence. We need more young hunters in the field learning from their fathers, mothers and adult mentors. Instead of worrying about a picture of a young hunter with a deer and rifle, let's further develop and promote hunter recruitment programs. As a lifelong hunter and father of young hunters, I applaud the Star Tribune for publishing pictures and the stories of young hunters.

Kudos to Gail Rosenblum for her Dec. 8 Inspired section article "Loneliness buster: Men's Sheds give retirees a place to talk, give back, feel valued." Truly inspired, full of hope and goodness, and a very good solution to a social problem. Also remindful of the old Jewish proverb "Loneliness is worse than death."