IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Hundreds of protesters have rallied at the University of Iowa campus to argue that the school’s new president shouldn’t have accepted the position.
The Des Moines Register reports that about 100 protesters at the university challenged the qualifications of newly-hired president Bruce Harreld Monday afternoon.
Harreld has taught in the business schools of Harvard University and Northwestern University, but he is the first University of Iowa president who didn’t come directly to the job from an administrative post.
University officials say the seven-month search for a president cost more than $308,000. The bulk of that money was paid to an Atlanta-based consultant group.
Iowa Board of Regents member Subhash Sahai has previously said the board may have mishandled the selection process.
Harreld began as the university’s 21st president Monday.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The University of Iowa’s new president is starting his job, and when he goes home at night, he’ll be able to hang up his coat in a $2,000-a-month town house.
UI President Bruce Harreld starts his position Monday after weeks of protests from faculty and students angered by his limited academic credentials and the process the Board of Regents took in hiring the former IBM executive.
Harreld and his wife, Mary, will live in the town house while the university president’s official residence is being repaired.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports (http://icp-c.com/1Wr6JTb ) an estimated $1.5 million in deferred maintenance and repairs will take most of the academic year on the 13,000-square-foot official residence in Iowa City.
Much of the building is used for public events.
