Professor counters trustees’ statement
The following is the text of a statement issued Wednesday by Solomon Golomb, vice-chairman of the presidential search committee and chairman of its screening com* mi t tee.
Golomb's statements represent his version of the events surrounding a meeting between certain trustee members, Golomb and John LeBIanc, president of the Faculty Senate.
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In discussions among members of the screening committee of the presidential search committee at USC, it was inevitable that one concern would surface; that the office of the executive vice-president at USC is so powerful, and so central to the present organization, as to frighten away some of the strongest potential candidates for the position of president. In fact, it is widely believed on the campus that the reason that the search for a provost, which was identified by President John R. Hubbard as the "highest academic priority at USC," and which continued on for several years, was totally unsuccessful, at a time when other universities seemed to have no unusual difficulty in filling such a position, was that this office was viewed as inimical to the position of the executive vice-president.
y/It had been suggested to members of the search committee by senior members of the USC community that even if a new president were identified and brought to USC, he or she might be destroyed by the sheer magnitude of dismantling the huge bureaucracy centralized in the office of the executive vice-president. I believe it would have been just as irresponsible for the search committee members to ignore these problems as it would have been to go public with them.
In the occasion of the annual trustee conference, held March 30 to April 1, 1979, at Palm Springs, the Hon Leonard Firestone, a trustee member of both the search committee and the screening committee, invited the two faculty members of the search committee who were at the conference (John LeBIanc, president of the Faculty Senate, and myself) to a very private and discreet meeting at his home nearby, to which he also invited two other trustee members of the search committee (Frank King and Montgomery Ross Fisher), and another trustee, Herbert Hazeltine, who was Firestone's house guest and serves as his attorney.
7/Xhe discussion that ensued was held specifically as concerned the mission of the search committee, and not, as
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University officials back Kaprielian
University officials disagreed Wednesday with the opinion that executive vice-president Zohrab Kaprielian’s influence would be detrimental to the university's search for a new president.
Apprehension toward Kaprielian was expressed in a meeting Friday between members of the Board of Trustees and faculty members of the presidential search committee.
John C. LeBIanc, president of the Faculty Senate, Solomon Golomb, a professor of engineering and James McBath, a professor of speech communication, met with trustees Leonard Firestone, Montgomery Ross Fisher, Herbert Hazeltine and Frank King.
The meeting focused on Kaprielian's influence throughout the university and its potential effect on
the selection of a successor to President John Hubbard.
Several members of the presidential search committee would not comment on the incident and said they thought the matter should not be made public, due to the nature of the committee's efforts.
Frances Feldman, a professor of social work and former president of the Faculty Senate, met with Kaprielian after Wednesday's trustee meeting. She said she didn't think the feelings expressed by the three professors reflect a university-wide faculty opinion.
Feldman said she didn't know the faculty members' motives for the meeting with the members of the Board of Trustees but said, "it does seem to me
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DT pftoto by Martha Traagar
RESOLUTION—President John Hubbard issues statement regarding a Board of Trustees vote of confidence for the administration. The vote was prompted by dissension among trustee and faculty members over present university governance and its possible effect on the presidential search.
Trustees vote to support administration
Doubts remain concerning ■ 1^^ ■ effective presidential search I JJPJf Ji
By Carole Long
Assistant Gty Editor
Controversy surrounding Zohrab Kaprielian's role in the university may not be resolved, although the Board of Trustees passed a resolution Wednesday to give him and other administrators "their vote of confidence."
The controversy came to light after a private meeting between trustees and faculty members on the presidential search committee Friday.
In the past decade, Kaprielian's position and power as executive vice-president has concerned both trustees and faculty members.
"Kaprielian is the man that has to say no. We operate with very limited resources and his budget decisions can't please everyone," said President John R. Hubbard.
Solomon Golomb, vice-chairman of the presidential search committee, said Kaprielian, "who is respected by many and feared by many, is definitely not in the business of being popular; that the acquiring, centralizing and exercising of power associated with his office is not calculated to win conventional popularity contests."
Members of the presidential search committee shared this concern over Kaprielian's influence in the university, believing that he might have some impact on the presidential search.
John LeBIanc, Golomb and James McBath, three faculty members of the search committee, during the course of their discussions about the search, expressed to Leonard Firestone, vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees last week, their belief that Kaprielian's continued presence in a significant administrative position would have a negative effect on the search process.
Firestone felt that this opinion should be expressed to a larger audience. He invited two trustees on the search committee, Montgomery Ross Fisher and Frank King, and his houseguest, Herbert Hazeltine, also a trustee, to hear Golomb and LeBIanc, who also served on the search committee and were privy to the concerns.
After hearing the concerns the group decided to transmit the information to Hubbard.
King and Firestone were to make an appointment with Hubbard to tell him what had been discussed. A meeting was set for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, after the scheduled Board of Trustees meeting.
In the interim, the confidentiality of the Friday afternoon meeting was breached and the discussion held became a matter of campus-wide knowledge. Firestone said in a statement delivered by Hubbard to the Board of Trustees.
Hazeltine reportedly called Dorothy Nelson, dean of the Law Center, on Monday and asked for her opinion on Kaprielian's role in the university.
Fisher asked Gordon Marshall, the board's secretary, his opinion of Kaprielian's position on campus, and Marshall in tum called Joseph Van Der Meulen, vice-president of health affairs, and Nelson.
'They were supposed to come to me first and discuss the matter, but it didn't work out that way," Hubbard said.
McBath, who did not attend the Rancho Mirage meeting, said he only had one discussion with Firestone and Golomb on Kaprielian's influence at the university.
"The three of us had interviewed an executive consulting organization Tuesday on possibly providing their services to the search committee and afterward had compared notes.
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University of Southern California Volume LXXVI, Number 39	Thursday, April 5, 1979
DT jhoto by Manila Traagar
POST-GAME SHOW—Zohrab Kaprielian, executive vice-president, (right) and J. Robert Fluor, chairman of the Board of Trustees, (center) discuss the vote of confidence they received from the trustees with Robert Benedict, the liaison between Fluor and the university.