The University of Alaska’s president, James R. Johnsen, announced on Friday that he had withdrawn his candidacy for president of the University of Wisconsin system following growing criticism of his record in Alaska and of Wisconsin’s search, which named him its only finalist.
“After deep reflection as to where I am called to lead a university system through these challenging times, it is clear to me and my family that it is in Alaska,” Johnsen, 62, said in a written statement. He said he appreciated the search committee’s strong support, “but it’s clear they have important process issues to work out.”
The “process” was a monthslong search, led by a committee with no faculty, staff, or student members, that ended up with a single finalist.
Nearly 2,000 people signed a petition circulated by the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s American Association of University Professors chapter that called on the system to scratch the search and start over.
Andrew S. Petersen, president of the University of Wisconsin system’s Board of Regents, called Johnsen “a fine person who conducted himself with professionalism” throughout a search process that ended with his unanimous selection as the best candidate.
“It’s disappointing, a dark day for the UW system,” Petersen said in a written statement. “We will work to identify and get through our immediate financial and operational challenges with the pandemic, then deliberate on the next steps to conduct a new search when there is a better opportunity.”
Johnsen was unavailable for comment on Friday, but a system spokeswoman said he would remain president of the Alaska system and looked forward to working with its regents “to chart a course for the university for the years ahead.”
On Tuesday, Johnsen outlined his priorities for the Wisconsin system in a video call with hundreds of Wisconsin faculty and staff members and others. He said during the call that he understood that many people felt they hadn’t been adequately consulted and that “I think some healing’s got to happen on that front.”
Critics of his selection objected to the makeup of the search committee and the fact that only one finalist was put forward. Some also raised concerns about Johnsen’s leadership in Alaska during a protracted budget crisis brought on by severe state budget cuts, declining enrollments, and Covid-19.
In their criticism, AAUP Wisconsin cited votes of no confidence in Johnsen’s leadership in 2017 by faculty members at both the Anchorage and Fairbanks campuses of the Alaska system.
Kathleen A. Dolan, a professor of political science at Wisconsin’s Milwaukee campus who was among those posing questions to Johnsen on Tuesday, said she was pleased he had withdrawn his candidacy, in part because of the way he’s led Alaska through its budget crisis.
“We know that budget cuts are coming here in Wisconsin, and we want a system president who is advocating for us,” she said in an interview on Friday. She said she and many of her colleagues were concerned that Johnsen wouldn’t allow the chancellors of the system’s 13 universities enough autonomy to deal with their own budget and academic challenges.
The University of Alaska’s accreditor last year warned the system to clarify leadership roles and responsibilities after Johnsen appeared to be pressuring chancellors to back his proposals for budget cuts rather than advocating directly for their campuses.
At the same time, Dolan said, she wishes the regents had listened to faculty and staff members who wanted a seat on the search committee. “Having wasted nine months of many people’s time and efforts is the definition of a failed search,” she said.
The head of the search committee, Michael M. Grebe, told regents last week the other potential finalists did not want to be publicly identified because they worried that doing so would hurt their ability to steer their institutions through the Covid-19 crisis.
He defended the decision to move ahead with a single candidate, saying it would be “disingenuous” to ask any of the semifinalists back when they had already clearly decided who they wanted to put forward. And starting a new search would set the process back by at least six months.
Johnsen will have plenty of challenges on his plate in Alaska. Last week the Board of Regents voted to eliminate about 40 academic programs to cut $25 million as part of an agreement it reached with the state’s Republican governor, Michael J. Dunleavy. It’s also considering consolidating two of its three separately accredited universities — a proposal that has been met with vigorous opposition.
Johnsen’s decision to withdraw from the search was welcomed by the United Faculty and Academic Staff, a labor union representing employees at the university’s flagship, in Madison.
UFAS is affiliated with the union American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin, which also weighed in.
“From the start, this search was fatally flawed by an unprecedented decision to exclude faculty, staff, and students from the committee,” said Jon Shelton, an associate professor of democracy and justice studies at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay.
The Wisconsin State Assembly’s speaker, Robin J. Vos, released a written statement blaming “leftist liberals” for driving Johnsen out. “We can’t let intimidation become the way we choose our campus leaders,” the Republican lawmaker said.
