YSU trustees hear from alumni group opposed to closed-door presidential search process
An Youngstown State alumnus and two students met Wednesday morning with the school’s Board of Trustees’ Governance Committee to discuss an alumni group’s concerns with the school’s selection process of U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson.
Jacob Schriner-Briggs, who represented the alumni group, said the trustees repeated the same reasoning about why they believed their choice of Johnson was a good one.
The YSU graduate and Press Clause Fellow at Yale Law School drove seven hours from Connecticut to address the board.
“We were given the same reasons that they gave every time,” Schriner-Briggs said, saying they repeated the reasoning that an open process wouldn’t attract as good of candidates. “There are lots of evidence to suggest that wasn’t true. Our point was we should have been able to talk to him beforehand.
“It was good that a few constituents were able to speak in front of the trustees, but it wasn’t a broad replacement for the broader community involvement,” he added.
The group said in an email to the more than 2300 people who endorsed the November 18 alumni letter that objected to the board’s closed door search, that the group was allowed to have one member address the board Wednesday morning.
The group said they are concerned with the lack of transparency shown during the selection process, while the board said the search, run by WittKieffer, said a closed search would attract higher quality candidates and 600 campus members were part of the search.
“YSU-OEA, as professors and mentors to our students and alumni, are proud of our YSU graduates, who continue to push back against the secretive process that led to this divisive appointment,” Mark Vopat, YSU-OEA faculty union president, said in a press release. “The fallout from this process and appointment has been swift and overwhelming and we hope that our alumni are heard and that the board changes course to mitigate the damage caused.”
Who will address the YSU board?
Jacob Schriner-Briggs, a YSU graduate and Press Clause Fellow at Yale Law School, is driving from Connecticut to address the board.
The board will hold a full session Thursday morning at Tod Hall.
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This story was originally published December 6, 2023 at 7:58 AM.
