The John Carroll University Board of Directors voted this past May to renew the Rev. Robert Niehoff’s contract as president of the University. Each term is five years so he has been renewed through 2015. In order to determine whether or not to offer a contract renewal, the Board of Directors brings in a third-party consulting firm for higher education. This firm conducts evaluations on the president’s performance and interviews members of the Board of Directors and faculty. However, students were not given a significant voice in the interviewing process to weigh in on the performance of the president.
Laurie Frantz, assistant to the president and secretary to the Board of Directors, said the only students eligible to be consulted are those that sit on the Board of Directors committees because they work more closely with the president than other students. The problem in that method is that fewer than one percent of the student body sits on these committees, practically eliminating the voice of the student body from the discussion.
As a university, the focus should be on those paying the tuition and earning the degrees. Making a decision as important as this should not be done without consulting students as well as members of the faculty and Board of Directors. Jonathan Smith, vice president and executive assistant to the president, said that the interviews were done with “those with a long-term view of the University” because they are capable of putting the Rev. Niehoff’s job performance in the proper context. While it is true that the majority of students are not at JCU for more than four years, it should not discount the opinion of the student body, especially in a decision of this magnitude.
The Student Union president does serve as a representative of the student body, but next time this kind of decision needs to be made, it would behoove the University to take a larger sample of the opinion of the student body into account. After all, the students are the ones who pay the tuition that keeps the school operating.
