LARAMIE, Wyo (AP) – A decision by the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees not to renew the contract of a former university president could have been handled better, but school officials have a satisfactory plan to hire her replacement, Gov. Mark Gordon said.
“I understand the frustration,” Gordon told the Casper Star-Tribune when asked recently about the lack of transparency surrounding the decision not to renew Laurie Nichols' contract.
“I’m not trying to gloss over that,” Gordon added. "But what I do think is important is that we have really an opportunity for the university to move forward from this moment.”
The board announced in March that Nichols' contract would be allowed to run out on July 1. Board and university officials have not said why the contract was not renewed and have not fulfilled newspaper records requests that might shed light on what happened.
When Nichols began the job in 2013, she was the university's fourth president in three years. She is now the interim president of Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota.
Nicholas has maintained nobody has told her why her contract wasn't renewed.
Gordon is a nonvoting member of the Board of Trustees. In September, Gordon publicly released a letter calling on the board to conduct a “thorough and transparent” search for a new president and resist the temptation to hire a ”familiar face" for the job.
The departure of Nichols and President Robert Sternberg's resignation after just five months in the job in 2013 left UW with “black eyes,” Gordon wrote.
He wrote the letter to make sure the board knew he wanted a transparent search that didn't involve a “fix” for a certain candidate, Gordon told the Star-Tribune.
“Anybody landing in that office with that kind of baggage is going to be compromised right from the start,” Gordon said.
Neil Theobald is interim president and a candidate for.the permanent position. Board members expect to make a hire in March.
