Name    : 
E-Mail  : 
Subject : 

Comments:
:  Politics slows Ramapo job search
: Codey pushes longtime ally Doria for the presidency
: Friday, December 03, 2004
: BY KELLY HEYBOER AND JOSH MARGOLIN
: Star-Ledger Staff

: The first of five semi-finalists for Ramapo College's vacant president's post arrived on campus for an interview yesterday as acting Gov. Richard Codey continued to push for a dark horse candidate -- state Sen. Joseph Doria -- to get the job.

: Doria (D-Hudson) was one of 90 candidates who applied to be president of the state college in Mahwah. The political veteran was interviewed by the search committee, but failed to make the list of semi-finalists released last week.
:  Advertisement
: 	

: 
: 	 

: Codey, who personally called the head of the Ramapo board last month to lobby for Doria, said he still believes his longtime political ally is the best man for the job.

: "Do I think he would make an excellent president of Ramapo? Yes. I do. Absolutely, positively, unequivocally," Codey said in an interview yesterday.

: Codey declined to comment on efforts on and off campus to derail Ramapo's search. Tuesday night, the college's board of trustees spent several hours debating whether to suspend the search.

: The effort, led by several new members of the board appointed by former Gov. James E. McGreevey, fell one vote short and the board ruled the search would continue. But the issue sharply divided the 12-member board, pitting veteran board members against new appointees who wanted to delay the search process.

: Bergen County Counsel Esther Suarez, one of the new Democratic appointees on the board, argued the search was rushed and improperly conducted. Other board members said if the college delayed the search now they would risk losing the semi-finalists to other colleges.

: One of the six semi-finalists for the job has already dropped out, college officials said. The female candidate, who was not identified, withdrew after hearing news reports that Codey and other Democratic politicians were pushing for Doria to get the job.

: At the board meeting, Alice Chandler, the consultant hired to run the search, warned that the process had been tainted by politics.

: "I have been told of political interference at the highest level," said Chandler, former president of the State University of New York at New Paltz and a former interim president at Ramapo. "The atmosphere that surrounds this search is very difficult."

: The five remaining semi-finalists are scheduled to each spend two days on campus this month for private and public interviews. The first, New York Institute of Technology Provost Alexandra Woods Logue, spent yesterday meeting with campus groups.

: Ramapo spokeswoman Bonnie Franklin said Logue's interviews were continuing, as scheduled. Logue will appear at a public question-and-answer forum at 1:30 p.m. today on campus.

: Over the next few weeks, she will be followed by the remaining semi-finalists: Paul Keys, provost and vice president for academic affairs and student affairs at Governors State University in Illinois; Peter Philip Mercer, former dean of the law school and vice president for administration at the University of Western Ontario; Daniel Nelson, a dean at the University of New Haven; and Judith Ramaley, former president of Portland State University and the University of Vermont.

: Meanwhile, Doria's supporters continued to push privately for his candidacy, arguing the former Assembly speaker (current state senator and Bayonne mayor) is well connected and could make a powerful fund-raiser and leader for the college.

: Doria did not return calls yesterday.

: Doria, former chairman of the Assembly's education committee, holds a bachelor's degree from Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, where he has also taught and worked as an administrator. He also holds a master's in American studies from Boston College and a doctorate in education from Columbia University's Teachers College.

: The Ramapo search committee, which is made up of nearly 20 professors, students and other campus and community members, is scheduled to give the board of trustees its final recommendations Dec. 21. The trustees are expected to meet in January to make their final choice for president.

: The new president will replace Rodney Smith, who left the $195,000-a-year job earlier this year after clashing with the faculty over financial and leadership issues.


Optional Link URL:  
Link Title:         
Optional Image URL: 

 

Hoboken Guide

Featured Link Featured Listing Advertising Program Business name, Web Site Link and a brief description or motto – runs for one month in the Page (or Pages) of your choice. Sales Associates Wanted! GET NJ seeks sales associates to market ads on a commission basis. For more information, e-mail your resume and contact information to sales@getnj.com – Be sure to mention the area of New Jersey and/or the market segment that you plan to serve. GRAVE ROBBER Jersey City Computer Repair 297 Griffith Street, Jersey City, NJ - 201-798-2292 - In the Heights just off of Kennedy Blvd. - Very close to Journal Square and Union City, just five minutes away from Hoboken, Downtown Jersey City, Newport, the Waterfront, Secaucus, North Bergen and Weehawken - Tech support for The Jersey City Mayor's Office during the administration of Bret Schundler - PC repair - Tivos, too!, upgrade, hardware install, software install, data recovery, spyware removal, virus removal, replace hard drive, replace motherboard, copy files from notebooks, backup information from dead laptops Wanted! Used Computers! Used computers bought and sold. Located in Jersey City, NJ - convenient to the Hoboken 2nd Street Light Rail stations and the Journal Square PATH subway station. E-mail graverobber@verizon.net with an itemized list (description) of what you have for sale and the price. Pickup in the New York City Metro area -- minimum 10 units. Secure, guaranteed data removal is available.

For All Sorts of Unique New York City Information, Visit GET NY!