Medical school arranges private search for new chancellor

Applications for public jobs in Arkansas are subject to open records laws. So are searches conducted by private firms but paid for with public funding. But medical schools are using nonprofit foundations to hire these firms and bypassing the public process. Here's the latest at the University of Arkansas:

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will use a private search firm to help find its next chancellor.

But the University of Arkansas Foundation Inc., not the university, hired the firm to keep applicants’ names private, said B. Alan Sugg, president of the University of Arkansas System.

“The firm will be talking to candidates about the possibility of coming here,” said Sugg, who will serve as chairman of a search advisory committee that includes faculty, health-care executives and corporate leaders.

More here.