Earlier this month the search committee announced Johnsen had emerged as the only finalist. The other would-be finalists all withdrew from the running out of concern about being publicly named as a finalist during the coronavirus pandemic.
That announcement drew immediate criticism from faculty, staff and students who complained that they had no representatives on the search committee. They also pointed out Johnsen had received two no-confidence votes from Alaska faculty in 2017 and 2019 over proposals to consolidate programs and combine the three-university Alaska system into a single accredited institution to absorb budget cuts.
Hundreds of UW alumni, students, faculty and staff signed a petition demanding regents resume the search. Associated Students of Madison, the student governance group at UW-Madison, the system’s flagship school, said in a statement that it doesn’t support Johnsen.
But Regent Michael Grebe, chairman of the search committee, said a re-start could cost UW six months and Johnsen was the committee’s top pick anyway. The committee had been set to meet Friday afternoon to make a recommendation to regents to hire him.
UW Board of Regents President Andrew Petersen, who served on the search committee, noted Johnsen was the panel’s unanimous choice as the best candidate. He called Johnsen’s decision “disappointing, a dark day for the UW System.”
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