The presidential finalists:

A statement made by the UI in a separate story:

The UI gave the statement above to the Associated Press earlier this week regarding a separate issue. The search for a new UI president, conducted by consulting firm Parker Executive Search, produced these four candidates. On Thursday, one of these four white, middle-age men will become the next UI president. In and of itself, there’s nothing wrong with that. Their qualifications are not in doubt, and we look forward to the successes the next president will bring. But, for a university that claims to be dedicated to cultivating diversity, it seems to be lacking that virtue in the search for its leader. Was diversity really a “commitment” in this process? Or is this ethos lost when the search is outsourced? It is a question we are posing for the UI and the state Board of Regents.

the DI Opinions section