Last week, the UND Presidential Search Committee narrowed the field of candidates applying to be the next president of UND down to seven semifinalists. The next stage in the process is for them to come to UND to meet with not only the search committee, but other members of the UND community as well.

This will be a crucial part of the process, and is ultimately the last step before a handful of the applicants are recommended to the State Board of Higher Education.

While there has been input to the search committee from various parts of the campus community throughout the search process, this will be the first time that constituencies outside of the committee will have direct contact with the candidates vying to become president of the university.

It will truly be a time when the entire UND community has a chance to examine and weigh in on the candidates. A process with at much at stake as the selection of UND’s next president, it’s essential that people from a variety of different parts of campus have their voices heard.

These visits to campus will be a pivotal part of determining who is the next president, and rightfully so. How a president handles themselves when interacting with different stakeholders in UND and Grand Forks, in both professional and relatively casual settings, will potentially reveal a lot about how they would conduct themself as president.

A successful president will have to be able to gracefully navigate and address the concerns of people around campus that have different perspectives and roles at the university, including students, faculty, staff and the surrounding Grand Forks community. When considering who should be the next president, the ability to do this well should be considered an essential quality.

Throughout the process, candidates have been judged by their resumes, past accomplishes and, for a select view, their interviews in front of the search committee. When they come to campus, it will give a glimpse into how they conduct themselves within a university setting.

As students, some of us will be at UND with the new president longer than others, but we all should be concerned with how candidates have interacted with students in the past, as well as how we think they will in the future. This is obviously not an easy thing to determine, but as current students and future alumni, we should be committed to assisting in selecting a president will successfully lead the university for years to come.

The Presidential Search Committee rightfully will place a high priority on these visits to decide who gets selected to go before the SBHE.  When it does make this decision, it should keep in mind the feedback they receive from all parts of UND, including the student body.