With Charlie Reed on his way out the CSU Board of Trustees has an opportunity to redeem itself.

When Reed was hired it was done entirely in secret. The results of that process were a disaster. Reed was a confrontational leader hired into an organization that revolves around collaboration. His lack of fit would have been obvious, if anyone outside of the Board (most of whom have no higher education experience) had allowed students, faculty, and staff to weigh in. They did not.

Will the Board redeem itself. No.

In an article published today all indications are that the Board will pursue a closed process once again.

Trustee Bob Linscheid, a Chico State graduate and local businessman, called the [expectation of an open process] an “unrealistic expectation.” That’s because the trustees will be seeking highly qualified individuals who have a lot to lose should it become public knowledge that they are candidates, he said.

“We don’t want to jeopardize people’s careers,” said Linscheid, who is the chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Linscheid has tapped Bill Hauck Chair of the Search Committee. A denizen of the business community (where secrecy reigns supreme) and lacking any experience in higher education, Hauck will make exactly the same mistake as the preceding search committee.

Albert Einstein famously defined insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We are witnessing the insanity of the leadership of the CSU in slow motion. Despite the good counsel of faculty, students, staff and others the Board will conduct this search in secret.

The results are predictable. Dear Leader is gone, long live Dear Leader. It does not work in North Korea and it will not work in the CSU.

Secretly hiring a leader for a public institution in the United States is downright un-American (and stupid).