By Mckenna Morin
Editor-in-Chief
After two years of searching, spending and interviewing, Pacific Lutheran University finally found its new president; the man already doing the job. For many Lutes, the announcement of Allan Belton as the new PLU President came as quite a shock.
With many Lutes asking questions, Belton has some answers. A student forum is planned for 5 p.m. Tuesday, Apr 30 in Anderson University Center CK West.
“Students can come and ask me whatever questions they want. Questions they may have asked to the candidates or any questions they may just want to ask me,” Belton said. “It’s a unique situation.”
Belton was not one of the many candidates brought to the campus community for this position during the search process.
“The search committee was fully transparent with the finalists they brought on to campus. Allan was just not a candidate,” said Board of Regents chairman, Ed Grogan.
This is where the problem lies for most students.
“I think if Belton had been part of the process, I don’t think anyone would have been that upset if he had been chosen. Again, it’s not about him, it’s just that we didn’t know this was a potential outcome and possibility,” PLU junior, Barbara Gilchrist said.
When the previous president announced his resignation in 2017, the PLU Board of Regents announced the nationwide search for the position. It was supposed to take six to nine months to find someone to fill this spot, according to former chair of the Board of Regents, Gary Severson.
This process ended up taking two years.
“My biggest disappointment is really just that we put so much time and energy into this to get a result that could have just been named from the very beginning,” Gilchrist said. “We didn’t even need a search process for this.”
Belton found out he was being considered for this role Mar 11, 2019. He was officially asked to fill the position four days later on Mar 15. The decision was announced to campus 19 days later on Apr 3.
“Members of the search committee actually know more than I do. I wasn’t involved in the process at all,” Belton said. “I am completely aware of the implications, the sense of loss, of all of the struggle of understanding of how does a completely open and transparent process end with a decision that is a surprise to everyone.”
According to Grogan, this decision was a shock to the Board as well.
“It’s not the result we anticipated. But it’s our job to look at what’s best for PLU and we believe we did that,” Grogan said. “As the board went through the process we determined that the person already in the role was doing a tremendous job and we wanted to keep that momentum.”
Lutes also raised concerns about the wasted time and money. The Search Committee was made up of faculty, staff and students who spent the past two years interviewing candidates who were brought to campus, reading resumes and more.
“I think that all the hard work and effort the students put in for the Presidential Search Committee, all of the money that we spent trying to find potential candidates and having them come over here, that all went to waste,” said newly elected ASPLU Vice President Todd Dizon.
According to Belton, there is a sum of money allocated every year for all executive searches such as Deans or Presidents.
“This fiscal year the budget was $100,000. I don’t know how much of it was spent specifically on this search. We spent $42,000 out of that budget for all searches this year, but I would assume the Presidential Search is the biggest piece of that,” Belton said.
Even with that money spent, the search taking over double the time and no candidates being chosen, Grogan said he doesn’t think the search failed.
“It lead us to the conclusion it did. These are the results. It’s a great result for PLU. It was unexpected but will be good for campus,” Grogan said.
The choice was also confusing for some as Belton said multiple times he didn’t want the position. In a Mast interview in 2017 he said, “I want to go back to my role…we are here to help people move forward until we get a new president.”
When the board asked him to prepare for that offer, Belton still had reservations.
“There was a reason I didn’t put my name in the hat. I didn’t want to be president. I don’t want the title. I don’t want the pomp and circumstance. I don’t want to be the face of the institution,” Belton said.
“I am the first to admit this is a big surprise and it doesn’t help us advance our goals of diversity and inclusion on this campus,” he added.
The issue students seem to have with this decision is more about being left in the dark and less with Belton himself.
“People had a lot of faith in this process and I think because of the lack of transparency with this decision it let people down.”
“I think that he is a really wonderful individual and has a lot of skills but that doesn’t change the fact that its disappointing that we didn’t choose one of the candidates we brought out,” newly elected ASPLU President Kennedy Gwin said.
To help with this disappointment, Belton said he plans on being very transparent in his next steps. He has met with multiple student groups on campus already and hopes to continue doing so.
The Collective is one of the groups that has met with Belton many times. They presented a list of questions and demands that Belton said he is answering and responding to within the next week.
“I’m so glad they have agreed to sit down and let’s not make this the end of it… I would rather we actually start working together,” he said.
During his presidency, Belton wants to work with students to connect upper and lower campus with “a figurative and literal bridge.” He also said he wants to replace Foss Hall with a wellness center.
“I do want to make sure this place succeeds. I want PLU to be successful. I was fully aware of the controversy this would create,” Belton said. “PLU is an amazing place, people will express their concerns and turn around and work with you. I wouldn’t choose any other place to be.”
