Presidential Search Committee to Finalize Nominations Within Weeks
Selection Process to be Maintained Under New Board Leadership

by Yehoshua Levine

After four months of careful deliberation and interviewing, the Search Committee for University President Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm’s successor has narrowed its nomination list to three finalists whose names will be submitted to the Executive Council of the Board of Trustees no later than mid October. Blaming the long search on overemphasis on one candidate and tremendously high job expectations for the would-be President, members of the Committee remain optimistic that the 16-month process will soon come to an end.

Search Process Continues

According to Search Committee Chairman Michael Jesselson, the consideration of Dov Zakheim for the position led to the lull in the search process earlier this year. “We spent a lot of time identifying this one candidate,” he revealed. “After that didn’t work out, we continued the search.” And this reinvigorated search, in fact, “has consisted mostly of the original possibilities,” added Yeshiva Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Morton Lowengrub, Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee, which was created to draft qualifications for Rabbi Lamm’s successor.

Both Jesselson and Lowengrub stressed that their committees have been consulting the same criteria laid out in the qualifications document drafted by the Advisory Committee last year. The document defines the job as “the dual position of the President of the University, and Rosh HaYeshiva of the affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary,” requiring the candidate to combine Torah erudition with academic scholarship and a strong familiarity with the inner workings of the University. “We knew that [Committee nominee Dov] Zakheim didn’t meet all the criteria, but we had thought that his scholarship would compensate,” Lowengrub explained. “Ideally, though, we’re planning to abide by what [is spelled out] in the document.”

The difficulty of finding such a person is yet another reason that the search process is still going on. “There’s always something,” Jesselson said. “New names come to the surface, but they turn us down or we find something we don’t like. There are pluses and minuses to everybody.”

Jesselson noted that his committee – comprised of its original members – has met “numerous times” since April and has used the same firm as last year, Korn/Ferry, to aid in the search process. “Our search firm has been retained throughout the process,” he said. “Ever since we stopped considering [Zakheim], the firm has been providing the same services [that it did a year ago at this time].  They conduct background checks on candidates, contact them for interviews and questions, and provide an overall professional atmosphere … they have enormous experience in [academic searches].”

New Board Leadership

After finalizing its list of names to be considered for the Presidency, the Search Committee will present the names within weeks to the Selection Committee, composed of the Executive Council of the Senior Board of Trustees. It will be up to the Selection Committee to decide how to run the actual selection process and to arrive at one final name. Interestingly, however, concomitant with this shifting of responsibility in the search process, the Board will assume new leadership: Ronald Stanton will replace Robert M. Beren as Chairman on September 18th.

According to Rabbi Lamm, there is “nothing revolutionary” about this change in leadership, as it’s something that routinely occurs usually once every two to three years. “Every once in a while, you need a shakeup,” Rabbi Lamm said. “In every job, you need someone new to take a fresh look at the situation, often from a different perspective.” Rabbi Lamm did note, however, that Stanton will need to deal with a great responsibility. “Mr. Stanton is a very wise man, and he’s going to do a very good job,” he said. “But the question of succession overshadows everything else. I hope that it will be dealt with immediately.”

Those involved in the search agree that the new Board leadership will have only a slight effect on the selection process. According to Jesselson, the selection process “won’t be dramatically different” with Stanton from what it would have been with Beren. Also downplaying this switch in leadership, Lowengrub noted Stanton will not assume his post until September 18th, at which point the ball will have already begun rolling in the selection process.

Some Senior Board members and Yeshiva administrators, however, claim that the juxtaposition of these two events – the Board’s new leadership and the Search Committee’s readiness to present its nominees to the Board – is more than a mere coincidence. “This change in leadership has much more to do with the incumbent President than with his successor,” revealed one Board member. “Although Stanton wasn’t the first choice as Chairman, he’s at least someone with whom the incumbent President has a functional relationship with, something that cannot be said as much of [Beren]. With Stanton heading the selection process, the odds are now much higher that Rabbi Lamm will get the President that he wants.”

In general, Rabbi Lamm is standing firmly beside the request he first made at Chag HaSemicha earlier this year, when he urged that his successor be “one person” who’d be both the President of the University and the Rosh HaYeshiva of RIETS. “People say that [the fact that] we have so few candidates reflects badly on Modern Orthodoxy, but this is not true,” Rabbi Lamm said. “We do have many Talmidei Chachamim and scholars, but we have few leaders. Many leaders go into the Rabbinate, an excellent training ground for leadership. So our strength [Rabbinical training] has hurt us. But this is not a commentary on the so-called failure of Modern Orthodoxy.”

Looking ahead, The Commentator sources have revealed that if the Executive Council proves unable to embrace one name, the Search Committee itself will undergo an overhaul to include representatives of many constituencies throughout the University. “Many people presently on the Search Committee don’t even know how to read a CV,” a Board member explained. “If the search reaches another dead end, Deans, Roshei HaYeshiva, and other personalities more familiar with what the University needs will join the Committee.”

“The question now is how to prioritize the various traits in a leader – to decide which ones are most important for the fourth President of Yeshiva University – because it’s nearly impossible for one person to do it all,” the Board member concluded.

For now, Rabbi Lamm will stay on as President for one more year. “I’d prefer not to stay longer,” he said. “Hopefully a decision will be made to move on, and [it’ll be] better for YU and myself to do so.” After this coming year, as Chancellor, Rabbi Lamm plans on still devoting “most of [his] time” to Yeshiva.