Zinser Gets Rave Reviews At West Virginia Just How Much Faculty Know About The Embattled UI President’s Hometown Woes Is Unclear

While University of Idaho President Elisabeth Zinser is the subject of a petition drive to take away her job, she is receiving rave reviews at West Virginia University, where she is one of three - make that two - finalists for president.

Just how much West Virginia faculty know about the embattled president’s hometown woes is unclear.

Members of the search committee were impressed with Zinser’s quick command of local issues, as well as her aggressiveness and track record, said Janis-Rozena Peri, president of the faculty senate and a search committee member.

“She knew more about WVU than many of the faculty did,” Peri said Monday. “That was most impressive.”

“She’s a quick study and her brain really works,” said Eugene Bammel, another search committee member. “My formula is if the average person plays a game of solitaire in 14 minutes, Elisabeth plays in seven.”

“She seemed very honest, very sincere - all the things you would like in a president,” said Paul Martinelli, yet another search committee member and member of the board of trustees, which is scheduled to make a decision June 1.

Zinser last week was named as one of three finalists to replace Neil Bucklew, who resigns July 1. One of the finalists, Clemson University’s G. Jay Gogue, withdrew his name Monday, leaving only Zinser and David C. Hardesty Jr., a Charleston, W.Va., attorney.

In a meeting with about 50 faculty members Thursday, the selection committee backed off on choosing a favorite nominee. But if pressed, said Martinelli, “I liked Dr. Zinser better than any of the other candidates.”

Like other search committee members, Martinelli was taken by how positive and well prepared Zinser was during her visit. She was well-versed in a recent bill that will tighten the university’s finances, yet took the time to speak with custodians planting flowers outside the university medical center.

But for all Martinelli saw of Zinser as he escorted her around campus, he said he did not know she was the subject of a petition drive not to renew her contract when it expires at the end of June.

“I had not heard that at all,” he said. “That was something that did not surface Thursday.”

The petition drive, which supporters say is near their goal of 1,000 signatures, claims Zinser is unresponsive, a poor communicator and has “repeatedly equivocated on issues of university development, academics and athletics.”

Joe Simoni, a WVU sociologist and member of the faculty senate, said Zinser is the faculty favorite, but he doubted other faculty were aware of the petition drive.

“I don’t think they know anything,” said Simoni, who feels Hardesty - a well-connected local figure and former board of trustees chairman - is a lock for the job.

Should the petition become an issue in Zinser’s hiring - and Martinelli and Simoni asked for more information about it - the petition supporters could find themselves working at cross-purposes. While they want to see Zinser leave UI, their own work might prevent her from getting a job elsewhere.

For their part, petition supporters were not commenting Monday.

Peri, the faculty senate chairwoman, said information about the petition was available in the form of newspaper clippings laid out at Thursday’s meeting.

Peri herself knew of the petition and had discounted it as a reactionary gesture by athletic boosters angry with the way Zinser handled UI’s move from the Big Sky to the more competitive Big West conference.

Coming from Ohio, “where football is a religion,” said Peri, “I understand that boosters can sometimes have unrealistic expectations of unrealistic wishes” that are not necessarily in the university’s best interest.

Bammel said athletic officials were concerned about Zinser’s handling of the Big West issue, but that was not as great a concern among the faculty in general.

“The faculty here always fear that the athletic tail wags the academic dog,” Bammel said.

Search committee members were not overly concerned with Zinser as a subject of controversy in Idaho, Bammel said.

“A number of us noted that possibility - that she’s doing the right things, that she’s rattled the right cages,” he said. “We’re not looking for a status quo president.”

Zinser said Monday she briefed search committee members on the petition as part of reviewing with them “all of what is taking place in the life of the University of Idaho.”