Zinser Tries To Allay UI Faculty Concerns

In the last faculty meeting of this school year, University of Idaho President Elisabeth Zinser assured educators the land-grant school will remain strong even in transition.

Only about 50 of the more than 600 faculty members attended the Tuesday meeting, where Zinser acknowledged her future at Idaho is uncertain.

A finalist for the top posts at West Virginia and Kentucky universities, Zinser said there should be some closure to the issue in the next few weeks.

“It’s obvious to everyone that I’m in the job market,” she said.

If the university is facing a transition period, Zinser said, it will manage as it has in the past.

A group of Idaho alumni in Boise last month began circulating a petition, asking the state Board of Education not to renew Zinser’s contract when it expires in June.

Since then, letters of support have been sent to the board from students, alumni, faculty and some of the state’s political leaders.

Zinser said she is grateful to the entire community for the letters.

“That’s telling the leadership of this institution, now and in the future, that this faculty, this staff, this student body and this community are really behind this university.”

If there is a change in leadership, Zinser said she expects the board will move quickly to appoint an interim president and begin a search for her successor.