<p>Associated Press
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's search to replace its president who resigned under pressure last year after just 11 months on the job is down to two finalists.
The remaining candidates to lead the 1,900-student engineering and science school are Tom Hanley, vice president for special projects at Alabama's Auburn University, and Gerald Jakubowski, a vice president of Arizona State University and provost of its Polytechnic campus.
Hanley, a chemical engineering professor, visited the Rose-Hulman campus last week, and Jakubowski, a professor of engineering, is to visit next week.
The Rose-Hulman board has said it hopes to name a new president for the private school by the end of March.
The search for a new president began after Jack Midgley, the school's first new president in 28 years, resigned in June 2005 under mounting criticism from students and faculty members.
Some complained Midgley's management style was brusque and that he lacked respect for people.
The conflict came to a head last May when 400 people, some wearing "Hit the road Jack!" T-shirts, attended a campus rally calling for the president's removal.</p>
<p>It seems to me that there were two schools of thought regarding Midgley.</p>
<p>There were some people who say that Sam Hulbert was such a great President that ANYone who followed in his footsteps would be criticized. Dr. Hulbert had been at Rose for a very long time, and many say that the Midgley thing was simply backlash against change. Things had been one way for so long that many had gotten used to it.</p>
<p>Then there's another group that strongly believes that Midgley was a more serious threat to the school. Their objections weren't as much about his policies as they were about his ethics. Many testified that Midgley would say one thing in one setting and then take up a different or even contrary stance in another instance. Some said that he had little respect for students. For example, I remember hearing about one incident in which Midgley scheduled a meeting with a student group and a few days later had his secretary contact the group's leader and cancel the appointment, citing an out-of-town business trip as the reason for his absence. Apparently the student stopped by Midgley's office at what had been the appointed time and found that Midgley was in fact NOT out of town but in his office working.</p>
<p>To be honest, I don't know which group was correct. But he left to avoid any further controversy.</p>
<p>I do hope that our next President causes less controversy. I went to both of the prospective candidates' public forums, and they both seemed fine. One of them stood out in my eyes, but both seemed like ethical men.</p>