SLIPPERY ROCK — The Slippery Rock University council of trustees on Tuesday approved two replacements for the presidential search committee.

The search committee was formed earlier this year, but the search was extended after the council of trustees failed to pass a motion on Oct. 6 to advance two candidates to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education board of governors for consideration.

Jeff Smith, an SRU trustee and chairman of the search committee, said that after the October meeting the committee's work ceased and he asked each member if they would be interested in continuing to serve.

The three people who chose not to continue on the committee were Molly Mercer and Scott Albert, who are both SRU administrators, and Amanda Nichols, a representative of SRU's noninstructional unions.

Smith said that PASSHE requires the search committee to have 13 members, including trustees, university faculty, students and alumni.

Amanda Yale, associate provost for enrollment services, replaces Molly Mercer on the committee and Joan Allen, with SRU's construction design and management department, will replace Nichols. At-large committee member Scott Albert will also not serve again on the committee.

The meeting in October when the council voted 5-5 on a motion to advance the two candidates, was preceded by a letter from committee-member Robert Taylor who claimed that there were conflicts of interest on the committee.

Mercer and Albert, Taylor wrote, had been serving on the search committee despite their immediate superior, Amir Mohammadi, being identified as an internal candidate for the presidency.

The council is seeking applicants for an at-large committee person to fill one more vacancy on the 13-person committee. The council hopes to approve the final committee member at its quarterly business meeting Dec. 8.

“It has been disappointing that it has taken this long, but at the end of the day I am confident we will come up with some good candidates who we will forward to the board of governors,” Smith said.

The committee is tasked with finding candidates to be the university's next president. Former President Cheryl Norton retired at the end of June. Philip Way, provost and vice president for academic and student affairs, is serving as SRU's interim president.