By Associated Press - Friday, March 24, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - Faculty members at the University of Virginia are calling on the search committee for the school’s next president to choose someone with an academic background.

The Daily Progress reports (https://bit.ly/2mSoVVw ) that faculty members said at a public meeting this week that they believe the next president should have experience in higher education, as opposed to business or politics.

Other universities have hired people outside of academia. For example, the president of the University of California system is former U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Mark Edmunson is a professor in the English department. He says he opposes hiring a business executive “whose commitment has always been to the bottom line.”

Current UVa President Teresa Sullivan is planning to retire in July 2018, when her contract expires.

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This story corrects the name of the school in the first paragraph. It is the University of Virginia, not Virginia Tech.

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Information from: The Daily Progress, https://www.dailyprogress.com

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