Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 8, 1990 TAG: 9003082186
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES HIGHER EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Earlier this week, The Daily Progress of Charlottesville quoted unidentified school officials as saying that University of Georgia President Charles Knapp is the top contender for the job being vacated by Robert O'Neil.
The other two contenders named by the paper were John Casteen, president of the University of Connecticut and a member of former Gov. Charles Robb's cabinet, and UVa law professor Richard Merrill.
A university spokeswoman would not comment on the report.
Elson, who became acting rector Feb. 28 when the term of former rector Joshua Darden expired, also said today that he had broadened the presidential search committee from five members to include the entire 16-person board.
The move places Gov. Douglas Wilder's seven new appointees - including Patricia Kluge, wife of billionaire John Kluge, and Evans Jessee of Roanoke - in a position to influence the selection of a new president.
O'Neil, a First Amendment scholar, announced last October that he was stepping down to become founding director of UVa's new Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression.
by CNB