The creation of a presidential search committee in the aftermath of University President Jehuda Reinharz's Sept. 24 announcement to resign is underway. Board of Trustee members and faculty will be on the committee, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Malcolm Sherman told the Justice Oct. 6.

There will also be a Student Advisory Committee to support the search committee, according to an Oct. 7 campuswide e-mail sent by Student Union President Andy Hogan '11.

Reinharz will remain president until a new president has been selected or until June 30, 2011, according to a Sept. 24 University press release.

According to Chair of the Faculty Senate Prof. Sabine von Mering (GRALL) in an e-mail to the Justice, Sherman intends to announce the members of the search committee at the Oct. 28 Board meeting.

Sherman could not be reached by press time.

At an Oct. 1 faculty meeting, Von Mering said that two seats have been reserved for faculty members on the search committee and that the Senate is working to increase faculty representation.

As of Oct. 11, the Faculty Senate has received over 100 nominations for 25 different candidates from 52 nominators for faculty representatives on the search committee, wrote Von Mering in her e-mail.

"We are still in discussions with Mal Sherman about the actual number of faculty on the search committee," Von Mering wrote in her e-mail.

Von Mering also wrote that the Senate is meeting with the faculty representatives to the Board of Trustees this Thursday "to deliberate which and how many names to put forward to [Sherman]."

She added that it will take a few more days of negotiation before the final faculty members on the search committee are confirmed.

"[Faculty representatives to the search committee] need to know Brandeis really well and be able to articulate our strengths. They also need to be able to work well with the other members of the committee, most of whom will likely not be academics," wrote Von Mering in an Oct. 4 e-mail to the Justice.

Hogan said that the representation of students on the search committee is "unclear as of now" and that he is still in discussion with Sherman.

"I believe [the Student Advisory Committee] will have a very important role in speaking for students when talking to potential candidates and giving the search committee an idea of what students want for their next president," Hogan said.

Hogan wrote in the campuswide e-mail that the advisory committee will be comprised of six to 10 students and said in an interview with the Justice that its members may meet once every week.

"The committee will also be involved in the interview process for the finalists and will give recommendations to the Board of Trustees, who are ultimately responsible for this decision," Hogan wrote in the campuswide e-mail.

The deadline to apply for the advisory committee was yesterday, and members of the committee will be selected by Hogan, Union Junior Representative to the Board of Trustees Heddy Ben-Atar '11 and Union Senior Representative to the Board of Trustees Jonathan Kane '10. Hogan said that the applicants for the advisory committee will undergo an interview process before the final selection is made.

The Board of Trustees has also charged the Senate with forming a faculty advisory committee.

"The Senate will begin the process of forming a faculty committee as soon as the search committee is confirmed. We are currently figuring out the best possible process," Von Mering wrote in her e-mail.