About 160 people have applied for the position of chancellor at Kansas University, including people from academic, business and government backgrounds, the search committee’s chairman told KU’s faculty senate Thursday.

Drue Jennings, the search committee chairman, said no decision had yet been made on whether to publicly release the names of finalists for the position, but he reiterated his feelings that doing so would potentially prevent a certain caliber of candidate from applying.

Some members of the faculty senate joined Victor Bailey, director of the Hall Center for the Humanities and member of the search committee, in arguing for the opposite view.

“My personal preference is that there is a more open element to those final stages,” Bailey said.

His view was shared by several members of the faculty senate, including one who said it might be better to lose a candidate who would not be willing to be subject to public scrutiny.

Jennings said candidates during the final stages of the process could potentially be vetted by different constituencies throughout the university without making their names public.

Reggie Robinson, president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents, responded to a question citing an article pointing out a recent trend in hiring people outside of academia to run universities.

He said he didn’t think it was quite a trend yet, and later added that “most” of the candidates in the KU chancellor search pool came from the academic world.

Jennings declined to answer a question asking if sitting presidents or chancellors were included in the current pool of candidates.

He told the senate that the committee was seeking a “Superman”-type of candidate who could duck into a phone booth and change identities at a moment’s notice.

Jeff Aubé, professor of medicinal chemistry and member of the search committee, said that questions about the candidates’ views on university-shared governance would be addressed in the interview process for candidates.