Have you heard the recent news about the search for the new president from the university search committee? Neither have I.

As the selection process for the presidential search narrows down its candidates, frustration is beginning to grow in terms of the lack of transparency surrounding the process.

Undergraduate students are not being nearly involved enough or incorporated into the process of selecting the university’s next president.

This is, however, a two-way street — university officials must be actively looking to engage undergraduates in the process, while there must also be a desire from undergraduates to take a role in the process.

Many are feeling very shut out when it comes to the process by which the university is going about to select its next president.

According to the article “Confidential search draws concern,” published by The Daily Evergreen March 10, all of the names of the eight finalists for the position are being withheld until a final decision is made, which is expected to be sometime in April.

The article does include the reasoning behind this, to protect the current positions of the candidates, but this offers little consolation to a curious and shut-off student body.

In an open letter written by Michael C. Worthy, the chair of the WSU Presidential Search Advisory Committee, little more information is provided in a vague excuse for an outreach to students. In essence, undergraduates are just being asked to wait and have faith in the committee.

The university president is a school official who is likely to be in office for upward of a decade, and in many cases, even longer — someone that the current undergraduate students must be comfortable leaving the hands of the university in, as well as someone they believe will move it in the direction that continues to embody the goals of the university.

WSU is not the only university currently searching for a new president. In November 2015, the University of Missouri president, Tim Wolfe, was forced to resign after “he had done too little to address racism and other ugly incidents on campus,” according to an article published by the Chicago Tribune.

Though the departure of the University of Missouri’s president differs greatly from the scenario at WSU, this incident goes to show, and serves as an example of the severity of importance of the office of the president — certainly something that should not be taken lightly.

Though it is likely that little time remains before the announcement of the new president, students should be encouraged to continue providing input and feedback on what they are looking for out of not only the president, but any hired university official — something that the Presidential Search Committee has actually done a fairly good job of.

When it comes down to it, though many times caught up in the passion and frustration that comes with change, both undergraduates and committee members alike are just looking for solutions that will best fit the university, and with any luck, the best fit for our university will be serving as the president come next fall.