Staben’s use of the word “speculate” is weird. When asked a yes or no question, it’s not speculation to reply. He could reply “no comment”. But he can’t call the question speculation.
Via the LMT:
When faculty and staff were given the opportunity to ask the university president questions, the first to come out of the bag was whether he was entertaining positions at other universities.
“It is a matter of some concern for all of us to know whether we’ve got a big presidential search coming soon in our future,” said Sarah Nelson, associate professor of French at UI. “I’m wondering if you’re willing to talk at all about what has made you change your mind from the statements you made when you first came to UI – that you planned to stay for at least 10 years. And whether your mind has changed.”
“I don’t think it’s that valuable to speculate about that,” Staben replied. “I think today what we really need to do is focus on the university and focus on the progress we made and focus on the future.”
Staben’s pursuit of another job didn’t come up again during the question-and-answer period.
Staben, who was hired at UI in 2013, was equally coy during a meeting with media after the event.
“Sometimes plans change,” he said. “You saw that with the University of New Mexico application. That plan might change, but that had been my plan, yes.”
When asked if he has applied for other positions, Staben replied, “I’m not going to speculate on that, either; I want to focus on the job we are all doing.”