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On Tuesday afternoon, passersby on the Diag listened to six University of Michigan students, faculty and staff speak to the crowd at a forum titled \u201cWhat Do I Want in a New U-M President?\u201d The event marked the beginning of this year\u2019s Political Speech and the Public Square<\/a> series, a program from the University\u2019s Faculty Senate<\/a> for community members to hear a diverse range of well-informed perspectives on critical issues. Speakers gave brief talks on important values for the Presidential Search Advisory Committee<\/a> to consider as their search<\/a> continues for the next<\/a> University president.\u00a0<\/p>\n Derek Peterson, Faculty Senate chair and event organizer, spoke at the session. In an interview with The Michigan Daily before the event, Peterson said public discussion is an opportunity for University community members to exercise<\/a> their right to free speech.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea undergirding all of this is to give us an opportunity as a campus to practice the First Amendment and to remind ourselves that this is a university that values free expression, even while there are forces outside the University and within it that wish to dampen down on controversial speech,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cWe in the faculty government and (Central Student Government), which is co-sponsoring this with us, want to keep the door wide open for dissenting views of all kinds.\u201d<\/p>\n Peterson also noted that no members of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee are elected members of faculty governance<\/a>. Julie Boland, professor of linguistics and psychology, opened the event with a conversation on faculty involvement in decision-making. Boland said it is essential for the next president to include and listen to faculty voices.\u00a0<\/p>\n