DePaul made a promise in March to the university community that the Board of Trustees would meet in late April to review the presidential search and hope to appoint a new president. 

April has come and gone. But the university has yet to announce the appointment of a new president. 

President A. Gabriel Esteban is stepping down from his position when the current academic year ends on June 30, which means the new president now has less than two months before they have to assume the role. 

The DePaulia reached out to the university for a comment on Friday if DePaul was planning to announce the hiring of the new president. And, if not, we asked why there has been a delay in making the hire. 

The university did not respond for comment in time for publication. 

In March, Judy Greffin, chair of the search advisory committee, said that DePaul has selected three finalists for consideration. In her statement, Greffin said that the finalists would get interviewed the week of April 4, and the Board of Trustees would meet in late April to review the search “with the goal of appointing the next president of DePaul University.” 

In February, DePaul was down to four finalists and had a plan to advance to the final interview process, but two of the four finalists pulled out and Greffin said in a statement that the search advisory committee would work to evaluate additional candidates. 

DePaul is now down to only three finalists after having a month between February and March to find additional candidates. It is still unclear when the university will decide to make an appointment and when that announcement will come. 

Throughout the process of finding a new president, DePaul has not been very forthcoming with the progress of its search. It has not revealed the names of any of the candidates and has not provided a progress report since March 17. 

The university has only provided eight statements in the nine months since it initiated the search after Esteban announced last summer that he will be stepping down after the 2021-22 academic year. 

The DePaulia reached out to Greffin personally one time for a comment on the search, but never heard back from her. DePaul has also said that Esteban has had no role or influence in picking out the new president. 

In 2017, DePaul announced in February that Esteban — who was coming over from Seton Hall — would be taking over for Rev. Dennis Holtschneider later that year. 

Loyola University is also currently in the midst of searching for a new president and has not provided an update since March 15.