LARAMIE - Interviews with the three finalists for the University of Wyoming presidency will begin next week, trustees were told Friday.

Trustee Richard Davis of Sheridan, chairman of the committee arranging the interviews, said Joseph Chapman, president of North Dakota State University in Fargo, would begin three days of interviews Tuesday.

Davis said Loren Crabtree, chancellor of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, would begin his round of interviews the following Monday, April 3. The candidates will be interviewed by representatives of the faculty and other campus groups.

Hannelore Mundt, chairman of the Faculty Senate, told the trustees that some faculty members were concerned that the process would be unfair because interim President Tom Buchanan, who was added to the list of finalists this week, was not being treated the same as the other candidates.

Davis said that while all finalists would be interviewed by the board, Buchanan would not have regularly scheduled interviews with other constituencies. However, he said, "I have spoken with him and he is going to invite all interested groups" to meet with him.

He said Buchanan would address these groups "but we did not think he needed a more formal schedule" as he is in Laramie and already known by many.

A search committee created by the trustees originally chose three finalists, excluding Buchanan, but one of them withdrew rather than face what could be a grueling round of interviews.

Buchanan was added to the list of finalists Thursday, after faculty members suggested his name be considered.

Buchanan has been acting as president since July 1, after President Philip L. Dubois returned to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte as chancellor.

Mundt told the trustees that some faculty felt Buchanan should be subjected to rigorous scrutiny as many of them did not know what his goals would be as president, and believed all the finalists "should be treated equally."

Star-Tribune correspondent W. Dale Nelson can be reached at wdnelson@bresnan.net