The University of Oregon will introduce its candidate to run the university to faculty, students and other interested parties all this week, and Friday morning the state Board of Higher Education will make it official, confirming that Michael Gottfredson is the right guy for the job.

Not that either the school or the larger Oregon University System is putting it quite so bluntly. In fact, the news release and stories written based on it have called Gottfredson the “finalist candidate” to run the school. But Friday’s vote sounds like a rubber stamp on a decision clearly already made, rather than a gut-wrenching vote to choose the best man for the position.

Unfortunately, the public will never know which is true. The search, you see, was a completely secret affair.

That’s the way it should be, Sona Andrews, OUS vice chancellor, told the Eugene Register-Guard newspaper this spring. “This is no different than when companies hire CEOs. They don’t have this big public vetting,” she said.

She ignores one big difference between a state university and a private business, however. The university and OUS spend our tax dollars to help keep the school’s doors open. Because of that, they owe the people of Oregon more information about the selection process than they have been willing to give.

Gottfredson’s predecessor, Richard Lariviere, made waves and got himself fired for his troubles. Lariviere’s reign was born of the same secretive process. His unwillingness to toe a line he believed was contrary to creating a truly outstanding public university put him up against the OUS board and the governor. What does Gottfredson want for the UO?

We suppose that the OUS board could vote not to hire Gottfredson on Friday. But unless the man makes some unforgivable faux pas this week or something is discovered, this is a deal that’s already been done behind closed doors.