Allegations have surfaced that a group searching for the University of Nebraska's next president broke the law while reviewing job candidates.

The university is looking for a replacement for retiring President L. Dennis Smith.

The process of the candidate search is now coming into question.

Committee members reportedly met with seven candidates in Kansas City.

By law, the finalists for the position must be identified once they accept interviews but university attorney Dick Wood says the discussions were not interviews. He describes them as "meetings in a social, conversational setting."

Wood says, "The principle point that I'd like to make is that they were not interviews for the position of president of the university. It was a meeting within state public records."

Wood contends that those talks were too informal to constitute what he considers interviews.

"I think an interview for a position of employment is a much more formal process," he says.

Jack Gould, with Common Cause says, "When you have your administration and your regents trying to find ways to cheat the public of Nebraska and get around the law, then I think that's a terrible example to set."

While critics insist these searches should be open through the entire process, others think that they should be held in secret in the beginning, to protect the candidates from retribution by their current employers.

Senator Pam Brown of Omaha says she'd like to see the law more clearly defined to allow some initial secrecy.

She tells Channel 6 News, "The laws should facilitate that and not make it almost impossible. But I certainly don't like the situation of putting people in a position where they almost have to figure out ways to get around the law."

WOWT has filed a request for a list of the candidates under the Freedom of Information Act. The university's attorney says he'll be responding within the required four business days.