BATON ROUGE — The panel searching for the next LSU president will meet Wednesday to conduct interviews with four candidates and advance some (or all) of them for a series of meetings with campus groups.

LSU's next leader will replace William F. Tate IV, who left during the summer to become president of Rutgers University in New Jersey. The new president will also likely preside over the hiring of a new LSU football coach after Brian Kelly was fired Sunday.

The university hired a consultant to identify potential applicants for the job, allowing LSU to shield names from the public. The maneuver prompted a student protest over the university's lack of transparency and the protest ultimately led to the arrest of one student after she exceeded the three-minute time limit for public comment.

LSU said Tuesday that it had four candidates, and that two others who had been identified as potential presidents didn't formally apply.

The search committee will meet with interim LSU president Matt Lee, Dr. Giovanni Piedimonte of the Tulane School of Medicine, former University of Arizona president Dr. Robert Robbins and McNeese president Wade Rousse. Piedimonte and Robbins are medical doctors; Lee and Rousse hold Ph.Ds.

After the list of candidates is narrowed, finalists will meet with university staff and students through next Monday.

The full schedule is available at https://www.lsu.edu/bos/president-search/finalist-schedule.php