Michael M. Crow, executive vice provost of Columbia University in New York, has decided to withdraw his candidacy from the search for the next ISU president. Crow was scheduled to visit Iowa State Monday.Owen Newlin, president of the state Board of Regents, said Crow notified the Presidential Search and Screening Committee Tuesday. Crow’s decision to retract his nomination was due to time constraints in his visit to the ISU campus and other activities involved in being a candidate for the position.”We are disappointed that he won’t be one of the finalists,” said Newlin. “It’s hard to say whether or not it will affect the committee’s decision — it certainly reduces the diversity of the group.”The search committee was required to identify four possible candidates for the position, but David Hopper, committee member, said they picked five to prevent any problems that might have arisen.”We anticipated that we might lose one and indeed we did,” he said. “It’s always better to have greater latitude in choice.”— Amber Billings