The faculty of the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences reached a vote of no confidence against the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president, and Provost Walter Harris recently.
The frustrations mounted over the administration’s handling of the “Pathways” plan and resulted in the vote at a Sept. 26 meeting of the college faculty.
The College of Humanities and Natural Sciences has 110 full-time faculty members, 90 of whom were eligible to vote. Eighty of those voting faculty members participated in the vote.
The motions resulted in 61 to 19 faculty members voting ‘no confidence’ in Wildes and 70 to 10 in a vote of ‘no confidence’ Harris.
The results of the votes were delivered to Wildes and the Board of Trustees, who were quick to make their position on the matter known.
“The Board of Trustees is confident in the leadership of the university and affirms the direction and vision set forth by Fr. Wildes and Dr. Harris,” said Board Chairman Ted Frois in a Sept. 29 story posted on Loyola’s Web site.
The faculty discontent has its origin in the university’s drastic restructuring plan, “Pathways,” which was finalized and approved by the board on May 19. The plan resulted in the elimination of 17 tenure or tenure-track positions and the elimination or suspension of 14 majors.
Most of the faculty cuts were made within the former college of Arts and Sciences, which has since been split into the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences and the College of Social Sciences.
The “Pathways” plan was created in response to Loyola’s $15 million budget deficit following Hurricane Katrina. The financial situation has reached a resolution, but remains prominent in administrators’ concerns, said Harris during a Sept. 21 meeting between College of Humanities and Natural Sciences faculty and administrators.
“The president believes we have stabilized the university the best we can so that all the people in this room have jobs. To be brutally honest, it is, in my mind, a fragile stability,” said Harris, in reference to this year’s freshman class of 530, which will generate reduced tuition revenues for their four years at Loyola. “This is a very serious business, and in the big picture we need people to be positive.”
The motion, which was introduced at a Sept. 5 meeting, originally named five administrators: Wildes, Harris, John Cornwell, David Estes and Brenda Joyner. During the Sept. 26 meeting the motion was modified to become two separate votes of no confidence in Wildes and Harris. The faculty members then voted by secret ballot, using separate pre-prepared ballots, for Harris and Wildes.
A vote of no confidence has no formal impact on university policy, but is intended to be a declaration of faculty sentiment. Since the board has already expressed their confidence in the direction the university, it’s unlikely that any immediate reorganization will take place
Connie Rodriguez, professor of classical studies, originated the motion for a vote of no confidence. The motion was meant to convey the faculty’s dissatisfaction with the administration’s actions throughout the university’s restructuring last spring, she wrote in an e-mail:
“The faculty does not believe that the administration followed proper protocols and procedures in creating and implementing the plan. Their continued refusal to have a dialogue at any time during the process only served to widen the gap between them and the faculty, and their continued use of incomplete and flawed data even after errors were brought to their attention showed a complete disregard to the faculty and deans who know the correct data,” she wrote.
That allegedly erroneous statistical data used in creating the “Pathways” plan was a sore point for many faculty members.
“Harris essentially lied with statistics, which resulted in people losing their jobs,” mathematics professor Stephen Scariano said during the Sept. 26 meeting. “We have a moral obligation to correct mistakes and nothing has been done to correct them.”
There was also dissatisfaction among faculty over the lack of communication between the administration and faculty during the restructuring process.
“(Wildes) didn’t use the means of communication like any normal person would, that’s why I have no confidence,” said Grant Kaplan, assistant professor of religious studies.
Some faculty members, however, did not believe that a vote of no confidence was necessary.
“I think people want to do this (the no confidence vote) to have an effect, but what will be the affect on a university that is struggling? Is it going to help us or hurt us, and what affect will it have on ourselves and the university?” said Katherine Adams, an English professor and director of composition, during the Sept. 26 meeting.
“This has not been easy for me, but I think I understand (the reasons for the vote,)” said Wildes. I want to focus on looking forward and see how to improve things.”
In the spirit of this forward vision, Wildes said this year he hopes to focus more on the six strategic goals outlined in the final form of “Pathways,” including the renovation of campus facilities and increasing the national prominence of the university.
Several faculty members expressed dissatisfaction with the set-up of the university’s decision-making policy.
“When you boil it all down to power structure, there are only two governing bodies – the Board of Trustees and the Jesuit Corporation,” said Mark Fernandez, history professor, during the Sept.21 meeting. Some faculty members have suggested that this format needs to be restructured in order to give faculty a say in university governance.
Wildes also plans to examine the issue of university governance.
“I would like to see a review of governance, and of what are the appropriate roles for different aspects of the university,” said Wildes.
He also stressed that the semesters following Katrina were an “extraordinary period” for Loyola.
“(What) we have gone through was not normal governance,” he said. “There needs to be dialogue between the board, faculty and administration to move the university forward.”
Lindsey Netherly can be reached at [email protected].
