University of Iowa Faculty Senate votes ‘no confidence' in Board of Regents

[progressoid]

For the second time in as many University of Iowa president searches, the Faculty Senate on Tuesday voted “no confidence” in the state Board of Regents for its selection of businessman J. Bruce Harreld as its 21st president.

...

The language of Tuesday’s motion, approved by 46 senators read,

“Whereas the Board of Regents has failed in its duty to take care of the University of Iowa and citizens of Iowa and shown blatant disregard for the shared nature of the university governance, whereas the regents have failed to act to their own strategic plan and core values … we therefore have no confidence in the ability of the Board of Regents ability to wisely govern our institution.”

“In retrospect, it is clear that the assurances of fairness and transparency in the hiring process given to us by the regents, the chair of the search committee, the search firm, and the Faculty Senate leadership were untrue,”

“It is our hope and belief that those assurances made by the search committee and faculty leaders were the result of representations made to them by the regents.”

Had the regents been “the least bit concerned with the reactions of faculty, staff, and students to Mr. Harreld’s campus visit” — combined with his open forum “performance” and questions about his resume — the board “would have produced a different decision.”

“Only a preconceived determination by the regents to appoint Mr. Harreld regardless of campus reactions to him can explain his hiring,”

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/higher-education/university-of-iowa-faculty-senate-votes-no-confidence-in-board-of-regents-20150908

And then:

Regents leader reiterates support for Harreld after UI students, faculty vote no confidence

CEDAR FALLS — Responding to votes of no confidence from University of Iowa faculty and students in the Board of Regents for hiring a businessman to lead the institution, regents President Bruce Rastetter said Wednesday he hopes the campus will find a way to move forward.

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On Tuesday night, UI faculty senators and student government leaders voted no confidence in the regents for hiring Harreld, who has a largely business and not academic background,

“The voice of the undergraduate student body was not seriously considered in the final selection process,” according to the UI Student Government resolution, which stressed that undergraduate students make up 73 percent of the UI enrollment.

The graduate student resolution revisited the board’s vow throughout the presidential search process to value feedback from the UI community.

“However, it is clear that this ‘open’ search was truly not transparent, and the collective voices of all the constituencies at UI were not taken into account and further, actively ignored,” according to the resolution. “It is unfortunate that the board took this action in the face of such fierce and vocal opposition from the UI community.”

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/higher-education/university-of-iowa-students-issue-no-confidence-vote-20150909

So, I take it the Regent's votes are secret.

[PatrickforO]

1. A microcosm of how the people are rolled over every day of every year.

[cyberswede]

2. And the Regents don't give a single shit about what the faculty think.

They ultimately want to drive away real tenured professors and switch to all adjuncts, so they can cut their pay & benefits.

With this latest "president," the University will be unable to recruit top name academics and researchers, which will result in fewer grants being awarded to UI investigators, which will lead to good researchers leaving Iowa, talented graduate students avoiding Iowa, and undergraduates going somewhere else for college.

Thanks, Regents, for fucking over the U of I. Bobby Jindal would be proud.

[roody]

3. +1