short report from a meeting with the adminstration about the NC vote

This afternoon at 2 pm the A&S Executive Committee met for an hour with about 15 people from the administrative team to report on the vote of no confidence in the Dean that Council passed in 2008.04.15. The meeting was called by President Jacobs despite our feeling that such matters should first be discussed privately with the Provost.

Attendees included but were not limited to:

the President, the Provost, and the Dean;
The full Executive Committee;
At least two board members, Vasquez and Ashley;
University administrators Gold, Snyder, Patten Wallace, Calzonetti, Scarborough, McMillen, and Lehnert, among others.
Observers incuded students, faculty, and reporters from the Blade, WTOL, and Fox News.

The A&S Executive Committee arrived a few minutes early and restructured the chairs into a circle around tables.

The President opened the meeting and immediately launched into a speech about how he took the vote seriously as input for the evaluation of the Dean, and reminded us that the BoT is responsible for the Dean's tenure and has delegated that responsibility to the President, who in turn has delegated it to the Provost. Then he said he would do the following: request evaluations from other parties, and in the Fall bring in an independent agency to evaluate both the Dean and the College. Meanwhile we should continue working with the Dean.

Then the Provost and the Dean spoke briefly.

Council Executive Committee members described the constitutional legitimacy of Council and its representation, and the process of the vote. They stressed that a no-confidence vote was
a) More than an Evaluation tool; university presidents have gracefully resigned under such situations.
b) Of course the tenure of the Dean is at the pleasure the Provost. That is why we asked to meet with her.
c) The College is not responsible for the problem; the Dean is. An outside evaluation engendered by our vote will be perceived as blaming the College, and seen as a threat to our existence.

Little or no understanding of the the process, intensity, or urgency of the situation was displayed by the administration.

At one point, Jacobs told Chair Anderson-Huang (who had had two private meetings with the Provost to try to work out understandings) that we can work with you and you can spin it to bring the rest of the faculty in line.

Jacobs closed the meeting abruptly when it was clear that the Executive Committee was not going to play the game.

Some conversation with other attendees continued, but the President and Provost walked out.

A more detailed report will follow.
-Lawrence Anderson-Huang for the A&S Executive Committee
p.s. Please also read the report by Dr. Renee Heberle that appears as a comment to the posting

More student protest coverage below.