Two departments endorse Academic Senate vote of no confidence against Ross, Shapiro
Two departments have endorsed the Academic Senate's vote of no confidence against University President George Ross and Provost Gary Shapiro.
The sociology, anthropology and social work department and the philosophy and religion department, both in the College of Humanities and Social & Behavioral Sciences, voted to endorse the move this month.
The Academic Senate passed the initiative by a 52-percent majority on Dec. 7, and faced an abrupt rejection from Board of Trustees Chairwoman Sarah Opperman.
Robert Noggle, chairman of the philosophy and religion department, said no members of the department opposed the endorsement at the first meeting of the semester last Friday. Noggle said the department has attempted to call upon Central Michigan University's Board of Trustees to answer to some of the issues in the Senate resolution.
"A vote of no confidence is a pretty serious matter and if the board has confidence in the administration, that’s fine," he said. "But the fact that the board paid no real attention to the concerns in the senate resolution shows a lot about the character of the board."
The endorsement does not stem from the bargaining and contract issues, but rather from how the administration has handled shared governance, the development of the College of Medicine and academic prioritization, Noggle said.
"The problems raised in the senate motion are issues that really have nothing to do with the bargaining situation," he said. "The reason behind this really has much more to do with shared governance."
Brigitte Bechtold, chairwoman of the sociology, anthropology and social work department, said her department's endorsement stems from a lack of joint governance throughout the university. Of the 45 department members present at the first meeting of the semester, Bechtold said the endorsement was unanimous.
"Central to all of these (endorsements) is the issue that the administration has disregarded and ignored the principle of joint governance that underlies everything we do at CMU and in fact underlies the accreditation of many of our programs," Bechtold said.
The responsibility lies with the board of trustees to acknowledge the different departments' concerns, she said.
"The board of trustees has basically reaffirmed support of the president and provost," Bechtold said. "But the question now is, how many more departments now have to express these same sentiments before the board will realize that there is a serious problem"
