The UNL Faculty Senate voted Nov. 18 overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution expressing no confidence in the leadership of Chancellor Rodney Bennett.
The final vote was 60 for and 14 against the resolution. Three abstained.
Senate President John Shrader said after the meeting he expected extended discussion of the no-confidence resolution, but the after only a little more than 20 minutes the senators were ready to vote. Shrader said he realized most members had come to the meeting with their decisions already made.
The discussion began when Shrader invited Elizabeth Lewis, professor of teaching, learning and teacher education, to open the remarks because she had introduced the resolution at the Nov. 4 Senate meeting.
“As we know, public education at all levels is under external assaults,” Lewis said. Those attacks make the moment complex, difficult and painful, she said.
“Our UNL academic community has been aggrieved,” Lewis said, “students, staff, faculty members alike. This motion attends to one of the many issues that this assault has delivered. Specifically, it attends to our level of trust” in the chancellor.
“It is possible that you may find his actions honorable and selfless,” Lewis continued. “If so, feel free to vote against the motion. If you too are aggrieved, now is the time to vote in favor of this resolution of no confidence, to advocate for better stewardship at UNL.”
John Lindquist, a professor of agronomy and horticulture, said his department held a meeting to discuss the resolution. They did not hear from all faculty, but among those who spoke, there was unanimous support for the no-confidence resolution. “Moreover, we consider this to be a vote of no confidence in all of the upper administration who are involved in this process,” he said.
The no-confidence vote might not affect Chancellor Bennett’s employment, but it will make news, locally and nationally, Lindquist said. “After all this is said and done, there will be people in our administration who will start to think, ‘How do I begin to repair the damage that has been done to this institution?’ So, I will be voting in favor of the vote of no confidence.”
L.J. McElravey, representing agricultural leadership, education and communication, said his department, too, had met to discuss the no confidence resolution. While opinions were mixed, McElravey said the handling of the current budget-cutting process had left him with no confidence in the administration. “Specifically, we’ve known about this budget crisis for an extended period of time, and yet we still had a very short timeline, one that the APC had criticized,” he said.
No opportunity was provided for collaboration and creativity, McElravey said, and the recommendations for program eliminations were based on flawed data and metrics that were used inappropriately. “I think I personally have enough confidence to vote no confidence just from the APC’s discussion of this process,” he said.
Corey Ruman of the education administration department said, “The vote of no confidence is symbolic, but it addresses much more than simply whether or not someone should be employed. Instead, the vote of no confidence gives us as a faculty, finally, the space to have our voices heard and let people know we are not simply going to stand by and let the administration dictate the direction and future of this institution without our whole participation.” More than the issue of one person’s conduct, Ruman said, the vote is about the systemic failures university administrators have made, failures that harm the institution and the state.
Tim Gay, professor in the physics and astronomy department, said, “There’s another problem with our upper-level administration and that is that they have ignored President (Jeffrey) Gold’s call to push for rejoining the AAU.” Gay said the cuts that have been recommended by UNL’s leadership will make it harder for the university to regain a place in the Association of American Universities.
The meeting opened with President Shrader asking for a motion to put the no-confidence resolution on the table. In emails circulated to senators prior to the meeting, he said he was aware of developments that might render the resolution moot.
One senator said the emails were cryptic and asked if Shrader could elaborate. Shrader responded he was aware of serious discussions going on that could lead to a resolution about the leadership of UNL. He said he could not elaborate further.
The motion to table the no-confidence resolution was defeated with 41 voting against tabling, 28 voting for it and four abstaining.
All votes during the meeting were submitted anonymously online using Microsoft Forms. The procedure varied from the voting methods outlined in Standing Rule 10C, but the members agreed to it at the start of the meeting.
