The West Virginia University (WVU) Assembly has voted that it has no confidence in the leadership of President E. Gordon Gee.
The vote on the resolution of no confidence, which had been introduced on August 25, following Gee’s proposal for massive cuts to WVU academic programs and faculty positions, was an overwhelming 797-100. Faculty Senate Chair Frankie Tack said that the assembly has established the required quorum for the vote with at least 662 eligible faculty in attendance.
The vote is the latest chapter in the furor that has engulfed the WVU campus following the administration’s recommendations that the university close 32 academic programs and cut 169 faculty positions, part of an academic transformation plan intended to solve a budget deficit currently projected to be about $45 million, but that could reach $75 million in future years.
Although some of the plan’s initial recommendations have been pared back as a result of recent appeals by the programs involved, many of the cuts have stayed in place, much to the anger and dismay of faculty and students and many observers of higher education across the nation, who’ve decried the cuts as being unprecedented for a flagship university
The University Assembly resolution accused Gee of having “mismanaged the university’s finances, while also refusing to accept responsibility for the current financial situation of the university…” It blamed Gee for “irresponsibly claiming … that he would grow WVU’s enrollment to at least 40,000 by 2020 to justify expansion and spending hundreds of millions of dollars on projects that would increase WVU’s debt load by 55%…”
Other charges include that Gee was responsible for an “upward redistribution of resources,” and that he had “failed to provide honest and transparent communication with the university community.”
The University Assembley also passed a second resolution calling on WVU to immediately freeze the administration’s academic transformation plan, claiming that it “has been built on a foundation of dishonesty, duplicity, and misleading communication.” That resolution passed by a vote of 747-79.
After the presentation of the no-confidence resolution, Gee was allocated five minutes to respond. According to the Daily Athenaeum, WVU’s independent student newspaper, Gee responded in part, “I must say that, if I had done all of those things I would probably vote no-confidence myself, so I appreciate the fact that all of you are here.”
Following the action by the WVU University Assembly, the WVU Governing Board responded with a statement expressing support for Gee.
The statement said the Board “appreciates the faculty members who shared their perspectives at today’s University Faculty Assembly meeting regarding consideration of a no-confidence resolution for President E. Gordon Gee and a resolution calling for a freeze of the University’s Academic Transformation process.”
The Board acknowledged the passage of the votes, but added, the Board of Governors unequivocally supports the leadership of President Gee and the strategic repositioning of WVU and rejects the multiple examples of misinformation that informed these resolutions. The University is transforming to better reflect the needs of today, and we must continue to act boldly. President Gee has shown time and again he is not afraid to do the difficult work required.’
Saying the challenges WVU is facing are not unique, the Board maintained it was “determined to address the challenges head-on and directed the administration to address Academic Transformation. The Board maintains that we must do this work to remain competitive and relevant as we become an even stronger university.”
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