The vote of no confidence is an unwanted blemish on any record meant to reflect leadership. Yet, over the past two years, Maryland colleges and universities have had some difficulty maintaining the faith of faculty.
Most recently, the Faculty Senate of Coppin State University (CSU) delivered a vote of no confidence to President Reginald Avery. The resolution was passed late last month by 55 full time faculty members eligible to vote; only 13 members voted against the measure.
The no confidence vote at an institution of higher learning is usually a last resort after multiple attempts to address concerns have gone unanswered or unsatisfactorily resolved by administration.
“How else are we going to be taken seriously? I think it was the last course of action and this has been brewing for a while,” said Dr. Nicholas Eugene, Faculty Senate president at CSU. “We have serious issues with retention and enrollment. We’ve asked for direction in terms of retention over and over again.”
In 2010, Bowie State University (BSU) faculty told President Mickey Burnim and Provost Stacey Franklin Jones there was no confidence in their leadership due to unsound hiring practices and the installation of new mandatory programming for first and second year students without faculty input.
Similar to BSU, Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) has also faced challenges within its administrative team. The college is 79 percent African American although it is made up of over 100 unique cultures. The school has faced serious problems with its accreditation in the past and faculty members cited a lack of communication and retention issues when in 2010, President Carolane Williams was given a vote of no confidence, four years after taking the position.
“You can’t change things overnight, but working together and with each other I am convinced and confident that we can be successful in addressing the needs of our students,” said Coppin State University President, Dr. Reginald Avery, in discussing the recent vote. “I took this job as president primarily because I love students. We’re going to do what we can to make sure we are addressing the needs of our students- retaining them, and also that they are graduating in a timely manner,” said Dr. Avery, a firm believer that “more effective communication between the president’s office and all aspects of the university” will solve a few of the issues brought up in the letter sent to him by faculty.
The letter by Coppin faculty expressed displeasure with the expansion of the university’s cabinet from four full-time and one part time position to ten positions, all with pay above $125,000. Prior to Dr. Avery’s tenure, the cabinet had a combined salary of roughly $705,000. Today’s cabinet costs the university about $1,570,000 in salary dollars, putting a strain on the budget and on administration-faculty relationship. The faculty also found fault with the $800,000 in need-based financial aid that never made it to student accounts and the absence of permanent deans for the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Education.
Other complaints included the fact that the Office of the Provost has been filled by four different administrators in just four years. As with BSU, questions about hiring practices at Coppin have been raised, citing the use of improper selection processes in filling positions such as vice president for institutional advancement.
The group attached a list of grievances to a letter also sent to to University of System of Maryland Chancellor, Dr. William Kirwan.
When asked whether or not a lack of funding exacerbates issues brought up during some votes of no confidence, such as retention, Dr. Kirwan said “all of our campuses need additional resources and we’re all working hard to generate additional resources. Unfortunately, the nation’s economy, the state’s economy is such that the state is not able to provide the resources that we all need at this time.”
Coppin State University is part of the current lawsuit against the Maryland Higher Education Commission that claims the state has engaged in crippling underfunding practices for Maryland’s HBIs. Coppin is an urban school in West Baltimore that caters to non-traditional students and currently has one of the lowest retention rates of the member colleges and universities in the University System of Maryland. “This is the lowest graduation rate in the last 20 years at CSU,” according to the list that carefully outlines six areas of major concern for CSU faculty.
Dr. Avery became the fifth president to lead Coppin in 2008. Prior to presiding over CSU, Dr. Avery served at the University of South Carolina, as executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and vice president for academic affairs at Kentucky State University.
While Dr. Avery is not the first, nor the last president of an institution of higher learning to receive a vote of no confidence, whether he will survive the vote will only be seen in time.
“In order for a president to survive something like this, a president needs the strong support of the governing board and the chief executive,” said Bowie president, Mickey Burnim, on what is needed to survive a vote of no confidence. “I was blessed to have the support of the board of regents and Chancellor Kirwan.”
Dr. Avery recently held a town hall meeting to address the concerns of his students, faculty, and staff.
