No Confidence Votes

This is a small attempt to help those who are interested in educating themselves about no- confidence votes. I (John Powell) had thought that perhaps a vote of no confidence was a foolproof and effective way to fire a president. If that was ever true, it is certainly not true now. If faculty wish to educate themselves about what such a vote is, what it can and cannot accomplish--well, sometimes can and sometimes cannot--then there are some resources available.

• A bibliographical document from the SUNY Academic Senate has material on the basics of no confidence votes, accessible at www.suny.edu/facultysenate/UFSBibliography.rtf
  


• The AAUP website has several recent documents regarding votes of no confidence: Prof. William Tierney summarizes some of what prompts no-confidence votes and offers advice to administrations who face the threat of such a vote. Some of that advice is helpful to faculty. This is in the July-August 2007 issue of ACADEME, and online at http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2007/JA/Feat/tier.htm (I think this is the same document which was being circulated recently here on campus under the title "Can We Talk?")
  


• The weighty report of a special AAUP investigative committee sent to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to assess universities' responses is also online. Relevant especially to our situation is that part of the report on Loyola after repeated votes of no confidence and after planning and program discontinuations which the AAUP committee determined were in violation of AAUP guidelines (which guidelines were in fact mirrored or included in Loyola's own guidelines). That is at http://www.aaup.org/NR/rdonlyres/6BBEDF23-3FA6-4BBB- 85BA-73424C41B5B3/0/KatrinaReportt.pdf
  


• A news release summarizing some of what the AAUP committee found in New Orleans without the sometimes disheartening and detailed analysis is at http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/newsroom/pressreleases/censure.htm
  


• AAUP President Cary Nelson's meditation on that situation in New Orleans and its implications for the current status of shared governance and due process, and mentioning the limited effect of votes of no confidence, is in the Sep-Oct 2007 (current) issue of ACADEME, online at http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/newsroom/pressreleases/censure.htm
  


• Perhaps relevant is a feature article in ACADEME's July-August 2007 issue from a faculty member regarding how SUNY College of Technology at Alfred avoided a vote of no-confidence which had already been scheduled by invoking procedures to call for a visitation to the campus by SUNY system faculty and a SUNY system administrator. That's at http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2007/JA/Feat/petr.htm
  

Please note: I am happy to add to this list of links or to post documents if you send them to me at jwp2.