‘We affirm our confidence’: UNC-Chapel Hill faculty back chancellor in statement
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The UNC-Chapel Hill Faculty Council approved a resolution at an emergency meeting Wednesday expressing support for Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz amid concerns about efforts to push him out.
“During what has been one of the most challenging periods in the University’s history, we affirm our confidence in Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz,” it states.
“We take this action recognizing that a University Chancellor must make decisions that not all agree with, and that there have been disagreement among the faculty about the best course of action,” it states.
The statement further says that a change in leadership would be deeply destabilizing to the state, its residents and the UNC system.
“We emphatically oppose it because it does not follow the principles of shared governance, consultation, and established means of leadership change,” it states.
Meeting called amid concerns
Faculty Chair Mimi Chapman called the meeting, she explained in an interview Tuesday, to respond to concerns that some state politicians and members of the UNC-CH Board of Trustees and UNC System Board of Governors might be trying to remove Guskiewicz.
The Faculty Council is an elected body that discusses and votes on educational policies, curriculum, student conduct regulations and other items related to university life. The council, which has about 90 voting members, also makes recommendations to academic departments and advises the chancellor.
The council didn’t announce exactly how many people voted in favor of the resolution, but an official said it was a significant majority. There also were about 10 or 11 abstentions, Chapman said Wednesday evening.
Removal authority
The ultimate authority to remove a chancellor belongs to the Board of Governors, which can initiate it.
The Board of Trustees could make a recommendation to remove Guskiewicz or take a vote of no confidence.
UNC System President Peter Hans could also make a recommendation that Guskiewicz be removed as chancellor.
Dave Boliek, the new chair of the Board of Trustees, said Wednesday he is “not sure where those concerns came from.
”The Board of Trustees has no authority to remove the chancellor,” Boliek said, adding Guskiewicz is “a hardworking individual.”
“I would echo President Hans’ advice that the faculty needs to pay attention to their job and stop worrying about conspiracy theories,” Boliek said, The N&O reported.
Concerns about chancellor’s removal
During the meeting, faculty members expressed concern about further destabilizing a campus that is already in turmoil. That turmoil includes fallout from Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Niikole Hannah-Jones rejecting a job at the university after she wasn’t initially offered customary tenure.
James L. Leloudis, a history professor, argued it was important to emphasize the consequences for the state, the campus and the students, as it will affect the university’s ability to recruit talent and others.
Other faculty members expressed concern about what a change in leadership would say about the chancellor’s ability to lead the university community. They also expressed concern about faculty and others being left out of the process and who might be hired next.
Chapman said she has heard from other faculty members, as well as from the provost and the chancellor that they had heard similar information from different sources about a plan to oust Guskiewicz.
“Today I have learned that yet another faculty member close to particular trustees heard directly from them that Kevin’s performance would be evaluated in coming days,” she said.
Those rumors come amid other concerns, Chapman said. None of the chancellor’s recommendations for trustee membership were accepted, she said. Chapman and other faculty representatives weren’t asked to speak at the trustees’ meeting this week, which is customary, she said.
“It is my strong belief that this is not a time for a leadership change on campus,” she said.
Students will be returning in less than a month, she said, and the school is in the middle of a search for a provost along with multiple dean searches expected in coming years.
Debate about ‘confidence’
In wording the resolution, faculty members debated whether they wanted to affirm their confidence in Guskiewicz, considering all the recent turmoil.
Deb Aikat, associate professor at the journalism school, said he was concerned about saying they have confidence in the chancellor after the Hannah-Jones incident and other situations.
“Many rank and file faculty do not necessarily have confidence in Kevin,” he said.
The statement should focus on the process, he said,
A statement from the UNC-CH Faculty of Color/Indigenous Faculty Group says it opposes efforts to remove Guskiewicz, but doesn’t mention confidence in the chancellor.
Our chancellor is not perfect, Chapman said in her initial comments during Wednesday’s meeting.
“There are things we wanted to see and hear him do differently,” she said. “Yet he is someone we know.”
This story was originally published July 14, 2021 at 5:32 PM with the headline "‘We affirm our confidence’: UNC-Chapel Hill faculty back chancellor in statement."
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