Evansville— 10/14/20 — The University of Evansville (UE) members of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) hail the UE faculty, which today passed a vote of no confidence in President Christopher Pietruszkiewicz. The 89-34 result saw 70% of the votes go against the President.
Through its actions, the faculty emphatically supported the vote of no confidence in the President that the Faculty Senate passed last Tuesday by 13 votes to 2. The resolution proposing the Senate vote argued that the form of the program evaluation process presently being conducted by the administration breaches the principles of shared governance that underpin the governance structure of the university.
The Senate’s resolution was a response to the Board of Trustees’ rejection of an earlier Faculty Senate resolution requesting meaningful involvement in the administration’s ongoing program evaluation process and the sharing of the program data that the administration has solicited from theconsulting firm BKD.
The resolution by which the Senate and the faculty have expressed their lack of confidence in the President lays out the means by which the President can regain the confidence of both:
1. The President will release to the faculty as soon as possible all of BKD’s data points relating to academic programs and any accompanying reports.
2. All academic program evaluations will be conducted by a group that includes voting, faculty elected
faculty members from all four of the university’s colleges and schools.
3. The number of faculty members in that group will be at least equal to the number of
administrators.
4. All academic program evaluations will use a set of criteria that has been approved by the
Senate and the Faculty through votes.
We, the UE members of the AAUP, commend the faculty for its clear and forceful commitment to the principles of shared governance. We invite the alumni, students, emeriti faculty, and staff of the university as well as the broader Evansville community to show their support for the faculty and the principles it upholds. At this challenging time, dialogue, cooperation, and transparency are more important than ever. Only by working together can we Save UE
To learn more:
• Visit our website at saveue.com • Follow us on Facebook at Save UE
• Follow us on Twitter at @Save_UE • Follow us on Instagram at save.ue
• E-mail us at ueaaup@gmail.com
