The Louisiana State University Faculty Senate unanimously passed a resolution of “no confidence” in the LSU Board of Supervisors last week, casting criticism on the group that will decide whether to accept the candidacy of President F. King Alexander as the president and chancellor of the LSU system.
The LSU Faculty Senate listed 12 reasons, including the lack of faculty pay raises and the Board not appointing faculty members to the Presidential Search Committee, as to why it had no confidence in the Board, according to the resolution.
Concerns about the LSU faculty retirement system and Cal State Long Beach’s graduation rates comparing unfavorably to LSU’s were among other reasons to vote “no confidence” in the Board, according to the resolution.
“We want to make it clear that the faculty has its standards and principles as well,” LSU Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope said. “We want to signal to the Board that they have behaved atrociously.”
According to Cope, concerns about the Board’s diversity and a violation of procedure were some of the reasons to vote no confidence in the Board.
“There was a violation of procedure [with] a student attending a secret meeting,” Cope said. “We asked that faculty be added [to the Board] … faculty were [not] added, but highly paid administrators and former paid administrators [were].”
Concerns about Alexander not having managed a medical school or been a tenured, full professor at a major research university were also included in the resolution.
According to Cope, the resolution is not about attacking Alexander.
“We don’t have anything against [F.] King Alexander, we [just] haven’t seen any of the other candidates,” Cope said.
According to Alexander, the disagreements between the Board and Faculty Senate have been ongoing.
“They [LSU Faculty Senate members] have been fighting with the Board for a while,” Alexander said via email. “Their vote is because a few faculty know very little about California and the [Cal State University].”
Chairman of the Board of Supervisors at LSU Garet Danos said that Alexander has been well received on his recent tour of the LSU system.
“I don’t see any way that he wouldn’t be unanimously approved by the Board because he’s been well [received] by the Board and community,” Danos said.
According to Danos, some LSU faculty were concerned about the process by which Alexander was selected as the sole finalist for the president and chancellor position.
“I actually talked to a couple of Faculty Senate members, and [they were] somewhat conflicted,” Danos said. “They liked several things about Alexander but didn’t particularly like the [election] process.”
Danos said that Alexander is a good fit for LSU.
“Alexander has been well received everywhere he goes,” Danos said. “I’m certainly sorry for Long Beach that he’s leaving; we rejoice that he’s a great candidate for LSU.”
The LSU Board of Supervisors will vote on Wednesday on whether to accept Alexander’s candidacy for the position.