YSU academic senate to hold 'no confidence' ballot votes against incoming president Johnson, selection process
The normally regimented agenda of the YSU academic senate took on a bit of a different form Wednesday, with two measures aimed at incoming president, Republican congressman Bill Johnson.
One expressed a 'no confidence' vote in Johnson himself, the other in the process that installed him.
With the discussion of both measures bringing spirited debate, neither got a voice vote.
Instead, ballots will go out to senate members Thursday with a week to cast their vote.
"We wanted a ballot vote from the beginning because we were afraid if we had to do the ballot in public that some faculty would not be willing to voice their actual opinions," explained Dr. Mandy Fehlbaum, professor and at-large senator on the academic senate committee.
Besides faculty and staff, students and alumni continue to dismiss the trustees' decision to install Johnson.
Alumni council member Jacob Shriner Briggs drove all the way from Connecticut to the council's meeting Wednesday morning.
He questioned the criteria that a university president needs to meet - like understanding the workings of higher education, benefit to the YSU foundation, and bringing stakeholders together - none which Briggs believes Johnson meets.
It's a sentiment echoed by the academic senate.
"A lot of the pushback had to do with language that they came up with themselves in the presidential search prospectus," said Fehlbaum. "It just points to how Johnson doesn't meet the qualifications that were set forth in the beginning."
Vice provost Dr. Jen Pintar claimed the senate's resolutions weren't transparent and contained too many opinions.
Both she and provost Dr. Brien Smith said the trustees will not reconsider their decision.
They left before we could approach them for comment.
When asked where this leaves the academic senate, Fehlbaum said "it's important to make our voices heard and let people know that we demand to be part of any future process that takes place."
We also saw nearly a dozen former university trustees send a letter to the current board.
They disagreed with the current board's view that a more open hiring process yields inferior candidates.
They also are worried hiring Johnson may have negatively impacted YSU's institutional integrity and credibility.
