CSU Faculty Voice: The Orwellian World Inhabited by Our Administrators: Laud a Provost Whose Leadership has been Overwhelmingly Repudiated by Staff and the University Faculty

Saturday, December 5, 2015

The Orwellian World Inhabited by Our Administrators: Laud a Provost Whose Leadership has been Overwhelmingly Repudiated by Staff and the University Faculty

Take a look at the Chicago State web site. On its front page, you will find a news announcement of an award the Provost and Athletic Director (a new Vice President’s position created by the administration just this year) received from the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. According to the web site, Angela Henderson received her award for “Academic Leadership.” At the tail end of the article, Associate Provost Bernard Rowan makes the following statement: “I think I speak for the entire CSU community when I say we are truly proud of Dr. Henderson and Dr. Hendricks. They are both great leaders and great examples for the University”!

What curious timing. This event occurred on November 21 and the news article appeared either yesterday or today. What has transpired at the university between November 21 and December 4 that makes this “news article” suddenly relevant?

I offer the following: On Tuesday, December 1, I sent an e-mail to the Provost reporting the results of the Union membership’s vote on a No Confidence Resolution on her leadership based on an assessment of her performance. Voting on the resolution demonstrated conclusively that the Provost has virtually no support from the UPI 4100 members of the “CSU community.” Here are the figures to date: Out of 150 total votes cast, 142 UPI members supported the No Confidence Resolution, 4 opposed it and 4 abstained. So, 94.7 percent of the voters expressed no confidence in the Provost’s leadership.

Getting deeper into the results, of the unit A, Clinical, and unit B faculty at Chicago State, the result stands at 127 in support of the resolution, 4 against, and 4 abstentions (94.1 percent). Tenured unit A faculty voted 86-3-3 in favor of the resolution (93.5 percent).

More than 50 percent of the 281 eligible voters participated in the election. The majority of eligible voters, total faculty, and tenured faculty expressed no confidence in the Provost. Notably, 64.7 percent of Chicago State’s total tenured faculty expressed no confidence in Angela Henderson.

In what seems an attempt to mitigate the results of an overwhelming vote of no confidence from Chicago State’s entire faculty and the academic support staff who belong to UPI 4100, the university sees fit to put a celebratory “news article” about the Provost on its web site. The article includes the Orwellian assertion by a senior administrator that the “entire CSU community” is proud of Angela Henderson.

Let me be clear about this. The members of the Chicago State Chapter of Local 4100 are actually an integral part of the “CSU community.” In fact, our union represents all the faculty at this university. As the Chief Academic Officer of the university, the Provost is charged with providing leadership to that faculty. The faculty and the union have resoundingly expressed no confidence in the Provost’s leadership. Therefore, Dr. Rowan, I suggest that you do not speak for the majority of 4100 members who made clear their disaffection with this administrator. As I said to the Provost in my December 1 e-mail, she should resign her position. No amount of fulsome nonsense will change that reality.

2 comments:

CordayDec 6, 2015, 9:17:00 AM
The Administration is only following the Watson political playbook: when your power in the ward is threatened get your buddies at The Chicago Defender or N'Digo or Rainbow Push or your fraternity or your friends at another organization to name you "Educator of the Year" or some such thing, formalize it with a fancy party and laudatory speeches. Post the photos on the CSU website to give the proverbial finger to your ward opponents and aggrandize yourself to those who might be impressed. The website after all is there for your special use (no matter what happened with that lawsuit at City Colleges...). In his first years at CSU the website was devoted to a seemingly endless number of pix of WW with God-knows-who-they-are politicians who happened to set foot on campus.

Whatever will happen with the new Prez, the current administration is circling the wagons to keep the Watson "team" in place as long as possible. No doubt there will be more of these types of photos in the weeks to come.
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R. BennyDec 6, 2015, 10:55:00 PM
On reading the news of Miss Angie's, Big award, I am reminded of the heady thrill of being elected the president of my grade seven class. She must be very proud. speaks the truth.
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Thanks to Haki Madhabuti

"1. He/she must be a scholar of national note, with significant peer review publications and books in his or her field. There must be no doubt as to his/her standing in the community of scholars. This would also include a history of the candidate’s participation in the appropriate professional organizations.

2. He/she must have served with distinction as the administrative head of a major unit within an institution of higher learning or at the important position of Provost and/or Dean. Of course, prior service at the presidential level is preferred.

3. He/she must have a documented history of raising significant monies from the private and public sectors. At most major and research one universities it is not unusual to expect the president to come with a plan to raise in excess of half a billion dollars or more in the first few years.

4. The prospective president must have a consensus buy-in from the faculty, students, administration and staff, therefore, arriving with a unity mandate to lead by joining a University community that has bought into his or her vision for the future."

From an open letter to the CSU Community, 2009.