In response to some of our colleagues wanting to know the reason for the ongoing faculty vote, here are some of the reasons faculty from across the university have asked for this vote:

1. Enrollment

The Provost has presided over the largest enrollment drop in the history of the university.  This decline is the worst among all public universities in Illinois and Indiana, and it occurred during a time when the provost decided not to convene the Enrollment Management Advisory Committee, thus shutting faculty out of the process.  In addition, the Provost provided Admissions with a budget only last year.  In the opinion of many throughout the university, the drop in enrollment could have been less severe had better management been in operation.

2. Deans

Faculty from many departments and colleges are very unhappy with the Provost’s appointment, management, and evaluation of Deans. The appointment of the previous Dean of Arts and Humanities is alleged to have been decided before the search process began, and the process appeared to be manipulated by the Provost and his representatives to guarantee the outcome.  The candidate who was strongly preferred by the search committee and the faculty of the college was denied appointment.  In general, faculty complaints about actions undertaken by the Deans are not addressed, including actions alleged to be in violation of the faculty contract.

3. Top-Down Management

Many faculty are of the opinion that the Provost’s management style is emphatically top-down.  This is confirmed by accounts of candidates for Chair appointments who were interviewed by the Provost and shown a diagram with an arrow pointing down, with “me” written at the top and “you” written at the bottom.

4. Lack of Vision

Faculty are concerned that, in the fifteen years the Provost has served in his position, he has never articulated a vision for the academic mission of the university, but has insisted that in the meetings of the President’s council he is just another supplicant at the table.

Hence, faculty do not believe he represents their position in the university or the unique mission they carry out.

5. Faculty appointments

The Provost has a total lack of transparency on method and criteria for which departments get faculty positions, both tenure track and non-tenure track. When his Deans have been asked how the Provost selects tenured track appointments, or what a department needs to do to get a faculty position, they say they do not know. Two different Deans from the College of Sciences have personally told Dr. Conwell to stop asking that question.

6. Corruption of Faculty Governance

Provost Lord allowed to go forward a list of eligible voters in the current referendum that included names of administrators who have faculty titles (including Vice-Presidents and Deans), in clear violation of the intention of the Faculty Senate when it revised its constitution last year.

Gary E. Aylesworth, Ph.D.  Professor of Philosophy

James C. Conwell, Ph.D. Professor of Physics