Thursday, June 26, 2008

Search Panel Covered Up “No Confidence” Vote on Incoming Chancellor

More government in action.

Robert Felner, who was supposed to take the reins at Parkside next week but resigned from that appointment Wednesday in the midst of a federal criminal probe, got a no-confidence vote at a 2006 meeting of the University of Louisville’s College of Education and Human Development, where he has served as dean since 2003.

The vote of no confidence in Felner’s leadership passed 27-24 with two faculty members abstaining, according to minutes from the meeting. The vote was first reported today on the Kenosha News Web site.

The 19-member committee of faculty and staff, headed by UW-Parkside professor Chris Evans, knew about the no-confidence vote but chose not to report that fact to the special regents committee charged with appointing a chancellor or to UW System President Kevin Reilly.

Neither Reilly nor the UW Board of Regents knew about the no-confidence vote, UW System spokesman David Giroux said. He emphasized that while the vote of no confidence was a red flag, it was still not an indication that Felner was the subject of a federal investigation.

He said the search-and-screen committee chose to focus on positive reviews of Felner’s performance rather than the vote.

[...]

Giroux said he did not know whether the local search committee interviewed any of the faculty who voted no confidence.

At the March 2006 meeting in Louisville, then-faculty member Pedro Portes cited the reasons for the vote: “Public humiliation of faculty, work place harassment, retaliation for voicing opinions, little or no governance, decisions that hurt College, unacceptable and unfair hiring practice; rude, offensive, unethical behavior by CEHD representatives; denial of support for research to those who differ in opinion; and extreme inequity of pay.”

In another new revelation, Giroux confirmed that federal Secret Service agents were at UW-Parkside on Friday and yesterday to look at some documents there because Felner had shipped some 200 to 300 boxes of documents to the campus in advance of his arrival over the past couple of weeks.

(1) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1812 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. I’m a UWP alumnus and I have to admit that this doesn’t really surprise me. Evan’s comments about the cover-up (and the whole “change” tirade) are illuminating and downright disgusting. As a student and University employee I saw enough of the faculty and administration at Darkside to convince me they’re more concerned with tenure and pay than academic integrity and the students.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on June 27, 2008 at 0905 hrs


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