Faculty's no-confidence measure passes

Henderson’s board urged to make administrative changes

Tenured faculty members at Henderson State University have approved a no-confidence measure in the Arkadelphia college's president and three of its vice presidents after a $3.2 million budget deficit led to layoffs and other cuts.

"With deep regret, the senior tenured faculty of Henderson State University have voted no confidence in our present administration," the measure says.

It urges Henderson's board of trustees, which meets Friday, to place President Glen Jones on a one-year provisional contract and to dismiss the three vice presidents from "their official responsibilities effective immediately."

The vice presidents are Steve Adkison, provost and head of academic affairs; Brett Powell, who heads finance and administration and student affairs; and Jennifer Boyett, who oversees university advancement and is executive director of the Henderson Foundation.

"We maintain that they are unfit for leadership," the ballot measure says.

It also accuses the vice presidents of "Dishonesty, and a lack of accountability for their actions and words," says they lack "fiduciary responsibility" and cites "excessive spending and depletion of our financial reserves." The vice presidents have significantly increased the university's debt and have shown a lack "of transparency and communication with faculty and staff," it says.

None of the vice presidents, Jones or university spokesman Tina Hall replied to requests seeking comment. Hall did, however, respond to requests under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, including one for the vote totals.

Results of the online and anonymous voting, which began over the weekend and ended at noon Tuesday:

• Favor no-confidence: 47 or 64.4 percent.

• Oppose no-confidence: 18 or 24.7 percent.

• Abstain: 8 or 11 percent.

The university employs 86 tenured faculty members. Thirteen did not take part in the vote.

Hall also released an email in which she advised faculty and staff members after the voting concluded that the Planning and Budget Committee had on Monday approved a revised budget recommendation returning matching retirement contributions to 10 percent instead of the previously proposed 5 percent level.

While that appeared to be a victory for faculty members, there was no immediate indication that the administration planned to reinstate seven laid-off staff members, as the faculty also requested.

In an emailed statement to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said, "While I understand the concern of the faculty, it is ultimately the responsibility of the Board of Trustees to address any issues pertaining to the financial challenges facing Henderson State University."

Hutchinson said he has "confidence the Board will make the right decisions and adjust the course of the university as needed."

In January, Hutchinson asked the state's public universities "to hold flat their tuition rates for in-state students for the coming academic year."

On Tuesday, Henderson board chairman Bruce Moore noted that Henderson State is dealing with budget issues in "a year where there are no tuition increases included."

"I think universities across the state are looking at a different landscape" this fall, Moore said.

In Hall's email to employees, she said the revised budget proposal removes the university's planned investment in the Jenzabar Enterprise Resource Planning implementation for fiscal 2019. "The system's work will be re-evaluated next year based on available revenue," she said.

This deferral would save $587,000, Hall said in a separate email to the Democrat-Gazette.

"The [revised budget] proposal also increases the amount of required salary savings needed from vacant and unfilled positions by $225,000," Hall added.

Add the $225,000 to the proposed Jenzabar savings "and this offsets the $802,000 needed to restore the 10 percent retirement contribution," Hall said of the recommendations.

The Jenzabar technology is a student information system that allows universities to do such things as obtain data on enrollment trends.

Jones has said declining enrollment has contributed to the university's budget problems. Undergraduate enrollment fell from 3,634 in the fall of 2014 to 3,342 in the fall of 2017.

Jones has said he expects a balanced budget in fiscal 2019, which begins July 1.

Moore said he thought some of the tenured faculty members' requests in the ballot issue were "a little premature because we won't really have our budget presentation ... until this Friday."

He said the board looks forward to reviewing changes made from an earlier version of the proposed budget for fiscal 2019 "and moving forward."

As for a lack of communication with the faculty, Moore said he found that " interesting" since the Planning and Budget Committee, which consists of faculty and staff members, had been "meeting as a group for quite some time."

Referring to the proposal to keep the retirement contributions at 10 percent, Moore said, "By doing that, there are other sacrifices we are going to have to make as a university" -- not filling some vacant positions, for instance.

NW News on 05/17/2018

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