Is Medgar Evers College Under Attack? Faculty Battle Provost and President

Interview:
Is Medgar Evers College Under Attack? Faculty Battle Provost and President
by Eisa Nefertari Ulen

Turmoil rages at Central Brooklyn's historically Black institution of higher learning. Medgar Evers College, part of the CUNY public university system, is experiencing a public battle. Faculty have issued a resolution condemning the school's president and provost.

Several full time Medgar Evers College faculty and staff members who are part of the coalition that has been formed and who wish to remain anonymous responded to the following questions:

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1. Please explain what exactly has been going on at Medgar Evers College over the past several weeks. What prompted a group of full-time tenured faculty to issue a Resolution on President's and Provost's Leadership & Management?

President Pollard and Provost Johnson came to Medgar Evers in August 2009. Since that time, a number of issues arose which prompted faculty to be concerned about the competence, leadership and academic integrity of the President, Provost and his administration.

The final actions that prompted faculty to issue a Vote of No Confidence in the Offices of the President and Provost and in the leadership of the administration were the result of faculty learning about a number of irregularities in the procedures for the reappointment and non reappointment of faculty, the unprofessional behavior of the administration in disseminating letters of non reappointment to faculty (letters disseminated in classrooms), the cut back in services and resources for instructional support and the pending eviction of The Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions.

The following represents a list of concerns leading to the Faculty Vote of No Confidence.

• Faculty are concerned about the administration’s lack of respect for shared governance.

• Upon arriving at the College, the President authorized a CUNY group to conduct an assessment of the college. The assessment was primarily conducted with administrators, center directors and some chairs. This assessment was never concerned with the college community but decisions affecting the college have been made as a result of this assessment.

• The administration has neither a Strategic nor Master Plan after one year. As a result, there has been no movement with academic programs and the administration's inabilty to hold college council meetings has prevented academic programs, policies and curriculum issues from moving forward.

• Faculty feel disrespected and “bullied” by the Provost’s management style and professional demeanor in meetings.

• The Provost has refused to sign off on grants related to student and faculty research because he does not want to approve reassigned time that would allow faculty to work on grants and be released from teaching.

• The Provost initially told faculty who were scheduled to move in the new Science, Health and Technology building that unless they were actively involved in research, they would not be allowed to move into the new building. Faculty met with the Dean and Provost and came together to resist this. The Provost eventually relented and agreed to let all faculty move into the new building.

• The Provost eliminated the role of pre-professional advisor for pre med students and biology majors. This position had been at the college since 1975 and when this was made clear, the Provost insisted that there was no

• The Provost removed the Chair from the Department of Economics in the Spring 2010 semester and in August 2010, removed the Chair of the Education Department. Both of these Chairs had been elected by the faculty in their departments as required by the PSC CUNY contracts. These issues are in litigation.

• The search for the Provost lacked transparency and did not represent shared governance and practice. Faculty expressed their concern to the President and requested a new search. Additionally elected officials requested from CUNY that the formal appointment of the Provost be tabled or delayed because there were a number of concerns related to the Provost’s leadership and relationship with faculty. These requests were ignored and the President and Chancellor expressed unequivocal support for the Provost.

• In previous university settings, the Provost was accused of plagiarism and mishandling of the tenure and reappointment process for faculty.

• The President speaks of a student-centered campus. Medgar Evers College has always been a student-centered campus and students have praised the quality of student/faculty relations. However, the current administration has reduced resources for The Learning Center, Computer Labs, Library and Psych labs.

• The Provost eliminated the Writing Center and the Center for Teaching and Learning.

• The Administration changed the venue for commencement (which has traditionally been held on the college campus) without input from faculty and students. They relented after external sources, CUNY and elected officials intervened.

• The President hired top level administrators and consultants in the midst of a budget crisis. In previous administration at the University of the District of Columbia, the President was accused of mishandling the budget of the university and wasting millions of tax levy dollars.

• The Administration cancelled the Jazzy Jazz series and only brought it back (on a much smaller scale) after community outrage.

• The Administration removed Carver Bank ATMs and replaced them with Citibank ATMs. Upon learning of community outrage, the administration stated that they would look into bringing them back. To this date, the Carver ATMs have not been brought back to the campus.

• The Administration issued an eviction notice for The Center for NuLeadership and although the proposal for formal approval of the Center under CUNY guidelines was approved before the current administration came into existence, the President and Provost have refused to forward the proposal to CUNY.

• The current administration has not been able to get a quorum for college council meetings, the governing body of the college. There were only three meetings in the last year and only one legitimate meeting in the Fall 2010. As a result, issues related to curriculum and policy have not been addressed.

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