Issue date: 3/9/10 Section: News

Twenty percent of faculty need to sign a petition for a vote of no confidence against Blair Lord, provost and vice president for academic affairs, in order for no confidence to be brought to referendum. No faculty members have come forward publicly to address the nine points made against Lord.(Audrey Sawyer/The Daily Eastern News file photo)

A petition for a vote of no confidence against Blair Lord, provost and vice president for academic affairs, is circulating the campus, collecting signatures.

If the required number of signatures is collected, the faculty will vote on whether they have confidence in Lord. The vote itself will not decide Lord's fate, but it could put pressure on the administration to take action, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Lord said Thursday he had not spoken to any of the petitioners but welcomes anyone who wants to discuss his governing policies.

"I'd be delighted to speak with anyone that would like to come forward and speak with me," Lord said.

The petitioners have not come forward publicly to address the nine points they make against Lord in the document, and two contacted for this article refused to comment.

In order to be brought to referendum, the petition must be signed by 20 percent of faculty eligible to vote in faculty senate elections. Those who are eligible are Unit A - tenured and tenure-track faculty and department chairs. Although the exact number needed varies year-to-year, approximately 93 signatures are needed to bring the petition to a vote.

The petition requests that Unit B faculty members - annually contracted and academic support professionals - also be allowed to vote in the referendum. Article XIII of the faculty senate's constitution says faculty can petition the senate to hold a referendum on anything not relating to collective bargaining. A vote must be held within four weeks of when the petition is brought before the senate.

The majority of the points in the petition deal with Lord's hiring decisions. One says, "He has consistently and systematically appointed lesser-qualified persons to administrative positions."

As the head of academic affairs, Lord has the final say in all faculty hiring decisions, as well as administrative positions under the academic umbrella, including department chairs and deans of each college. Most recently, Lord appointed Bonnie Irwin, current chair of the Honors College, as the dean of the College of Arts and Humanities.

The petition also charges that "certain appointments appear to have been made on the basis of personal relationships rather than professional merit" and that "certain appointments appear to have been decided prior to the search process, and are thus in violation of ethical and professional standards well-understood in the academic community."

Lord said Thursday that he follows the guidelines for hiring laid out in the university's internal governing policies.

"I consider faculty opinion very seriously," Lord said. "We have IGPs that specify how, whether it's administrative or faculty hiring, allows for participation through search committees processes. We have a very active search committee process for both faculty hires and for administrative hires. I have followed the IGPs, and my academic affairs managers have followed the IGPs very carefully."

The grievances listed on the petition also include allegations that Lord has violated the principles of shared governance and has refused to address faculty concerns about "summer school, faculty development, safety policies, and faculty governance of the curriculum."

Lord said he and members of his staff regularly attend faculty senate and committee meetings and take faculty opinions into consideration when making decisions. Ultimately, he said, the final decisions are his responsibility.

"Shared governance in higher education generally means that many of the decisions that have to be made - particularly those that have to do with academics - the faculty, through its organized instrumentalities, senates and curriculum committees and other standing committees, are invited and included in discussions of those decisions," Lord said. "Eastern has a very active governance structure with several senates and many committees, and the shared governance processes means that for those decisions that fall under the governance of those groups, they discuss them, they make actions, whether it's formal resolutions or approvals that are then part of the decision process by the university. Administrators hired by the Board of Trustees ultimately have the authority to make the decisions for the institution."

Lord said the number of decisions that administrators must make means, ultimately, everyone will be unhappy with at least one decision.

"There have been matters about summer school that have been brought to me by both the senate and (University Professionals of Illinois), and they have been addressed. That's probably all I'm going to say," Lord said. "There is a difference between addressing them and people not liking the answer."

Sarah Ruholl can be reached at 581-7942 or seruholl2@eiu.edu.

Lord, Nadler up for three-year evaluation

Lord and Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, are both up for three-year evaluations by President Bill Perry.

Perry said this is his first opportunity to conduct three-year evaluations because he is nearing his three-year mark at Eastern. He received "quite a few" evaluations from faculty and staff of both Lord and Nadler.

"It's going to take me a while to look through all those and report back to the campus on my findings," Perry said.

Lord said he supports the process as a means of evaluating his performance.

To see the full petition, click here.

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