Media Credit: Lillana Castillo / NT Daily John Peters defended the decision not to switch to the plus/minus grading system during the NT Faculty Senate meeting Wednesday. [Click to enlarge]

Faculty Senate members voted Wednesday, 29 to 13, in favor of a referendum that would give faculty members the choice to express their confidence, or lack of confidence, in NT Provost Howard Johnson.

Dennis Mueller of the physics faculty said that the referendum should be "more aggressive" and should include vice presidents. But the motion was tabled for further discussion and will not be placed on the original referendum.

Senators then voted in favor to suspend the normal rule on elections and conduct a secret ballot on the resolution in order to allow untenured members to vote their conscience without fear of administrative backlash.

Referendum voting will be completed on or before Dec. 2. The results will be reported to senators and all voting faculty at the Dec. 7 meeting.

If faculty members pass the referendum, Johnson would have to discharge his responsibilities as provost and relinquish his title as vice president of academic affairs.

The Faculty Senate's executive committee originally voted to keep the issue from appearing on the agenda by a vote of six to one.

"The committee members did not want it to be seen as being supported by the committee," said France van Tassell, faculty senate chair.

Michael McPherson of the economics faculty made a motion for the executive committee of the senate to revisit the issue.

Earl Zimmerman of the biology faculty said it was important to place the motion under consideration.

"The bylaws indicate the executive committee sets the agenda - if things come to the executive committee they must be placed on the agenda," Zimmerman said.

Senators who voted for the referendum said they were concerned about the provost's low rating in faculty evaluations last spring and his denial of tenure in 2003 to the highest percentage of faculty in NT history.

"In general, among my constituents, a tremendous amount of frustration and feeling that faculty voice is not being heard, and not being listened to," McPherson said. "Faculty governance, faculty rights are being stomped on - discussions on evaluations makes my point."

John Booth of the political science faculty agreed with McPherson and is concerned about the administrator's communication with faculty.

"I have become immensely disturbed by the demobilization if faculty at this institution during the years I've been here," he said. "There has been a significant lack of faculty interest that seems to be regenerating now in a significant process, by which the administration has removed instances for participation."

Booth said he has not been pleased with the faculty senate leadership performance and said it is time to hold administrators accountable to faculty concerns.

"This an opportunity for us to, as faculty members and faculty senators, to stand up and say this is not acceptable and we want to have more voice-and that is the fundamental issue," he said.

Gustav Seligmann of the history faculty said it is time to see whether or not a "small number of people" are promoting an agenda or whether these issues are legitimate concerns within the faculty.

Seligmann said the faculty senate leadership was "ill considered, ill advised, and ill informed" in regard to a letter sent to the NT Board of Regents stating that a few people were concerned about faculty morale issues on campus.

"One reason for doing it this way is it resolves the issues," he said. "Apparently, that small number of people only resides in group four, because, quite frankly, I did not get a single message from anyone suggesting this ought not be brought to the faculty."

But some senators said the referendum comes at an inappropriate time and could complicate NT's search for a new president. Others believe the provost should not be made a scapegoat.

"The fact is the tenure system is broken," said Richard Reidy of the Materials Science and Engineering faculty. "Unfortunately, what has happened is nobody pays attention to the rules - we can not blame this on any one person in the administration."

Grant Miles, vice chair of the senate and management professor, agreed.

"I spent much of my summer discussing with many of the administrators how they ought to be accountable," Miles said. "- I don't think this resolution helps solve the problems or move the university forward."

Seligman said the issues discussed during the meeting need to be out in the open.

"I would consider it an act of gross irresponsibility, if not immorality, to attempt to conceal the fact of anyone coming here as a potential president, that we have a major problem - and this problem is not going away by not dealing with it," he said.

Robert Pirtle of the biology faculty said it is time for the faculty to decide whether or not the provost should stay at NT.

"I've heard very good comments about Dr. Johnson from many people, and on the other side I've heard many negative comments about Provost Johnson," he said. "I want to present to the entire faculty of the university whether or not Provost Johnson is or isn't good for our university."

Daniel Peak, former NT associate professor of the information technology and decision science department, was approved to address the faculty senate with his concerns about the faculty senate leadership. Peak was denied tenure in 2004 and has a lawsuit against NT for $3 million dollars and lifetime medical benefits.

Peak presented senators with a summary of grievance allegations and requested actions. The same summary was sent to the University Review Committee.

"I've been told by the leadership of the faculty senate that, one time or another, it was time for me move on and put this incident behind me," Peak said.

According to the summary, executive committee members on the faculty senate used their status to "gain access to the media-and reinforce their admittedly personal grievances."

It also stated that "EC officers" were aware of the University Tenure Committee rulings, but still chose to assert their opinions publicly. In a letter printed in the Daily, faculty senate officers voiced their support for the provost.

Some senators were shocked by Peak's actions.

"I think that this is inappropriate that this is coming to the body when the committee is still investigating - this not yet completed," said Noreen Goggin of the kinesiology faculty.

Pirtle agreed and said that the issue should be brought up at a later time.

Johnson, who was in attendance at the meeting, said it was difficult to hear comments about his job performance. But he knew that it was a possibility and was not surprised about what was said.

"I'm trying to do the best possible job I can," Johnson said. "I've had to make some very difficult decisions and we'll just continue to move forward."

He said he does not know what would happen to his job, or direction of NT, if he received a "no confidence."

Johnson would not comment on Peak's address during the meeting or the lawsuit that involves him.

"I have no idea what that all was about," Johnson said.

Johnson did not know whether a "no confidence" vote would complicate the search for a new president. But said he will continue to move forward.

"I can't [explain] what the faculty senate is doing - I won't," he said. "We have an awful lot of challenges before us at this particular time."

Earlier in the meeting, Marcia Staff, of the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate Law department and chair of the tenure process study committee, presented preliminary report about the current tenure process.

Staff reported that NT's tenure process starts later than other universities and considered NT's process start earlier.

Also, a motion not to replace NT's current grading system with a plus/minus system passed.

Jack Peters, of the English department and chair of the academic affairs committee, said a large number of students were opposed to the new system. Changing the system could cost NT $3 or $5 million dollars.

"There didn't seem to be a lot support on the part of the faculty," Peters said. "It would have been a great deal of expense, time and difficulty involved changing over to the new system."

David Hall, Richardson junior and president of the Student Government Association, said he is happy about the decision.

"I'm glad the student's voice was heard," he said. "We're very pleased with the results, and I think a lot of students are going to be pleased with the results."

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