Amid layoffs and budget problems, UW Oshkosh faculty vote no confidence in Chancellor Andrew Leavitt
OSHKOSH — University of Wisconsin Oshkosh faculty voted no-confidence in their chancellor, sending a symbolic message of disapproval during a difficult budget year.
About 72% of responding faculty, or 164 professors, said they lacked confidence in Chancellor Andrew Leavitt's leadership. Sixty-five faculty, or 28%, voted in support of him. Of the university's 281 faculty, 229 participated in the referendum, according to results shared Friday.
Leavitt said the results were "a reaction to hard but necessary decisions I have made as Chancellor." He said the university has faced challenges head-on by reducing an $18 million budget hole to $3 million and closing the remaining deficit by redesigning UW-Oshkosh's academic structure.
"Stakeholders recognize our difficult decisions and are rooting for us in our work to build a more sustainable UWO," he said in a statement. "We remain on a responsible path, and I appreciate everyone's continued stewardship."
Faculty have no power to fire chancellor
Only the UW Board of Regents have the power to fire a chancellor but no-confidence votes can draw public attention to perceived mismanagement.
A no-confidence vote can also lay the groundwork for a leaders' exit. A 2022analysis by the Chronicle of Higher Education found that about half the time a college president is on the receiving end of a vote, they leave office within a year. A separate Chronicleanalysis last year found 13% of presidential resignations in the past five years were linked to a no-confidence vote.
Board leaders on Friday indicated satisfaction with Leavitt's performance.
"Chancellor Andy Leavitt has our full support," Board President Karen Walsh, Board Vice President Amy Bogost and UW System President Jay Rothman said in a statement. "He is leading UW Oshkosh through a series of difficult but necessary decisions to position the university for a sustainable future. With a focus on current and future students, Chancellor Leavitt is thinking creatively about the university’s academic and building infrastructure."
Over the past year, UW Oshkosh has laid off more than 200 staff and imposed furloughs to help close an $18 million deficit. The university will close UW Oshkosh Fond du Lac, one of its two branch campuses, at the end of the school year.
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Paul Van Auken, a sociology professor, said faculty didn't want to take such a drastic measure but were left with no choice. He encouraged UW leaders to talk to community members in the wake of the referendum.
"It’s clear what the faculty thinks, so go beyond (us) and talk to people in the region who care about UW Oshkosh — alums, business leaders, students," he said. "And if they do, they will likely see it’s time for new leadership."
Petition launched no-confidence vote
A faculty petition that initiated the vote cast an unflattering portrait of Leavitt's leadership. Professors said the chancellor failed to address potential enrollment declines, disregarded collaborating with campus community members, relied on a consulting firm to determine layoffs and maintained a “top-down, opaque management style."
In a more than 4,000 word response, Leavitt disputed the petition's claims. He blamed the university's financial struggles on a "perfect storm" of circumstances beyond his control, including demographic trends, shifting perceptions about the value of a college degree, a decade-long tuition freeze and inherited legal trouble related to the university's private foundation.
Student newspaper editorial also criticizes Leavitt’s leadership
The no-confidence vote came a day after the university's student newspaper, the Advance-Titan, slammed Leavitt in an editorial featuring a missing person poster. The opinion piece called Leavitt’s leadership and availability into question.
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"There’s just a lack of empathy coming from the administration, so it’s just frustrating not to see the chancellor, who is supposed to be in charge and running the university, face these issues and appear to be running away from them,” Editor-In-Chief Anya Kelley told the Oshkosh Northwestern.
Leavitt's chief of staff, Alex Hummel, pushed back against the editorial and its characterization of Leavitt missing from campus. Hummel cited several student events where the chancellor recently attended.
Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at [email protected] or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer. Oshkosh Northwestern reporter Justin Marville contributed to this report and he can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UW-Oshkosh faculty vote no-confidence in Chancellor Andrew Leavitt