Senate Calls on BoT to begin Search for New President

By CARAVAN STAFF
@Caravan_AUC

The University Senate on February 5 voted by an 80 percent majority in favor of Resolution 760/2019 which expressed no confidence in President Francis Ricciardone “to lead AUC in a manner that enables our faculty, staff and administrators to educate and serve our students”.

The motion of no confidence was introduced on the Senate floor after it had passed by 90 percent in a secret ballot vote during a General Faculty meeting just two days earlier.

The vote of no confidence was set in motion following a letter of protest sent to Ricciardone by Chair of the History Department Pascale Ghazaleh after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke at the New Cairo campus on January 10. However, AUC senators said the vote came primarily as a result of concern about the way the university is being managed without the involvement of the faculty.

During the February 3 and February 5 meetings, faculty said they were frustrated at the lack of shared governance, lack of transparency and disregard for the Faculty Handbook.

Ghazaleh’s letter stressed the lack of shared governance, particularly when faculty and the Senate are not consulted on matters relevant to the university’s best interests.

“I do not believe I am the only member of the AUC “community” who was taken by surprise at the news that Mike Pompeo was speaking at the university. Were any of the members of our community consulted as to whether it was a good idea to bring a former CIA director who has spoken in favor of torture to AUC?” Ghazaleh’s said in a January 13 email sent to faculty.

Ricciardone defended the Pompeo visit saying that it helped reaffirm AUC’s international standing.

“This visit did serve to remind global audiences, people outside Egypt who have very mistaken apprehensions about this country, that Egypt and AUC are welcoming and safe places,” he said.

However, he acknowledged that faculty frustrations were rooted in bigger issues than the Pompeo visit.

“I recognize that this isn’t just about the comment of the speech or even about the speech, but also several other points that others raised here,” Ricciardone said.

He added that not everyone shared his views that “substantial progress” had been made in resolving core issues including updating the Faculty Handbook.

When it came to the issue of shared governance with the Senate, Ricciardone said that AUC policies should be referred to that body for ‘review’ and ‘advice’.

“I see the Senate as a vitally important element of shared governance at this university. And I urge that together, we and the senate and the administration establish the most collegial constructive communication in consultation of issues of community concerns,” he said.

But Ghazaleh told The Caravan that higher administration had failed to communicate with or listen to the faculty and the Senate for months.

The core issue has been the debate on the faculty handbook.

Although the faculty handbook is the basis of faculty contracts, it has become rather discarded, according to faculty members, when administration officials make decisions.

“The president has referred to the faculty handbook – our governance document and the basis for our contracts – as non binding. He has disregarded our rights and ignored our representatives,” said Ghazaleh.

The issue of the Faculty Handbook’s significance was emphasized in the Senate’s Resolution 761/2019 for the Way Forward, which passed with an 83 percent majority during the February 5 special session.

Over the years, the Board of Trustees has rejected calls by the senate to recognize the 2015-2016 version of the handbook as binding.

The Way Forward Resolution calls on the Board of Trustees to declare “the Faculty Handbook (FHB) version of 2015 binding, with the understanding that the current ongoing revisions of that FHB shall be continued”.

As an immediate extension to the no-confidence vote, the Way Forward also called on the Board of Trustees to not renew Ricciardone’s term beyond the end of June 2020, “and that the Board of Trustees will adopt clear succession plans including starting the search for a new president this coming summer”.

Moreover, the resolution demands that “no university policies are implemented without being vetted and approved by the University Senate”.

Following the Senate resolutions, the Student Union expressed its support for the faculty.
“The current administration has proved its inability to cope with students and faculty needs, and accordingly must either change its actions or the administration must be changed,” read the SU’s post on their Facebook page.