BoT ‘unanimously’ Reaffirms Confidence in President Ricciardone

By: Basant Samhout

@BasantSamhout

The Board of Trustees on February 11 informed the AUC community that they unanimously reaffirm their “continued confidence and unqualified support for President Francis J. Ricciardone and the administration.”

The Board also praised Ricciardone’s leadership and decision-making as “essential to AUC’s present and future success.”

This comes just a day after a number of student leaders told the BoT currently visiting Cairo that increased bureaucracy and a lack of transparency have deteriorated the quality of education at AUC.

The scheduled invitation-only ‘Lunch with the Board of Trustees, Family and Friends’ in AUC’s main cafeteria, Abela’s Kitchen, on February 10 turned into a forum for student leaders across campus, including club presidents and student senators who spoke of their concerns about the current administration in a series of short presentations.

Student Union President Saeed Zakaria emphasized the sharp decline of AUC’s ranking over the past few years, steering the discussion into the various students complaints, reflecting the overall discontent with the management style of the current administration.

On February 9, the AUC Student Senate passed a bill of no confidence in AUC President Francis Ricciardone with an absolute two-thirds majority.

The student senate bill, pending Zakaria’s approval, also calls for a ‘secret-ballot referendum of the student body at large assessing the student body’s belief and confidence in AUC President Francis J. Ricciardone.’

“AUC is losing its edge. It’s losing its value. AUC graduates are not getting good jobs anymore. They’re going out of university… They’re unemployed,” Sana Sherif, Sociology senator, said.

“People no longer want to work with AUC and no longer trust AUC,” said Salma Ehab president of the community service club Mashrou3 Kheir.

Students claim that bureaucracy has increased at AUC, which when paired with “non-inclusive decision making,” make it harder to cooperate with external entities, much less voice their concerns to the administration.

“It’s becoming very hard to schedule meetings with the provost, it’s been over a couple of months now. We can’t reach him due to bureaucracy within the process.” said Mohamed El Feky, the Chair of Academic Affairs in the Student Union.

Youssef Elwi, a Political Science senior said, “I’m standing in support of the faculty’s vote of no confidence, primarily because ever since President Ricciardone assumed office, I believe that the quality of student life has been deteriorating.”

At the end of the lunch meeting, some BoT members stayed behind to speak with the students about their concerns and grievances.

In their email to the community, the BoT highlighted the need for administration to work with the Senate on the Faculty Handbook, which faculty say has been the main point of contention with the administration.

“The Board directs the President to complete his consultations and submit a final draft by April 15 in order to give the Board time for considered review before its May 16 meeting,” the email said.

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

“It’s unfortunate that the board, while reasserting its ultimate governing and decision-making powers, has chosen not to address the legitimate grievances of faculty, students, and staff,” said Chairwoman of the History Department Pascale Ghazaleh in response to the BoT email.

Ghazaleh said that faculty are surprised that the BoT have forgone dialogue and issued “what can only be read as a refusal to engage with our dissatisfaction”.

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”.