SUNY-ESF’s Undergraduate Student Association overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Thursday calling for campus-wide reconciliation in the wake of growing tensions between faculty and administrators.

The organization called for the administration to clarify its vision for major academic strategic plans and increase communication among students, faculty, staff and administration.

Only one USA member voted against the resolution.

The association’s resolution comes weeks after SUNY-ESF leadership’s abrupt decision to dismiss three department chairs, just days before the start of the spring semester. A new policy, included in a draft of a major university-wide initiative released on Jan. 11, outlined plans to limit department chairships to two three-year terms.

USA, in the resolution, said the chair removals were “communicated to the student body four days after the decision was made, three days after faculty and staff were alerted, and two days prior to the start of the Spring 2018 semester.”

Students have had to rely on unofficial SUNY-ESF social media pages and student government leaders to explain the administration’s actions, according to the resolution. USA also expressed dissatisfaction with Wheeler’s visibility on campus and concern over the administration’s lack of communication in its plan to increase enrollment.

USA called on the SUNY-ESF administration to create a “progress report” for developing goals in a major academic strategic plan called the Vision 2020 Update. It also urged administrators to continue biweekly update emails to the community and increase informal face-to-face interactions between administration and students, among other things.

By March 1, USA said it will review the administration’s responses and “reassess the campus climate.”

The organization originally considered a call for President Quentin Wheeler and Provost and Executive Vice President Nosa Egiebor to resign if they didn’t work to improve the campus climate by March 1. USA voted not to include the clause during the organization’s Thursday meeting because some said they believed it would raise tensions on campus.

The USA resolution follows a survey released after a Jan. 18 town hall meeting with students and administrators. Students were asked to give feedback and vote on USA’s “next move,” which included writing a resolution, working with faculty on a joint resolution, hosting a student vote of no confidence or doing nothing.

On Tuesday, USA held a “Student to Student” lunch, where 400 students offered feedback on the resolution draft.

SUNY-ESF’s Graduate Student Association released a statement last week, expressing disappointment in the sudden policy change and concern over the release of a major academic plan without consultation of the student organization.

In an email to students three days after the dismissals were announced, Wheeler said the new chair rotations would allow for the development of new ideas and faculty leadership. But at the town hall meeting on Jan. 18, Wheeler said department chairs and administration needed to “pull in the same direction” and that department chairs worked as part of senior administration.

The interim department chairs were named on Jan. 18 and include Robert Malmsheimer, department of forest and natural resources management; Bandaru Ramarao, department of paper and bioprocess engineering; and Neil Ringler, department of environmental and forest biology.

The turmoil surrounding the department chair dismissals follows previous tension between SUNY-ESF faculty and administration. In Nov. 2016, SUNY-ESF faculty passed a vote of no confidence in Wheeler, expressing frustration in the president’s leadership style and citing a climate of fear.

Published on February 1, 2018 at 10:52 pm

Contact Jordan: jmulle01@syr.edu | @jordanmuller18