Duncan Receives Vote of No Confidence from A&S Faculty

[information] On March 21, the Faculty of Arts & Sciences voted for a resolution of “no confidence” in President Lewis Duncan, the first instance in Rollins history. 

For complete coverage of this story, review the following articles:

• The Sandspur’s article reflecting on President Duncan’s response to the no confidence vote.
• President Duncan’s complete response to the no confidence vote.
• The A&S faculty’s response to President Duncan’s statement.[/information]

In a 67 to 10 vote, Rollins College’s faculty of Arts and Sciences passed a resolution of “no confidence” in President Lewis Duncan during their monthly meeting on March 21. The resolution asserts that the faculty “lacks confidence in President Lewis Duncan to lead Rollins College.” While a vote of “no confidence” is a largely symbolic move, it communicates a strong message to the Board of Trustees and the entire campus community. This is the first time in the school’s history that a vote of “no confidence” was made.

Today’s resolution was by no means an unexpected outcome.

“The vote today is a culmination of what happened before,” said Professor of Political Science Donald Davison. “It was an outcome of events over several years.”

In fall 2011, faculty voted to censure Duncan, citing in their resolution that the president showed “disrespect of Rollins’ principles of shared governance by establishing a new school and altering the senior administrative structure without consulting or providing due diligence to the Faculty.”

According to Professor of Anthropology Robert Moore, member of the Executive Committee, faculty discontent primarily stemmed from Duncan’s announcement of dividing the college and creating the College of Professional Studies without prior communications on the matter. “To many of us something did not seem right here and we were disappointed in the way this was done,” said Moore. “We were not being represented and we were not being respected.”

“The censure was a more moderate step,” said Professor of History Claire Strom. “The ‘no confidence’ vote is more pointed.”
”A censure wasn’t effective at satisfying the discontent, perhaps today’s vote will,” said Moore. “The ball is in President Duncan’s court, but I’m not sure if he is going to hit it back.”

A comment from President Duncan was sought but not returned in time for publication.

Update: Words “this afternoon” updated to “March 21” in the first sentence.

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Listen to our interview with Vice President of the Faculty Dr. Dexter Boniface, as played on The Sandspur Talks on WPRK