Questioning CSULB President F. King Alexander’s qualifications to be the next President-Chancellor of the Louisiana State University (LSU) system, the LSU Faculty Senate unanimously passed a vote of no-confidence to the Board of Supervisors, despite the governing body pushing Alexander forward as the sole candidate this past Monday.
The “no-confidence” vote came the day before before Alexander visited the state to talk with LSU staff and students. According to the Shreveport Times, Alexander claimed that the vote will not affect his relationship with professors, a stance he will have to continue continue to defend given his visit with faculty tomorrow. He was quoted as saying:
I’m here to work with the faculty. I’ve always done that. I believe in our faculty. I’m here to listen to them, to address their concerns, to tackle any problems that they have with them, in essence to provide the best possible environment for their instruction and teaching, their research.
The Times-Picayune reported that the move by the senate is a rare one and is the most severe sanction that a faculty governance body can put forward. It was decided due to not only the closed-door process in interviewing future presidential candidates but also that the Faculty Senate views as Alexander’s “outsider” status in addition to his supposed lack of qualifications. Lacking an appointment from Governor Bobby Jindal further guided the senate’s vote, which Alexander counteracted with his belief that public universities no longer belong to the state.
“I can’t comment on why the LSU faculty senate took such action,” said CSULB spokesperson Terri Carbaugh to the Long Beach Post. “My focus is here in California and I’m not aware of any specific details surrounding their decision outside of what I read in their newspaper.”
Although it conveys the faculty’s disapproval, the no confidence vote can’t force any changes in board policy or decisions. The decision to have Alexander as LSU’s President-Chancellor will ultimately rely on the Board’s vote come next week, in which Board Chairman Hank Danos has publicly stated he expects Alexander to win approval.
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