Menu
DePauw faculty no-confidence vote sends message
Faculty members at DePauw University have approved a resolution of no confidence in the school’s president over finances and his response to racist messages found last spring.
While the vote apparently has no real power, faulty members say they wanted it to send a message.
The DPU Board of Trustees, meanwhile, says it remains confident in the leadership of President Mark McCoy, who took office in July 2016. In a letter sent to faculty after the recent vote, the trustees said the vote of no confidence is unwarranted.
Thirty-one percent of 266 faculty members voted to support the measure, while 22 percent opposed it. Meanwhile, 24 percent abstained and the remainder did not vote.
Faculty chairman Howard Brooks told reporters the resolution shows how upset professors are over issues such as financial stability and cutbacks to employee health coverage.
The vote follows student protests in April, including disruption of a Jenna Fischer Ubben Series lecture, over the university’s response to racist threats being found in campus restrooms and a racial slur displayed with rocks at the DePauw Nature Park. Local juveniles were suspected of leaving the slur at the nature park.