Posted on Thu, Nov. 18, 2004
(THE STAR)

UMKC chancellor faces faculty vote of 'no confidence'

By LYNN FRANEY The Kansas City Star

The largest faculty group at the University of Missouri-Kansas City plans to vote today on whether to publicly criticize the leadership of Chancellor Martha Gilliland.

The vote by professors in the College of Arts and Sciences on a resolution of "no confidence" in the chancellor - a relatively rare move in academia - comes just days after two UMKC faculty groups also expressed a lack of confidence in Gilliland.

And it comes on the same day a fourth faculty group is set to tally its votes on whether to publicly censure Gilliland.

Faculty unrest on the 12,000-student campus stems from a paper distributed recently to professors by Gilliland's provost, or second-in-command. It suggests a radical restructuring to make UMKC more efficient and more focused on its mission areas: life sciences, the arts and developing a professional work force.

Professors are angry that they weren't consulted first.

But that's not the only thing they're upset about. Their anger has built as a result of recent Gilliland decisions to:
* Take 5 percent of each school's budget for building projects that didn't attract enough private money.

* Pursue financially penalizing a school if 80 percent of its professors and staff members don't say they like working at UMKC.

* Consider moving the law school downtown despite professors' opposition.

Some professors say Gilliland, who has led UMKC for 41/2 years, has embarked yet again on a project or major change without seeking their opinions.

The restructuring proposal appeared in professors' e-mail boxes Nov. 5. It broaches an unorthodox merger of law, education, engineering and business into a College of Professional Education.

And it suggests that Arts and Sciences could be dismantled and its units given to other schools. For example, psychology could join medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy and biological sciences in a new College of Health Sciences.

"This is the straw that broke the camel's back," said geography professor Steve Driever, one of roughly 175 Arts and Sciences professors. His college is considered UMKC's heart because of its involvement in all undergraduates' general education. Its subjects range from math and chemistry to English and sociology.

Professors in Arts and Sciences will consider a resolution condemning what the resolution's authors call a "persistent pattern of flawed leadership."

Meanwhile, professors in the Bloch School of Business and Public Administration will count their own "no confidence" ballots.

Earlier this week, professors in the School of Biological Sciences reaffirmed an earlier "no confidence" resolution. And last Friday, the UMKC chapter of the American Association of University Professors encouraged schools to express no confidence in Gilliland.

The association resolution said, in part: "Chancellor Gilliland and her administration have consistently pursued a policy of aggression against the faculty of UMKC, circumventing legitimate faculty governance bodies and targeting one academic unit after another."

Professors say they want to get their opposition on the record to attract the attention of Gilliland's boss, Elson Floyd, the president of the University of Missouri system.

Gilliland attributes the conflict to a communication gap. She said she appreciates professors' input.

To reach Lynn Franey, higher education reporter, call (816) 234-4927 or send e-mail to lfraney@kcstar.com