A long time coming

Common wisdom holds that the first step of recovery is admitting there’s a problem. Members of Chico State’s Academic Senate took that step last Thursday (Sept. 25) during a packed meeting in Kendall Hall, though what exactly the problem is remains unclear—even to those most involved.

An admission of dysfunction from the university has been a long time coming, by most accounts, but the sudden resignation of Provost Belle Wei prompted the senate to action. On Sept. 11, Wei sent an email to colleagues citing “health and family reasons” for her departure, only two years after taking the job and just as the fall semester got underway. Wei’s predecessor, Sandra Flake, also unexpectedly stepped down after a short stint as the university’s second-in-command.

On Tuesday, Sept. 23, the Academic Senate’s agenda circulated around campus, and it contained only one item: consideration of a resolution titled “Request for Review of and Assistance in Strengthening Campus Co-Governance, Communication, and Morale.”

The document lists a host of issues, including recurrent problems with communication between administration and faculty, eroding stability in Academic Affairs, and “campus-wide deterioration of trust” due to lack of transparency during decision-making processes, particularly regarding the replacement of campus leaders.

“The stress, as a result of these actions, has led to a failure to maintain well-functioning relationships and a loss of morale,” the document reads.

The resolution is a nonbinding request for California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White to appoint an independent consultant to evaluate problems on campus and offer solutions. On Thursday, after much deliberation, the Academic Senate voted 32-2 to approve the resolution, which has been sent to White, the CSU Board of Trustees and Chico State President Paul Zingg.

Though some members of the panel called Zingg’s leadership into question during the meeting, others maintain the issues are systemic.

“I think it would be wrong to pinpoint administration,” said Jennifer Meadows by phone this week. Meadows is vice chairwoman of the senate and a professor of communication design. “This is something happening throughout the university.”

Zingg opened the Academic Senate’s meeting on Thursday with a statement supporting the goals and values expressed in the resolution—namely, “the unequivocal focus of our work on student learning and success.”

“There is unity in our purpose,” he said. “There also needs to be unity in the manner and spirit with which we go about this work, the way in which we express differences in opinion.” He then left the room to allow an uncensored discussion.

During a phone interview, Zingg acknowledged he’s never confronted a “formal expression of concern” of this magnitude during his 11 years leading Chico State.

“I’ve always found a way through conversation to overcome concerns about communication or direction,” he said. “My career has been characterized to a great degree by that kind of commitment and openness. So this [resolution] is disappointing, but for me it just underscores why I need to be mindful of the concerns that have been expressed and to redouble my efforts to address them.”

One source of unease highlighted by Wei’s resignation is the high turnover rate of experienced faculty members and administrators, especially in Academic Affairs, Meadows said.

“My concern as a faculty member is that Academic Affairs—the area under which I work—has been in disarray for the last couple of years,” she said. “We’ve lost two provosts; we lost a vice provost; all of our deans have turned over. The longest-standing dean we have has been here just over a year. We don’t have a lot of experience here, and it feels really unstable.”

Zingg agrees that the university’s inability to retain institutional knowledge is troubling, but says his hands are tied by “abysmal” compensation levels that have remained static throughout the CSU system since the worst of the national economic downturn.

“We’re not attracting faculty and we’re not retaining faculty,” he said. “Faculty wages have essentially been frozen for the last seven years. That is not a decision that I, or any president, makes. That is the result of collective bargaining. … I certainly understand the frustration.”

Kathy Kaiser, a sociology professor and longtime Academic Senate member, offered a similar account of the Sociology Department, which recently lost two faculty members. One left to pursue a more lucrative job offer, while the other died after a struggle with cancer.

“Here we have two shining stars, very productive faculty members, and we lose both of them for different reasons,” she said. “How many new hires do we have? Two. And what does administration talk about? ‘Oh, my gosh, you have two more faculty members.’ No—we have zero net gain. But the student load, the number of majors in the department, has increased by almost double.”

But these are specific problems, and asking both Kaiser and Meadows to pinpoint the root of the campus-wide issues—and when they arose in the first place—was unfruitful.

“If you were to ask different segments of campus when the sense of crisis became more dramatic, you’d get somewhat varied responses,” Kaiser offered.

“I can’t answer that question,” Meadows said. “That’s why we’re asking for an outside consultant to come in and really look at this, ask those questions and see things from a different perspective.”

Zingg declined to comment specifically on Wei’s resignation, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters. But the outspoken Kaiser offered her take.

“I think [Wei] wasn’t being given the decision-making authority a provost should have,” she said. “If you come into a situation where there’s been instability, and other leaders on campus increase their power, you may decide this is a losing situation.

“When people are talking about co-governance and stability, they’re talking about a clear framing of responsibilities.”

As for the resolution, White is not obligated to respond to the request, and even if he does, no timetable is set for when the independent review process will begin.

Meadows said she hopes it’s sooner rather than later.

“A lot of people are upset because, across the board, people love Chico State,” she said. “We really love this institution and we feel like it’s in trouble.”