The Fayetteville Faculty Senate passed a vote of “no confidence” in the leadership of Provost Monica Leach Friday, becoming the latest in a series of UNC System campuses where faculty have expressed their dissatisfaction with administration.
Out of 44 voting senators, 32 voted for the resolution, 8 abstained and 4 voted against.
Faculty Senate Chair Zahra Shekarkhar said the faculty did not come to the resolution hastily but after much discussion.
“It was not one single event,” Shekarkhar said. “It was more a culmination of a lot of different things.”
Faculty members from across the university said they had discussed the resolution in their departments and found no opposition.
Leach was present online for the remote meeting but did not address the resolution in her comments to the senate before the vote.
As Newsline reported this week, the resolution cites more than a dozen points of contention between faculty and the provost.
The most recent and pressing is opposition to a plan to require faculty members to go from teaching a minimum of three classes per semester to four. Faculty members say that will cut into the time they have to prepare for classes, meet with students who need individual attention and mentorship, advise student groups, and perform research or service in the community.
The increase in courses is in response to a new workload policy adopted by the UNC System’s Board of Governors, Leach said in a written statement to Newsline Thursday. Faculty members had their chance to weigh in through a working group, she said.
“Fayetteville State University fully supports its faculty and welcomes the discourse as we make progress towards our shared goals,” Leach wrote in the statement. “Under my guidance, the University established a working group to update its Faculty Workload policy in alignment with the UNC System Faculty Workload policy. ”
“This FSU policy is a requirement by the UNC System and must be brought to the FSU Board of Trustees for approval at its next meeting,” Leach said. “The FSU working group is made up of 16 members representing the four colleges and is co-chaired by Dr. Sonja Brown, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Dr. Zaira Shekarkhar, Associate Professor and Faculty Senate Chair. Our goal in creating the workgroup was to ensure faculty members had representation, awareness, and input in the shaping of the policy.”
Daniel Okunbar, a professor of Computer Science, said he didn’t like seeing a draft of the resolution in media reports ahead of the vote.
“I think there should have been more deliberation before it was made public,” Okunbar said.
Other professors, including Jonathan Breitzer, an assistant professor of Chemistry, said it would have been inappropriate to withhold a draft resolution from the public.
“This is just as much a public body as the [North Carolina General Assembly],” Breitzer said. “So of course the media are privy to what we deliberate on.”
Robert Taber, an associate professor of History, said this resolution had seen much more public discussion and deliberation than other resolutions considered by the Senate, some of which are crafted on the floor during the very meetings where a vote takes place.
“This is not something that is undertaken lightly,” Taber said. “This is solemn.”
A university spokesman provided a written statement after Friday’s vote, saying the university continues to work with faculty members on their concerns.
“Fayetteville State University and its administration continue to address faculty concerns and have met recently with a small group of faculty members regarding the issues they’ve raised,” the statement read.
"We are not in opposition with any faculty member and believe that together, through dialogue, mutual respect, and understanding, we can be progressive in meeting 21st century needs. As a constituent member of the UNC System, we have to ensure that we adhere to the policies and regulations instituted by the UNC System.”
“Our administration and faculty members are forward focused and aligned with ensuring our adherence to these policy changes ahead,” the statement read.
“We will continue to have regular meetings with faculty and administrator workgroups to review and evaluate these new policies and regulations. We have recently hosted a Faculty Senate lunch with the Chancellor and will continue to work together to solve our concerns internally.
The University is set to host a Faculty Town Hall in mid-April to further discuss issues of concern.”

(Photo: Fayetteville State University's campus as seen from above courtesy of Fayetteville State University's Facebook page).