Faculty at Northland campuses vote 'no confidence' in president

May 11—EAST GRAND FORKS — Faculty at the East Grand Forks and Thief River Falls campuses of Northland Community and Technical College are calling for a change in leadership after taking a vote of no confidence in President Sandra Kiddoo.

On Tuesday, May 2, with 88% of Northland faculty participating, 96% voted "no confidence" in Kiddoo's leadership. The results of the vote were presented to Minnesota State Chancellor David Malhotra on Friday, May 5.

Brent Braga, president of the Minnesota State College Faculty union chapter at the East Grand Forks campus, told the Herald the vote of no confidence came after concerns among faculty about Kiddoo's leadership continued throughout the 2022-23 academic year. The Minnesota State College Faculty represents faculty at two-year colleges in Minnesota and is affiliated with statewide education union Education Minnesota.

"A vote of no confidence is a serious matter, and it's not something that we decided upon lightly, because it sends a very clear statement about the disapproval that the vast majority of our faculty have in President Kiddoo's leadership," Braga said.

A climate survey distributed to faculty in February indicated faculty had worries about Kiddoo's performance in the areas of leading the college in a positive direction, stewardship of the school's financial resources, a lack of communication, failure to treat faculty respectfully and retaliation against faculty for expressing opinions.

Kiddoo was

appointed as the president of Northland

by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees on April 21, 2021, and

began her presidency

on July 1, 2021. Before Northland, she served as the chief academic officer of Hazard Community and Technical College in Kentucky.

Braga said Kiddoo often seems hesitant to share information with faculty, especially around financial decisions.

"President Kiddoo's everyday, managerial type communication is lackluster, but more worrisome is the lack of transparency behind significant decisions that the college has made in her nearly two-year tenure," Braga said.

Dorinda Sorvig, president of the Minnesota State College Faculty union chapter at the Thief River Falls campus, echoed those communication concerns.

"It seemed to be more one-way and we give our opinions, but they're rarely, rarely considered," Sorvig said.

Additionally, Braga said the budget has been a concern at Northland for years, but budgetary concerns have become more serious since Kiddoo began as president.

"Some of that is the pandemic, and what has happened with enrollment and higher education more generally since the height of the pandemic, but some of that seems to be directly attributable to President Kiddoo," Braga said.

Faculty were also concerned about how money has been spent at Northland under Kiddoo's leadership. He gave the example of tricycles purchased to participate in a United Way fundraiser.

"We, like really anybody in higher ed, especially public higher ed, are always under budgetary constraints, and particularly in the last few years, we've seen pretty sharp declines in enrollment," Braga said. "To see precious financial resources used for something that is pretty trivial, like tricycles, rubbed a lot of faculty the wrong way."

Kiddoo told the Herald she learned of the vote of no confidence after it had occurred.

"Given the long term enrollment challenges and the aftermath of the pandemic, higher education providers throughout the country have had high rates of turnover in our employees — it's not uncommon" she said, reading from a written statement she prepared for the media. "I fully understand the concerns, anxiety, discontentment among the Northland community that the challenges and changes that having turnover brings.

"I'm committed to continue collaborative conversations on how I can improve and work together to provide high quality and affordable education opportunities to our region," Kiddoo said. "I'm continuing to work with faculty leadership and all of our bargaining units put in place a plan to address their concerns, to move the college forward, working toward our collective mission of transforming the lives of our students and our communities through a welcoming, supportive and integrated learning environment."

When asked what issues at Northland led to the vote of no confidence, Kiddoo said Northland has had 10 years of declining enrollments and that investments in higher education have not kept up with Northland's needs.

"We are facing some significant budgetary challenges, and addressing that involves making a lot of decisions around people, and that's never popular," Kiddoo said. "That's one of the biggest challenges I've had to work on this year, along with a lot of turnover."

Braga said since the start of the 2022-23 academic year, a number of staff, administrators and faculty have left the college. He says that number is in the range of mid- to high-20s and includes two counselors and four longtime administrators.

Faculty hope to see the chancellor seek an interim replacement for Kiddoo in time for the next school year, Sorvig said.

"If nothing does happen, we'll just keep working the best we can with her, and we want students to still come next fall," Sorvig said. "We will keep trying to improve the way things are being done and hope that our vote against one person does not prevent students from coming."