Michigan State Faculty Senate approves vote of no confidence in Board of Trustees

EAST LANSING − Michigan State University’s Faculty Senate overwhelmingly approved a vote of no confidence in the school's Board of Trustees.

Members of the Faculty Senate approved the no confidence vote by a 55-4 margin Tuesday. The vote comes after Faculty Senate leaders sent a letter to the Board of Trustees last week, demanding it stop interfering with the academic management of the university. The letter concerned an investigation initiated by the board into the forced resignation of Sanjay Gupta as the Broad College of Business dean. The board hired an outside firm to conduct the investigation.

“Members of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees have continued to destabilize the university” since the MSU Faculty Senate on Sept. 13 approved resolutions slamming the Board of Trustees for interfering in personnel matters involving Gupta.

The resolutions strongly discouraged trustees from demanding the resignation or retirement of President Samuel Stanley Jr. for his handling of Title IX reports, including Gupta’s Title IX-related departure, until more information was shared with the campus community. A Faculty Senate resolution also called for an investigation into the recent actions of trustees.

The vote is considered symbolic. The Faculty Senate has no role in appointing trustees, who are elected in a statewide vote.

“Members of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees have compounded their intransigence, intimidating faculty administrators through a retained law firm investigating the resignation of Sanjay Gupta which is both outside of the Board’s administrative purview and a violation of their Code of Ethics,” according to the vote of no confidence resolution.

Board of Trustees Chair Dianne Byrum could not immediately be reached for comment. MSU spokesman Dan Olsen said the administration had no comment.

Associated Students of MSU approved its own vote of no confidence in the Board of Trustees on Oct. 6 by a 21-0 vote with four abstentions.

Growing numbers of faculty have thrown their support behind the embattled Stanley after a reported push by some trustees to have Stanley removed from the position. Trustees Dianne Byrum and Dan Kelly offered Stanley the option to take early retirement before his contract ends in 2024.

Stanley and the Board of Trustees remain in contract negotiations.

Gupta was forced to resign on Aug. 12 after he failed to report claims that a leader in the Broad College of Business got drunk at a party, the Gatsby Gala, on April 22 at The Studio at 414 in Lansing, for MBA students, Crain’s Detroit Business reported. He inappropriately touched at least one student while also dancing in a sexually suggestive manner, the publication reported.

Gupta has welcomed investigations into the circumstances that led to his resignation.

Student groups, faculty groups and groups of survivors of abuse at the hands of convicted sex offender and former MSU doctor Larry Nassar have released numerous statements since word spread of attempts by some board members to have Stanley removed.

Faculty Senate Chairperson Karen Kelly-Blake and Vice Chairperson Stephanie Anthony sent a letter to Byrum and Trustee Rema Vassar on Oct. 4 after learning that the outside counsel hired by the Board of Trustees had contacted faculty and other staff to sit for interviews regarding Gupta’s dismissal.

“We find this action to be a continued encroachment into academic management matters outside the purview of the board. The Gupta dismissal is settled,” Kelly-Blake and Anthony wrote. “This continued overreach denies the harm inflicted on the victim and seemingly provides cover and protection for Gupta. Additionally, paying for outside counsel using MSU funds that will fuel a Gupta lawsuit against the university seems absurd and in no way aligns with the fiduciary role of the board.”

A group of 23 high-ranking faculty in the Broad College of Business authored their own letter to trustees and to Kelly-Blake and Anthony sharing their support for the board’s efforts to further investigate Gupta’s departure.

“As senior professors in the Broad College, we ask that you give consideration to representing the views of many of us in the Broad College,” they wrote. “It is of utmost importance that our faculty, staff, students, and external stakeholders have complete transparency regarding the events and decisions that led to Dean Gupta’s forced resignation.”

Contact Mark Johnson at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU Faculty Senate approves vote of no confidence in Board of Trustees