Faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences have rejected a motion of a "no confidence" against University President James W. Wagner. The vote was 201 to 133, with 60.2 percent of the faculty voting against the motion of "no confidence."
We at the Wheel believe that this process deserves a nuanced analysis of small but important semantical distinctions. The 39.8 percent who supported the "no confidence" motion may not be a majority, but it does reveal a very large number of faculty who feel Wagner is no longer fit to lead. The 60.2 percent of those who chose to vote against the motion of "no confidence" still may not be completely pleased with the current direction of the University. It is an important distinction to note that these faculty do not have full confidence, but rather, do not have "no confidence." The ballots themselves were phrased in this way, depicting slight ambiguity in what is meant by a vote for or against "no confidence." Due to the phrasing of the ballots we cannot be 100 percent sure to what degree the 60.2 percent have confidence in Wagner.
We at the Wheel recognize that Wagner is proposing ways in which the University can productively move forward through his email, which was sent out yesterday. However, we urge Wagner to start making more active movements to try and fix the problems of those who voted "no confidence." We also hope that the results will not be interpreted as a comprehensive statement on faculty sentiment, seeing as a third of the faculty chose to abstain. The vote should just be used as a way to figure out how to progress and change the things that are concerning to all faculty and members of the University, students included.
Further, the vote should be used as an impetus to confront a range of issues that concern all community members, both students and faculty.
So, how do we move forward? Just because Wagner did not get a majority "no confidence" vote does not mean the root-cause of all issues are solved. We at the Wheel need Wagner to address all of the problems at the University through pragmatic action. We feel that his email is a very positive start. Votes are used to show ideological stances, especially in this context, and it's time we start seeing concrete initiatives so the University can move forward. Any solutions proposed should continue through the fall semester. We would like to see legitimate progress by the administration to address and fix the multiple issues that have risen at our University. These issues should not be forgotten but rather used as a way to learn from our mistakes and make this University a better place for all people.
The above staff editorials represent the majority opinion of the Wheel's editorial board.
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