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Emory College faculty vote ‘no confidence’ in university president, while student protests continue [1]
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Date: 2024-05-03
Emory College faculty voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution expressing no confidence in university president Gregory Fenves after Emory University’s harsh crackdown on a pro-Palestine student protest last week.
The resolution passed by a 3 to 1 margin: Out of 477 votes, there were 358 votes in favor and 119 votes against, according to results emailed to faculty Friday afternoon from the Emory College of Arts and Sciences’ faculty senate president Bree Ettinger.
Emory College professor Pamela Scully said she was “thrilled and pleased” when the results arrived in her inbox at 3:14 p.m. By calling the police on students, she said, Fenves “betrayed the very principles of education upon which Emory stands.”
The unprecedented ‘no confidence’ vote by the Emory College faculty indicates that they want to see Fenves ousted. The digital poll, open to the roughly 550 faculty members for the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, started Monday and closed Friday at 3 p.m.
Emory’s board of trustees has final say over the university president’s fate, but Scully said she hopes this strong response from her fellow faculty members starts a trend at universities across the country of faculty “seizing back the meaning of a research university.”
The faculty senate for Emory’s College of Arts and Sciences called for the vote last week, prompted by the Emory administration’s response to the April 25 protest. Emory officials quickly called in the Emory Police Department, as well as the Atlanta Police Department and the Georgia State Patrol to forcibly disperse students’ pro-Palestine “solidarity” encampment on Emory’s quad that morning.
Law enforcement officers deployed chemical agents and tasers as they arrested 28 people, including three faculty members and 17 students from Emory. University officials initially tried to dismiss the activists as “outsiders.”
The resolution approved by the Emory College faculty on Friday “expresses a vote of no confidence in President Fenves, whose words and actions do not represent the values of ECAS Faculty.”
It also “Condemns the decision by the administration to summon the police; Condemns violence and the use of force; Condemns the arrests of students and faculty; Abhors the false statements by President Fenves and other members of the administration.”
Faculty also resolved “that all charges be dropped immediately, and that the university pay all legal expenses.”
“There was no evidence of violence on the part of protesters, and no disruption of teaching and research activities,” the resolution said. “What was disruptive —profoundly so — was the conduct of the University administration that violated multiple College and University policies and is an affront to everything Emory stands for.”
An Emory University spokesperson pointed out in a statement that the College of Arts and Sciences is one of nine schools within the university and the vote is “non-binding.”
“While we take any concerns expressed by members of our community seriously, there are a wide range of perspectives being shared within the Emory community,” the Emory University statement said.
Pro-Palestine protests are continuing at colleges and universities across Georgia, including Friday at Georgia State University. Credit: Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
Meanwhile, Fenves is also facing a ‘no-confidence’ vote from the Emory student body, across all nine schools, the Emory Wheel reported this week.
On-campus demonstrations have continued sporadically on Emory’s campus nearly every day since April 25. In Georgia, pro-Palestine student actions have also taken place at Agnes Scott College, Kennesaw State University, Savannah College of Art and Design, the University of Georgia, and, on Friday, at Georgia State University — following the nationwide trend that began at Columbia University just over two weeks ago.
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[1] Url:
https://atlantaciviccircle.org/2024/05/03/emory-college-faculty-vote-no-confidence-university-president-student-protests/
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