3rd faculty senate rebukes UMS Chancellor Malloy

(AP) — Faculty on a third University of Maine System campus gave a vote of no confidence to Chancellor Dannel Malloy.

The faculty senate at the University of Maine at Farmington delivered the rebuke Wednesday after the elimination of nine staff positions amid declining enrollment at the campus in the western part of the state.

Faculty senates at the University

of Southern Maine and University of Maine at August previously gave no-confidence votes over the handling of the search for a new president for the Augusta campus.

Malloy, a two-term Connecticut governor, said in a statement following the Farmington vote that hard decisions had to be made, and he understands that the cuts were painful.

“I am accountable for my decision to approve this plan, as difficult as it is, and understand that it is my responsibility to implement the vision and strategies set forth by the Board of Trustees even when that requires incredibly hard choices,” Malloy said in a statement.

Students held a 24-hour sit-in last week following the announcement of cuts that eliminated all staff in women’s and gender studies, philosophy and religion, and modern languages, the Sun Journal reported.

Malloy, who became chancellor in 2019, had already angered faculty for failing to disclose past no-confidence votes in the new president on the Augusta campus.

That led to the first no-confidence votes for Malloy on the Augusta campus and at the University of Southern Maine. The University of Maine System is comprised of seven campuses.