Faculty blamed for dropout of chancellor finalists
University of Massachusetts Boston faculty were unrepentant yesterday after UMass President Martin T. Meehan spiked the search for a new chancellor, blaming the staff and their union for public criticism that drove the three finalists to drop out.
Meehan, in an open letter yesterday, said he was “mortified” and called an “unceremonious” end to the seven-month search process after the candidates over the weekend withdrew their names from consideration. The withdrawal came after some 200 faculty members made up of the union and the faculty council penned a letter criticizing the process and arguing the finalists did not have the background needed.
Faculty members hit back yesterday claiming they were iced out of the process, with little opportunity to offer their input on the candidates who were brought to campus during exam week, just days before the board of trustees was due to make its decision yesterday. That meeting was canceled.
“We wanted to reconstitute the search,” said Jeffrey Melnick, a UMass Boston graduate program director. “When he (Meehan) is ready to come to campus and really talk, we are here. We’re ready. We’re not going to be intimidated.”
“I believe this board of trustees needs to be reined in,” said Joe Ramsey of the faculty staff union. “He is clamping down and punishing the campus for requesting and demanding a voice in the process that affects us.”
But search committee chairman Henry M. Thomas slammed the union yesterday, saying, “The unprofessional conduct of a small segment of the UMass Boston community is unconscionable and disrespectful and the misrepresentation of the candidates’ qualifications and capabilities is nothing less than shameful and mean-spirited. This petulant behavior will inflict long-lasting damage on UMass Boston’s reputation and future ability to recruit the academic and administrative leaders we need.”
The growing bitter divide between faculty and administration follows the controversy over Meehan’s $70 million deal to buy the Mount Ida College campus in Newton, at a time when UMass Boston faces a $30 million deficit and possible layoffs.
Meehan said Katherine Newman, UMass senior vice president for academic affairs, will step up as interim chancellor indefinitely after current interim head Barry Mills leaves at the end of the semester. Meehan said there are no immediate plans to resume the search.
The three finalists who dropped out were Kathy Humphrey, senior vice chancellor for engagement and secretary of the board of trustees at the University of Pittsburgh; Peter Lyons, vice provost and dean of Perimeter College at Georgia State University; and Jack Thomas, president of Western Illinois University.