University of Wyoming President Edward Seidel is in hot water following an overwhelming faculty vote of no confidence in his leadership and a closed Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday morning in which he was the topic of conversation.
Seidel has attracted scrutiny after a popular dean was removed from his position, a dispute over the reallocation of state funding to a school led by Seidel’s romantic partner, and a slew of ongoing shared-governance concerns that have checkered his presidency.
Pressure on Seidel’s leadership came to a head last week after Cameron Wright, dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, was demoted. The university did not give a reason for the change in its announcement.
Wright, now a professor in the department of electrical engineering and computer science, declined to comment when reached by The Chronicle.
Faculty critical of Seidel’s leadership point to an apparent dispute over $500,000 in state funding. In August, Wright approached university leadership about “a true risk to UW,” according to an email obtained by The Chronicle. The university sent him a memorandum of understanding that committed the money from the college he led to the School of Computing, which is led by Gabrielle Allen, Seidel’s partner and a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Wright stated he could not “violate the trust” placed in him as custodian of the funding and declined to sign the memo.
The funds had been designated by the Wyoming Legislature to help propel the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences to “Tier-1” status.
Shortly after Wright objected to sending the $500,000 to the computing school, Kevin Carman was removed from his position as provost this fall. Carman said in a statement to The Chronicle that Wyoming’s general counsel had communicated to Wright over email that he “didn’t have to sign the MOU” and attributed that decision to Carman. But the former provost said he was not consulted on that decision and had no conversation with the general counsel about not requiring Wright to sign the memo.
Wyoming Public Media reported Carman stepped down at the request of President Seidel following the incident.
State Sen. Chris Rothfuss and State Rep. Karlee Provenza sent a letter in September to Gov. Mark Gordon urging him to protect Wright from “any form of retaliation” and ensure all Tier-1 funds remain dedicated solely to the College of Engineering.
“The letter from lawmakers is based on a false premise,” a university spokesperson wrote to The Chronicle. “The University had several performance reasons for his removal as Dean, and those reasons were communicated to him.”
Ultimately, the university did not divert funding away from the engineering college to the School of Computing.
“The $500,000 was always devoted to Tier 1 goals and was always designed to be part of the CEPS budget and will remain as part of the CEPS budget,” a university spokesperson wrote.
No Confidence
Wright’s removal as dean sparked outrage from faculty. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee responded to Wright’s removal by issuing a resolution calling for a vote of no confidence in Seidel that cited violations of principles of shared governance, including that the appointment, evaluation, and removal of academic officers “normally shall involve significant faculty participation.”
“The President’s seemingly arbitrary actions, unwillingness to listen to others and lack of concern for shared governance has eroded what little trust remained between the faculty and his office and has led to a state where the faculty do not have any confidence in his leadership,” the committee wrote in the resolution.
In an email sent Friday to Seidel, the interim provost Scott Turpen, and the Board of Trustees, 12 deans signed on to a letter addressing “deep concern for the trajectory” of the university. The letter raises concerns about recent policy changes made without respect to shared governance and that the dismissal of senior leaders “absent transparency” has “eroded trust” with the administration.
“We call upon the president and his cabinet to demonstrate, through concrete actions, their commitment to restoring trust, transparency, and collaborative decision-making. Shared governance is not a box to be checked — it is the foundation of a great university,” the letter reads.
Seidel sent a campuswide email Monday morning in response to the resolution. That resolution references “a culture of fear among some faculty” and “serious declines in morale resulting in good faculty leaving, programs struggling to provide capacity and content, research agendas being paused or abandoned, and the quality of education declining as we struggle to hire high quality faculty to put into classrooms.”
“I write today to affirm my respect for shared governance and my commitment to a transparent and collaborative university,” Seidel wrote in the email.
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On Monday, the Senate voted no confidence in Seidel by a vote of 43 to 11. In a statement, Seidel said he was “disappointed” with the result. “I recognize that my existing structures to involve faculty in university decisions have not adequately addressed their concerns,” he added.
And on Tuesday morning, the university’s Board of Trustees convened over Zoom in a special session to discuss the leadership turmoil.
That turmoil didn’t begin with Wright’s demotion. The majority of respondents to a 2022 presidential evaluation survey stated that Seidel did not involve faculty in planning for the future, engage in shared governance, maintain ongoing and clear dialogue with faculty, listen or act upon faculty concerns and needs, nor materially involve faculty in decision-making.
“I think it’s been described that maybe there wasn’t a proper understanding of the depth of feeling about the issues related to shared governance on campus,” Brad Bonner, a member of the Board of Trustees, said at the Tuesday meeting. (In his message on the no-confidence vote, Seidel said he is committed to “rebuilding trust and improving communications.”)
At the same meeting, Seidel asked the board for its continued support. “I hope that you will continue to support me and the progress that we’ve made together during my presidency,” Seidel told the board. “How we handle this pivotal moment is important for the future of the institution, which is clearly facing a crisis.”
After moving to a closed executive session, the board announced that it was forming a committee that will likely be composed of two trustees, a faculty member, a Staff Senate member, a dean, the provost, and the president to bolster principles of shared governance on the campus. Seidel would stay in the job, for now.
Some faculty told The Chronicle they hope the no-confidence vote will serve as a wake-up call. “What we’re hoping this would be is a message that you’re not following the regulations,” said Renee Laegreid, a professor of history who served as chair of the Faculty Senate in 2022-23. “You are not reaching faculty in the decision-making processes that you need to and so it’s basically a wake-up call. You need to do this. We’re paying attention.”
