To hear it from many New York University faculty members, John E. Sexton, the university’s president, needs to either change his style or be run out of town. But there is considerable debate about which option is preferred.
After months of complaints about what Mr. Sexton’s critics describe as his autocratic streak, faculty members in NYU’s School of Arts & Science will conclude a five-day vote on Friday over whether to express no confidence in the president. If the measure passes, some observers predict a domino effect in which other disenchanted professors within the university’s loose confederation of schools may take similar steps.
Regardless of the outcome, the no-confidence vote makes manifest the long-festering displeasure of some professors, who say their ambitious president has foisted his vision upon the university rather than engaging with faculty members as true partners. Among the critics is E.L. Doctorow, a renowned author who is a professor of English and the Lewis and Loretta Glucksman Professor in American Letters at NYU.
“There is a certain kind of contempt for faculty governance,” said Mr. Doctorow, “that is finally basic to all these problems, and why resentment and anger has risen up in the faculty community. Whatever happens in the no-confidence vote, the fact that it is going to be held is an indication of the sense of crisis that people have.”
The vote is purely symbolic, but some faculty members view it as a prelude to Mr. Sexton’s ouster. Mr. Doctorow, while supporting the vote, is skeptical about whether the best result for the university would be for Mr. Sexton to leave the presidency.
Like many other professors, Mr. Doctorow is chiefly concerned with a weak governance system at NYU. He says faculty members are granted only the most cosmetic of powers on committees that are purposely populated with obedient professors. (Not surprisingly, members of those committees take issue with that characterization.)
“The fact of the matter is that unless the methods change, it wouldn’t do any good to force him out, if the trustees are going to be the sole decision makers as to who the next president should be,” Mr. Doctorow said. “The system has to be revised and restored.”
Global and Local Growth
To the casual observer, New York University would hardly appear to be a university in crisis. NYU’s Global Network University, which includes branch campuses in Shanghai and Abu Dhabi, is an example of academic entrepreneurism that many other colleges would like to emulate. The university’s domestic agenda, which includes redeveloping a 1.9-million-square-foot area in Greenwich Village, represents a similarly bold undertaking.
But it is precisely the grand scale of those projects that has stirred up some professors, who question the academic imperatives behind Mr. Sexton’s plans. Some faculty members are dubious of the educational quality of NYU’s programs overseas, and professors who live in the areas slated for redevelopment in the Village say their quality of life will be diminished by the elimination of green space and nearly two decades of construction.
After the Arts & Science faculty decided in December to move forward with a vote of no confidence in Mr. Sexton, the president pledged to start a conversation about improvements in governance.
“NYU has come a long way in a short time, but one area in which I believe we have fallen far short is the level of broad faculty involvement in our decisional process,” Mr. Sexton wrote in an e-mail to the faculty in January. “As president I take full responsibility for this, as well as the need to remedy it.”
Mr. Sexton declined an interview request, but provided a statement that cited written pledges of support from some faculty members and numerous deans and other administrators in the School of Medicine, the College of Dentistry, and the College of Nursing. He readily acknowledged his critics as well.
“It is important to listen to those who criticize you because they tend to point out the opportunities for growth and improvement,” Mr. Sexton said. “And when good colleagues have suggestions about how I can improve in serving the university, I listen carefully.”
Martin Lipton, chairman of the NYU Board of Trustees, provided a statement to The Chronicle that said the board was “mindful of the concerns held by some faculty.” But Mr. Lipton went on to praise the president for overseeing a prosperous period for the university, which has increased the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty members, and has advanced in national rankings. Since Mr. Sexton became president, the chairman said, the university has raised the equivalent of $1-million per day.
Ire Over Payouts
As talk of a no-confidence vote picked up steam in December, some Arts & Science faculty members were caught off guard. There was no known history of such an action at the university, and professors debated whether the school even had the authority to hold such a vote. But when it was clear the vote would happen, more-temperate voices on the faculty advocated a three-month cooling-off period before any ballot would be cast.
In theory, the delay in voting gave Mr. Sexton an opportunity to mend fences. In truth, it proved just enough time for even more damaging news to challenge his presidency.
Last week The New York Times reported on generous payments made to NYU administrators after they had left the university. They included Jacob J. Lew, the university’s former executive vice president and recently confirmed U.S. secretary of the treasury, who received a $685,000 bonus in 2006 when he left to take a position at Citigroup. A former medical-center administrator received $1.2-million on his way out the door, and two former NYU presidents still live in university-owned apartments, the newspaper reported.
Andrew Ross, president of NYU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said the Times article had “reinforced people’s sense that something is seriously wrong.”
“People have been pretty horrified at the scale of those packages,” said Mr. Ross, a professor of social and cultural analysis.
News of big pay packages at NYU also draws attention to Mr. Sexton’s own compensation, which in 2010 totaled nearly $1.5-million, making him one of the nation’s top-paid private-college presidents, a Chronicle analysis found.
Upon retirement, Mr. Sexton is guaranteed an annual income of $800,000, which includes pay from Social Security and a universitywide retirement plan, as well as a supplemental retirement plan established for the president, university officials said.
Mr. Sexton, who is 70, has agreed to serve as NYU’s president until at least 2016, and many on the campus expect that will be his final year. Ted Magder, chairman of the Faculty Senators Council, which represents professors across the university, said he did not believe the outcome of the no-confidence vote would affect Mr. Sexton’s timetable.
“The question I’ve been asking myself is, Does this matter?” said Mr. Magder, who is a professor of media, culture, and communication. “It certainly matters in terms of his relationship with the faculty. Does it mean he would consider stepping down earlier than planned? I answer the question, No.”
If Mr. Sexton is in office for another three years, some faculty members argue that governance reforms are more important than butting heads with the president. Such is the sentiment of the NYU Faculty Alliance, an informal group of professors formed in response to the no-confidence vote. The group’s stated goal is to “work more collaboratively with the administration,” according to minutes from their meetings.
J. Anthony Movshon, who serves on the alliance’s steering committee, said the “constructive consequence” of the no-confidence vote had been a renewed focus on the need for greater faculty input into university decision making.
“I will vote against the motion of no confidence, but that does not mean I am without concerns,” said Mr. Movshon, a professor of neuroscience.
Sylvain E. Cappell, a professor of mathematics, shares that view. A no-confidence vote should be reserved for egregious threats to academic freedom or attacks on the tenure system, he said, but not for disagreements of the sort between the NYU faculty and Mr. Sexton.
“My father used to tell me a bad peace is better than a good war,” Mr. Cappell said. “Here, I think we could build toward a good peace.”
