San Jose State U. Chief Vows Reforms After Clashes Over Governance

San Jose State University’s president, Mohammad H. Qayoumi, has pledged to improve consultation with faculty members and honor the principles of shared governance, after a tense year in which academic leaders asked the leader of the California State University system to review their concerns about campus governance, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

Last fall the university’s Academic Senate approved a resolution seeking a governance review by Timothy P. White, chancellor of the Cal State system. Mr. Qayoumi supported that resolution. Faculty members cited conflicts over a directive to cut departmental offerings that was later reversed after a campus outcry, and tensions over San Jose State’s online-education efforts.

In an open letter to the campus, Mr. Qayoumi said that, after he took office, “it became evident over time that faculty, staff, and students became frustrated and angered by many of the fast-paced actions taken by me and members of my administration.”

Mr. Qayoumi said that, in trying to make progress on a series of goals for the university, he had “stepped on longstanding SJSU consultation practices and, as a result, harmed our practice of collegial shared governance.”

“For this,” he continued, “I am regretful.”

Mr. Qayoumi pledged to “honor the consultative process” and said he was “committed to moving slowly where necessary,” allowing for consultation with a variety of groups.

He said that he and other campus leaders, including the Senate’s executive committee, had crafted a plan to deal with concerns identified during the governance review. The reforms include the development of a plan “by which meaningful consultation occurs with appropriate campus stakeholders,” the creation of a position paper on shared governance, and the establishment of a budget advisory committee.