UNM's voting faculty have resolved that they have no confidence in President David Schmidly, Executive Vice President David Harris and Regents President Jamie Koch.
According to a document provided by Faculty Governance Committee chairman Richard Wood, about 500 voting faculty members - some 28 percent of UNM's faculty - voted in favor of all five motions presented during the meeting Wednesday. The motions included a request for an external audit of the University's finances and a restructuring of the administration's chain of command.
The no-confidence vote for Koch proved to be the most one-sided. The motion passed with 482 in favor, seven against and three abstentions.
Koch said he would have liked to have had the opportunity to address some of the concerns presented at the faculty meeting.
"It may not have made any difference, but if I could have had the opportunity to have written a response to the (faculty) so they would have that written response, that would have helped clarify some of the positions with me," Koch said.
He said he is willing to re-examine the administrative structure of UNM in light of the faculty's concerns.
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"There were some good things that came out of (the meeting)," he said. "I think that the potential of Paul Roth and the provost being on finance might be something to do. I would hope that the University can move forward."
Koch said he doesn't think the near-unanimous vote of no confidence will affect his ability to get another term on the Board of Regents.
"I'm pretty sure I'm going to be reappointed," Koch said. "I feel very confident in it. I think I will be reappointed."
The Legislature hasn't set a date for Koch's reappointment hearing.
Koch said he felt no ill will toward the faculty after the meeting.
"I respect their ability to vote," he said. "I don't have any animosity against anybody who voted. Obviously, they disagreed with my opinions. A big number of them agreed with that position, but I'm not upset with (Wood) or any one of them."
The no-confidence vote in Schmidly passed with 329 in favor, 106 against and 52 abstentions.
"While I'm disappointed, I'm grateful to the 106 faculty who took part in yesterday's two-hour meeting to express their support and to the countless others of our 22,000 faculty and staff who have contacted me with words of encouragement," Schmidly said in a statement Thursday.
Schmidly said he has avoided the loss of University employees during his tenure and has increased the number of students and faculty at UNM.
"While the decisions we have made may have not been popular with some, we have nevertheless so far managed to avoid any layoffs or furloughs, unlike so many other colleges and universities - all while increasing enrollment and diversity and adding 43 new faculty positions," he said.
Schmidly added that the University administration will increase its efforts to improve accountability and morale.
"Nevertheless, the University of New Mexico is a family, and, as I said yesterday, we will redouble our efforts to reach out and gain the support and confidence of every member," Schmidly said.
The no-confidence vote in Harris passed with 438 in favor, 24 against and 26 abstaining.
Harris said he was impressed by the suggestions made by the Faculty Senate regarding the corporate business model used by the University.
"I thought that their observation that perhaps we have a corporate model rather than an academic model is something that I think bears consideration," he said.
Harris said he regretted the opinion held by the faculty that UNM's administration is unfriendly and excessively corporate.
"I don't think that we've ever intended to be faculty-unfriendly.. As it relates to the finances of the University, (the corporate model) may be a little too cold and business-like," he said.
