UW Board of Trustees Statement on Faculty Senate Vote, Support for President Seidel, Other Actions

The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees has released the following statement regarding the termination of Cameron Wright as dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences; the UW Faculty Senate’s vote of no confidence in the leadership of President Ed Seidel; and the board and administration’s commitment to shared governance involving deans, faculty, staff and students:

We understand that the Board of Trustees’ decision to terminate Dr. Wright’s leadership of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences has raised questions and concerns across campus and among UW’s constituents. The dean’s dismissal, combined with past administrative and other changes, has caused disruption and growing concern about how shared governance has been implemented at the university. These concerns have raised important questions about how decisions are made, how voices are included and how we live out our core values in practice.

Importantly, the Faculty Senate’s no-confidence resolution urges the board “to act immediately to engage with the faculty and other constituent groups on campus to collaboratively develop corrective actions to re-establish an atmosphere of mutual respect, with the goal of rebuilding trust and a willingness to work together, and to ensure a more transparent and inclusive decision-making process guided by the University of Wyoming’s principles and regulations regarding shared governance.”

That is what we intend to do. We thank the Faculty Senate for its hard work and thoughtful input.

The board takes these matters seriously. A strong, transparent and inclusive approach to governance is essential -- not just for the health of the university, but for the trust placed in us by the people of Wyoming and by the thousands of alumni who continue to support and champion this institution.

In response, the board has directed President Seidel and Interim Provost Scott Turpen to lead a thorough and inclusive review of how shared governance is currently being operationalized across the university. We expect this process to include meaningful dialogue about what is working, what must be improved and how we can strengthen the relationships and trust that must exist to achieve our mission.

Separate from this commitment, the trustees took an action -- one that we stand behind -- in removing the dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Due to the concerns and questions that have arisen on campus and beyond, we feel compelled to provide more detail on the difficult decision to remove the dean. The president had recommended  to not renew the dean’s contract and allow it to expire in 2026, but the Board of Trustees decided to remove the dean now based upon observations and interactions during our March meeting, when the dean was unable to articulate a vision for meeting the goals of the Tier-1 Engineering Initiative after several years of opportunity to advance the college to meet those goals.

We reiterate that the decision to remove the dean was based solely on his performance -- not on the dean’s objections to a possible, relatively minor proposed funding shift designed from the outset to protect the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences’ interests and compliance with the Tier-1 goals as the planned transition of the School of Computing into a stand-alone unit was effectuated.

While acknowledging the Faculty Senate’s no-confidence resolution, we unanimously affirm our support for both President Seidel and our commitment to shared governance of the university. The president and interim provost have voiced strong support for shared governance, and we have directed them to strengthen and improve shared governance at all appropriate levels. To assist them in this process, the board chairman will appoint an ad-hoc committee to examine the state of shared governance at the university and make recommendations for strengthening consultation. Two members of the Board of Trustees -- Vice Chair Michelle Sullivan and Treasurer Laura Schmid-Pizzato -- will serve on the committee, along with dean, faculty, staff and student representatives who will be named later.

Our intent is for this committee to get to work quickly and report to the full board as soon as possible at upcoming regularly scheduled meetings. In addition to a forthcoming charge letter from the board chairman, the guiding document will be UW Regulation 1-4, which articulates and establishes UW’s strong commitment to the principles and practices of shared governance. Our goal is to ensure that shared governance is not just a stated value in a regulation, but a lived reality -- one that reflects the ideals of our land-grant mission and earns the trust of those we serve.

The Faculty Senate resolution specifically calls out the section of the regulation that provides for the norm of “significant faculty participation” in the evaluation or removal of academic officers. That is not always possible in the removal of deans and other leaders, but we appreciate the reminder. A good example of how faculty members and others can provide input in such decisions is the comprehensive review of President Seidel’s performance, which is spelled out in his contract and has involved a survey and solicitation of input from people on campus and beyond.

We reiterate that, as the regulation states, shared governance does not limit the powers or authority of the administration and Board of Trustees to take actions it deems necessary for the proper functioning of the university. Rather, it “complements these powers and authority by emphasizing and cultivating a system of institutional culture of goodwill, good intentions and commitment to common values. It requires developing ways to engender trust and respect and to periodically recalibrate.”

We are at a moment of such recalibration. The board’s and the president’s commitment is to do all we can to move forward and build the institutional culture described above so that, as the regulation concludes, shared governance “will allow the university to more effectively meet the challenges it faces both now and in the future.”