photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB

Faculty at Sonoma State University are holding a no-confidence vote in their campus leadership this week.

They're including the head of the entire CSU system in the no-confidence vote.

In a letter opening the referendum, Elaine Newman and the group Faculty for Accountable Leadership, charge Sonoma State's interim president Emily Cutrer and Provost Karen Moranski with taking actions that will "potentially destroy" the university.

The faculty also accuses California State University system chancellor Mildred Garcia of "manufacturing austerity" by redirecting funds away from Sonoma State and towards larger, more well-resourced campuses.

In January, Sonoma State leadership announced a proposal to trim 24 million from the university's budget, calling for deep cuts to academics, including a quarter of the faculty, and the elimination of all NCAA sports.

SSU professor Tim Wandling said the administration's priorities are backwards.

"It's our view that things like Women's and Gender Studies, physics and philosophy are more important than you know all these programs that they have in the management function that has grown exponentially," Wandling said.

The no-confidence vote is being presented to Sonoma State's Academic Senate Thursday.

Newman and the Faculty for Accountable Leadership argue the planned budget cut, announced one day into the spring semester, was likely decided upon before January 22nd.

But the timing has prevented students from transferring and taking their tuition elsewhere for the new term, and it's left affected faculty little or no time to apply for tenured positions at other schools.

Wandling said he wants to see the leadership structure at the school completely overhauled.

"We think that the executives who run the place should, first of all be academic leaders and not managers," Wandling said. "They should come if they can, come from faculty, and if they can be elected by faculty."

Newman and the Faculty for Accountable Leadership also argue the current administration has violated shared governance between management and faculty, and that they are undermining a core mission of the school, and CSU system, to provide "instruction in the liberal arts and sciences.”

Sonoma State leadership declined to comment on the vote, a request for comment from the CSU Chancellor's Office was yet to be returned before publication.

Sonoma State's Academic Senate is scheduled to meet Thursday, from 3 to 5 PM.