Ithaca College Faculty Council will commence the faculty vote of no confidence Nov. 30.
According to a statement the council released, the vote will be sent out to all eligible faculty voters Nov. 30, and voting will end at 5 p.m. Dec. 11 on SurveyMonkey.
The Faculty Council Executive Committee will be handling the voting information and will report the results of the vote to the president of the college, the chairman of the Ithaca College Board of Trustees, Faculty Council and all faculty by Dec. 14.
Peter Rothbart, chairman of Faculty Council, said Faculty Council is only collecting the data on the vote, but it is not interpreting the vote. Unlike the student body vote of no confidence, the vote will not be broken down to include participants’ school, race and gender. Rothbart said that is “insidious” and compromises anonymity.
Eligible voters are full-time, continuing faculty, faculty in the phased retirement program and professional librarians. Rothbart said the council chose not to include part-time faculty because the general consensus was part-time faculty are “somewhat transient.”
“The vote needs to be by people we know will have extended contact with the college,” Rothbart said.
The council will also be sending out a series of articles before the voting begins to make sure that voters are informed about the issues on campus. Rothbart explained that the articles will be raising questions for faculty to think about, but not giving them answers.
Rothbart said no matter what the results of the vote are, he thinks the school will be adversely affected.
“Whichever way the vote goes, I think it will create a period of instability and uncertainty,” Rothbart said.
Vivian Conger, a member of the Faculty Council, said she thinks the council has been very productive throughout this process. She doesn’t think the vote will tarnish the college’s reputation.
“There’s been a lot of fear that [the vote] will ruin the IC reputation. I have not seen evidence of [faculty votes of no confidence] elsewhere that it would do that. I think it would enhance the way IC is run,” Conger said.
