Resolution calls on NU regents, president to evaluate Bennett’s continued service on flagship campus
By Zach Wendling | Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — Faculty leaders at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln overwhelmingly passed a resolution Tuesday expressing “no confidence” in Chancellor Rodney Bennett and urging his bosses to reconsider his employment.
It is the first “no confidence” vote to pass against a UNL chancellor in the university’s nearly 157-year history.
The UNL Faculty Senate voted 60-14 to pass the advisory resolution from Elizabeth Lewis, a professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education. It calls on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents and NU President Jeffrey Gold to immediately review Bennett’s “continued fitness to serve” and urges them to consider firing him or negotiating his departure.
Lewis told her colleagues that her resolution came as public education is “under attack” at all levels. She said the “battleground has shifted” and that some people not as committed to defending higher education are being “invited in” and “embedded” in roles where faculty need an advocate.
“It is possible that you may find his [Bennett’s] actions honorable and selfless. If so, feel free to vote against the motion,” Lewis said. “If you, too, are aggrieved, now is the time to vote in favor of this resolution of no confidence to advocate for better stewardship at UNL.”
After the vote, Lewis said faculty needed to take action but took no pleasure in the vote. She said it was not “mean-spirited” and that faculty couldn’t keep fighting “on all fronts.”
“Our community is amazing, and this is not something that we did lightly,” Lewis told the Nebraska Examiner.
Bennett declined to comment on Tuesday’s vote, according to a spokesperson.
Regents have final say
A major part of the resolution also asks the regents to pause consideration of a Bennett-led plan to eliminate four academic programs at UNL, a combined $6.74 million cut that the regents will consider at a Dec. 5 meeting.
Those cuts are part of a larger $27.5 million budget reduction plan. Of the plan, $21 million is meant to close a “structural deficit” at UNL, and the rest are considered “proactive” cuts to prevent the need for additional ones in the future.
The program areas proposed to be cut are Earth and Atmospheric Sciences ($1.85 million), Statistics ($1.75 million), Educational Administration ($1.69 million) and Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design ($1.45 million). Each will be subject to a Board of Regents vote in December.
A spokesperson for Dr. Gold and the NU system said faculty-shared governance is “one of many voices” in higher education and that NU values their input at UNL.
“However, ultimate decisions rest with the Board of Regents,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Reached Tuesday, Regent Paul Kenney, chair of the NU Board of Regents, said he knew faculty were talking about a no-confidence vote, and “what they do is 100% their opinion.”
Kenney said he doesn’t think it changes how he’ll approach budget-related votes come Dec. 5.
“We were short a lot of money to start with,” Kenney said. “That hasn’t changed.”
Regent Tim Clare of Lincoln, the longest current serving member of the regents, declined to comment. The six other elected regents did not respond to Examiner calls seeking comment.
‘Not just about one person’
Multiple UNL faculty said Bennett, who joined UNL as chancellor in July 2023, should have implemented a plan to close UNL’s structural budget deficit with more faculty involvement sooner. Instead, many faculty argue Bennett and his executive team created and used faulty data that led to improper and statistically flawed results without faculty input.
Bennett’s contract expires June 30, unless extended by the regents. Bennett, in October, told the Examiner he had “no idea” if or when a vote extending his contract might come.
“But I sure hope it comes quickly, because I love being here, love being a part of the community and clearly we have important work yet to do,” Bennett said Oct. 5.
That same day, Gold said he favored extending Bennett’s contract but that it was up to the regents.
Corey Rumann, a professor of educational administration, said the symbolic vote Tuesday was not solely meant to influence Bennett’s contract or whether he should resign. Rumann said it shows faculty will not “stand by” and let administrators determine UNL’s future without them.
“A vote of no confidence is not just about one person,” Rumann said. “It is about systemic failures at the administrative level that have led to decisions being made that are not in the best interest of this institution or the State of Nebraska.”
A committee of faculty, staff and students advising the chancellor on academic budget reductions also criticized Bennett in an unsigned Oct. 24 letter. A majority of members split from him on key academic cuts that he continues to pursue. The letter said the short time frame — cuts were announced Sept. 12 and finalized Nov. 10 — made it difficult to find alternatives.
A message to all administrators
John Lindquist, a professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, said all faculty members in his department he heard back from supported the no-confidence resolution. He and multiple faculty said it was an indictment not just on Bennett but on all upper administrators.
“Maybe, after all this is said and done, there will be people in our administration who start to think, ‘Huh, how do I begin to repair the damage that has been done to this institution, to the people of the institution?” Lidquist said.
L. J. McElravy, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications, said his department was mixed on Lewis’ resolution. In part, that’s because McElravy’s department is planned to be merged with another, and some faculty feared passing the resolution could open up the budget process and change the outcome for his department.
However, McElravy said the review of the process by the advisory committee alone, plus other budgetary problems, pushed him to support a “no confidence” vote.
The UNL Faculty Senate previously considered a “no confidence” resolution against former Chancellor Harvey Perlman in 2003 over budgetary decisions. The resolution ultimately didn’t come to a Faculty Senate vote, and in a “straw vote” of faculty campuswide, faculty overwhelmingly opposed punitive action.
Perlman continued as chancellor until 2016.
Scott Gardner, a professor in UNL’s School of Biological Sciences, said he was part of one of those areas slashed in 2003. Gardner said Perlman had open forums once a week and “at least entertained what we were attacking him with. But in this case, there’s nothing.”
“We need to make some changes,” Gardner said. “If we don’t make the changes now, it’ll happen again in the same way very soon.”
‘Do I have to draw a picture?’
John Shrader, president of the UNL Faculty Senate and a professor in sports media and communication, emailed faculty representatives Monday and said there was “action” going on “behind the scenes” related to Bennett. So Shrader said he would entertain a motion to “table” Lewis’ resolution or effectively delay its consideration at Tuesday’s meeting.
“In the end, it appears we are going to get the personnel outcome that many faculty members were hoping for, regardless of this vote,” Shrader wrote Monday.
On Tuesday, Colin Meiklejohn, of the School of Biological Sciences, told Shrader that his emails were “incredibly cryptic.” Meiklejohn and others asked Shrader to clarify, who responded: “It is my understanding that serious action is being discussed at this time to come to a resolution about the leadership of our campus.”
“Do I have to draw a picture?” Shrader said, adding later he was “aware of what’s going on” but couldn’t say exactly what.
From the crowd, Sarah Zuckerman, a professor of educational administration and president of UNL’s Association of American University Professors, interrupted Shrader and shouted: “Bulls—, tell us!”
Meiklejohn told Shrader he wasn’t accusing him of “deception” but asked how other faculty members could trust and believe the information.
“You can either trust me, or you can’t, and that’s fine,” Shrader said. “I won’t be hurt either way, honestly. I have the same interest in this as every single person in this room.”
The resolution overcame the motion to wait, with 41 faculty opposing it and 28 others in support. Had it passed, the resolution would have been delayed until Dec. 2.
The need for investment
Some faculty told the Examiner that Tuesday’s effort was also a message for Nebraska state lawmakers and Gov. Jim Pillen, who decide how many state dollars go to NU. The annual increase in state dollars going to the university has slowed and not kept up with inflation, particularly since Pillen became governor in 2023 after serving 10 years as a regent.
Zuckerman said Tuesday that the no-confidence vote shows faculty won’t accept a lack of transparency, exclusion from decision-making or “erosion” to NU’s mission to educate students.
Lewis said without further investment, the university would be a college that just “happens to be located in Nebraska,” instead of the land-grant, public-facing University of Nebraska that faculty, staff, students and all university supporters are asking for.
“To view this institution in only dollars and cents is the wrong lens,” Lewis said. “We’re just basically begging them to keep investing into the future of our young people and our professionals.”