The ISU Faculty Senate is a joke. Yes, they've done this before, probably the only group in the entire Idaho university system which has done so. They did it against Bowen, they did it against Provost Olson, and now they are threatening to do it against Olson (again) and Vailas.
It's symbolic, nothing more and nothing less. The SBOE is made to take notice of it, and if it's like the case of Olson, they roll their eyes and go about their business.
The administration could do a better job of communicating, no doubt, and the faculty senate could do a better job of working with the adminstration instead of against. It's a classic employer vs employee situation. Some of this stems from Vailas pushing ISU to become more of a national research institution, which means faculty members are forced to go against their comfort zone and pursue research projects & dollars. Some negatives of this could mean more graduate assistants teaching entry level courses. For those professors who are alredy securing research dollars for the university, it's business as usual.
Vailas' administration wants to reorganize the faculty senate, and the senate (which is composed of pretty much the same faculty members, year in and year out) is afraid their power will be usurped. Other faculties across Idaho universities have looked at this and said that yes, the faculty sentate has a legitimate concern, but on the other hand, the senate currently has so many committees and red tape, that nothing gets accomplished.
The problem with their continual votes of no confidence (administration after administration) is that it gives less meaning to them. It's become a broken record, and it also raises a red flag for any future quality administrators who may otherwise have been interested in ISU. Would you want to go to work for a company where the employees keep voting no confidence for boss after boss?
Both sides need to chill, sit down with a moderator, SBOE, or somebody, and be forced to actually listen to each other.
