The University of California’s top faculty board voted to oust its leader this week, marking the first time a UC senate chair has been booted from office.
In a special meeting on March 13, the UC Academic Senate questioned Chair Clifford Brunk’s ability to effectively perform his duties, and accurately portray the faculty’s views. Senators then removed Brunk from his position.
Uncertainty about Brunk’s leadership arose in February, when a committee within the Academic Senate delivered a vote of no confidence in Brunk’s abilities as the senate’s head, which represents about 15,000 UC faculty.
After its vote, the Academic Council asked Brunk to resign or arrange a meeting to consider his removal. Brunk, however, did not leave, forcing the Academic Senate to call for its own special meeting.
“This is a very difficult precedent to set for the UC Senate,” UCSD Academic Senate Chair Jean-Bernard Minster stated in a campuswide e-mail. “This was done in a very deliberate, measured fashion. The outcome was painful to all of us.”
Senate officials and faculty, who asked not to be identified, accused Brunk of allowing his personal views to interfere with his position. Some said that Brunk barred issues from being presented in the senate because he disagreed with them. Lawrence Pitts and George Blumenthal, former chairs of the Academic Senate, also questioned Brunk’s treatment of employees in a January letter to the Academic Council.
Several newspapers, such as the San Francisco Chronicle, cited Brunk’s management of the UC compensation scandals as a primary reason for the senate’s disapproval.
“[Brunk] has been slow to understand the seriousness of the compensation scandal,’’ UC Berkeley public policy professor Bruce Fuller told the San Francisco Chronicle.
However, UC Berkeley Academic Senate Chair Alice Agogino suggested that concerns about Brunk were more “broad based,” and not focused on compensation issues, in an e-mail sent to the UC Berkeley Academic Senate earlier this month.
Brunk’s tenure as chair was set to expire on Aug. 31, but Academic Senate Vice Chair John Oakley has since taken over the position.
Readers can contact Charles Nguyen at [email protected].
