Emory University faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences rejected a motion of no confidence in President James Wagner.
Some faculty have concerns with Wagner’s communication style and leadership decisions and have questioned whether he is fit to run the respected private institution.
That group was in the minority. Faculty defeated the motion of no confidence by a vote of 201 to 133, said Stefan Lutz, associate professor of chemistry and chair of the governance committee. Sixty-three percent of the college’s 530 full-time faculty participated in the online voting, which began Monday and ended Friday.
Had the motion passed, it would not have affected Wagner’s employment. That decision rests with the board of trustees and on Friday Chairman Ben F. Johnson III stressed the group’s “strong and undivided support” for Wagner.
Wagner and faculty have had a strained relationship since September, when cuts were announced in the College of Arts and Sciences.
It worsened in February after Wagner was vilified for a column he wrote that used the three-fifths compromise as an example of how people with opposing viewpoints can work together. The 1787 compromise, reached in creating the U.S. Constitution, counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of distributing funds back to states and determining representation in Congress.
Wagner said he takes “to heart the significance” of the faculty’s vote.
“I have listened closely to constituents from across the university, and I look forward to sharing what I have learned and to working with all members of our community to move Emory forward,” he said in a statement.
The College of Arts and Sciences is one of nine programs at Emory and the only one that held a vote. The university has nearly 3,000 faculty members.
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