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The Oregon Institute of Technology’s Faculty Senate Executive Committee has sent a “letter of concern” to the university’s board accusing it of “disregard” for issues raised by those at the university, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
The concerns relate to a decision by the board to extend the contract of President Nagi Naganathan by five years. The student government, the Associated Students of OIT, also voted no confidence in the board.
The faculty has previously voted no confidence in Naganathan’s leadership. Faculty and students noted that the board has contracted with a company to conduct a review of Naganathan’s leadership, but it voted to extend his contract before receiving the company’s report.
The OIT board also last year started the process of conducting a “climate survey” to address tensions between the administration and students and staff. The final results have not been released, but ModernThink—the company OIT contracted with to conduct it—discussed preliminary findings in April. Those findings identified that a lack of confidence in Naganathan’s leadership is “widespread and deeply held” across the campus.
OIT’s board chair, Jessica Gomez, said, “Importantly, Oregon Tech is already actively engaged in addressing preliminary information from the assessment and will continue to address campus climate issues once that assessment is finalized. While it is understandable that these actions may not seem to be coming fast enough to some stakeholders, they are underway and progressing.”
