The Faculty Senate at Haskell Indian Nations University, a tribal college in Kansas, unanimously voted they have no confidence in a second administrator last week, following a previous no-confidence vote for the university’s president in early April, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.
The Senate raised several issues with Melanie Daniel, vice president of academics, including that she has failed to engage “in collegial discourse” with faculty leaders and has not met shared governance requirements, according to a Senate resolution passed April 30. Daniel has also limited academic freedom and free speech, in “an attempt to constrain faculty’s ability to advocate for the university and its students,” the resolution said.
A separate Faculty Senate resolution passed April 1 declared no confidence in university president Ronald Graham and made similar allegations about Graham’s disregard for shared governance, academic freedom and free speech on campus, the Journal-World reported.
Faculty members and students have raised First Amendment violation concerns at the university since Graham issued a directive in October to the campus newspaper’s editor in chief, ordering him to halt routine reporting activities. The order was rescinded in January. The Indian Leader and Jared Nally, the editor, filed a lawsuit in March against the university and the Bureau of Indian Education, the federal agency that oversees the institution.
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