CHENEY, Wash. — The Eastern Washington University Faculty Senate passed a vote of no confidence in university president Mary Cullinan on Monday evening.
The vote was 35 in favor, two against, four senators abstained and one was absent, according to Faculty Senate President Julia Smith.
In a statement, Smith said the senate took the steps to make the vote after Cullinan and the university failed to make changes to address concerns with the president's leadership.
"Long-standing concerns about her leadership have been discussed quietly for years. As it's become clear that those quiet conversations were not leading to change, the faculty decided to speak with a louder and more unified voice, voting we do not have confidence in Mary Cullinan on June 22," the senate's statement reads in part.
In a statement, Cullinan said she was disappointed in the vote.
"While disappointed in the vote by the Academic Senate of the EWU Faculty Organization, Eastern President Marry Cullinan respects its right to voice its concerns and provide feedback in accordance with its bylaws," Cullinan's statement begins.
She goes on to say in the statement that she supports the Faculty Senate's role in governing and that she looks forward to working through concerns raised by the senate.
The Eastern Washington University Board of Trustees, which oversees the university president, also released a statement in response to the vote, saying it was disappointed and saddened by the vote.
"The Eastern Washington University Board of Trustees is disappointed in, and saddened by the EWU Faculty Senate vote of no confidence toward President Mary Cullinan, while deeply respecting the Senate's voice and commitment to shared governance," the statement reads. "In unprecedented times, the EWU Faculty Senate appears to have intentionally overlooked a fair and comprehensive portrayal of Dr. Cullinan."
The statement would go on to say it appeared the senate overlooked achievements by Cullinan, ranging from work in Olympia to the expansion of EWU's Health Sciences program.
The vote comes after both a statement signed by 10 faculty members and a memo to Smith from three faculty members supporting the vote due to the results of a faculty survey of Cullinan's leadership. According to the memo and the statement, 70 percent of faculty gave Cullinan an overall evaluation of "poor or needs improvement."
Another main reason given for the vote is the current budget woes the university is going through, as EWU plans to issue layoffs that will "impact between 350-400 people." The university also needs to cut about $10 million from its budget, according to spokesperson Dave Meany.
"It was under her watch that the university ended up in this situation," Smith said.
According to the memo sent to Smith, 60 percent of more of faculty members who took the survey rated Cullinan's performance as lacking in six of seven areas. Those areas included vision, leadership in Olympia, overall evaluation, leadership at EWU, consultation and communication.
"Such negative marks by full-time faculty would be reason to call for a vote of no confidence in times of relative economic and social stability, but we are obviously not living in such a period," the memo reads.
The no confidence vote statement also claims that Cullinan faced the same vote while president at Southern Oregon University following negative feedback from faculty. According to the statement, the vote of no confidence passed at SOU in 2014, and one of the other main factors was "financial mismanagement."