Herbert review passes with 2/3 IUB faculty vote

Members of the IU-Bloomington faculty voted in favor a resolution recommending a special review of IU President Adam Herbert by more than a three-to-one margin in an online ballot that concluded Friday.\nThe official results of the vote were announced to the Bloomington faculty Tuesday. The resolution is one of two that will be sent to the IU board of trustees.\nThe final vote count for the resolution asking for a review of Herbert was 754 votes in favor, 229 not in favor, and 75 abstaining.\nA second resolution asks for Bloomington campus considerations to be the primary factor in the hiring of a new Bloomington chancellor and senior vice president for academic affairs.\nThe final tally for the resolution concerning the Bloomington chancellor was passed with 924 in favor and 93 not in favor, with 35 faculty members abstaining.\nA total of 1,060 voting members of the faculty -- about two-thirds of eligible members -- cast a vote. \nThe resolutions were presented at a Nov. 15 special meeting of the Bloomington faculty -- the first of its kind since 1986.\nThe trustees normally review the president on an annual basis, but the faculty resolution asks for a special, more extensive inquiry that involves external input.\n"The board takes this faculty vote very seriously. We plan on discussing it on our board of trustees meeting next week," said board of trustees President Stephen Ferguson. \nHe said he has not discussed the resolutions with any of the other eight trustees, but said a message from this many members of the faculty is important to consider. Ferguson said the trustees hope to get input both from representatives of the Bloomington faculty and faculty from other IU campuses.\nFaculty members have cited several reasons for a special review of Herbert, including the president's inaccessibility, lack of public visibility and a long delay in appointing a new IUB chancellor and senior vice president for academic affairs.\nIU Law professor Fred Cate said the trustees are in a very difficult position and he is confident they will make the best decision possible under the circumstances. He said the trustees should focus on specific areas for improvement as well as the structure of IU's \nleadership.\nIU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said Ted Miller, Bloomington Faculty Council president and president pro-tempore of the faculty, met with Herbert Monday to discuss the results of the resolutions.\nMacIntyre said Herbert has spoken with other faculty members and trustees about the situation.\n"(Herbert's) concern is that the allegations that have been made against him are somewhat limited in focus and have ignored a number of accomplishments," MacIntyre said.\nThe special meeting of the faculty came after increasing criticism of Herbert prompted 131 professors to petition the Bloomington Faculty Council for a special meeting.\nThe criticism began after Herbert announced the search for a new IUB chancellor and vice president for academic affairs would be continued after a 10-month search failed to find any acceptable candidates.\nHerbert was given a Jan. 1 deadline to find a new chancellor by the board of trustees at a Nov. 4 board meeting. The board unanimously passed a resolution in support of Herbert's decision, but noted that finding a new chancellor is a top priority.\nSeveral other resolutions were scheduled to be presented at the Nov. 15 meeting, but were withdrawn before coming to a vote. One resolution asked for the immediate nomination of College of Arts and Sciences Dean Kumble Subbaswamy as Bloomington chancellor and senior vice president for academic affairs. Another was a simple recognition of Subbaswamy's service to the school.