Father biondi - vote of no confidence

[Clock_Tower]

So what happened with the no confidence thing at school today??

[SLUMedBilliken15]

51-4-2 vote of no confidence in Biondi....

[slufan13]

http://www.news.stlp...ndi-slu-faculty

Will be updated.

In an unprecedented move, the faculty of Saint Louis University has voted "no confidence" in University President Father Lawrence Biondi.

The Faculty Senate voted 51-4 with 2 abstaining.

The vote is just the latest in an ongoing war between faculty and administration.

During his 25 years as president, Biondi has faced his share of criticism, investing millions of dollars in campus building projects, sometimes at the expense of what professors viewed as more pressing academic needs.

The animosity came to a head this past summer following a new system of metrics-based criteria for tenure review.

The plan was viewed by faculty as a plot to make it easier to fire tenured professors.

The issue of tenure review has since been tabled, but Political Science Professor Tim Lomperis says the damage was done.

“It’s the end for us, its enough,” Lomperis said. “We have had enough of the Biondi era and I don’t think this movement will go away until that is guaranteed.”

Earlier in the day on the campus of Saint Louis University, several hundred students turned out to voice support of their faculty calling for Biondi to step down.

In addition to the faculty pushback against the proposed form of tenure review, the movement against Biondi has been building for months, including the issue of the elimination of certain departments and degrees.

Sophmore Rebecca Killian in student in the Urban Studies program, which is slated for closure.

“I feel like it has totally crippled the worth of my degree,” Killian said. “I mean, much of my faculty in my program fled. And a lot of students have been saying that this is turning into a business-oriented university, which is not what I came here for, and its not what a lot of other students came here for.”

It’s not yet clear what immediate impact the vote may have. A letter dated Sept. 24 from the Chairman of the Board of Trustees reiterated the board’s confidence in Biondi.

Another letter from Biondi and the Vice Presidents, which addresses some of the developments of recent days, was sent to SLU faculty, staff and students today.

[Box and Won]

Here's the "SLU Students for No Confidence" page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NoConfidenceSLU?fref=ts

[Box and Won]

A message from the President and Vice Presidents: https://docs.google.com/a/slu.edu/file/d/1dGS8SQCmBrXWq3rjYpXrcqGlI5C4I5muJfzwvZlc2YCCNdqgd6Bttpblt9dS/edit?pli=1

[Bizziken]

I don't really care what happens, but this $hit needs to get fixed FAST!!!!

[MB73]

What are you talking about? Do nothing until 2012? Fr. Biondi sure deserves his share of criticism but to marginalize 25 years of his true accomplishments and then to state that "any reasonable" administrator would have done the same is just plain wrong. Most administrators keep the status quo. Fr. Biondi has done the complete opposite.

You are a good poster but I still say any reasonable experienced but young enough administrator would have renewed the campus, closed the streets, put in lawns, fountains, upgraded the faciliites, etc, and that the alumni were crying out for an on-campus arena for 50 yrs.. so I do not give him a lot of credit. Majerus was fluke luck, he wanted a Jesuit school close to Milwaukee but not in the Big 6, the alumni paid for his salary, Biondi mostly pissed off Majerus. The "incident". Etc. Biondi hates athletics. This is a basketball site.

There are 100 anectdotal stories of his arrogance as it relates to athletics.... hell alumni wanted to pay for an Ed McCauley statue, he said no. I say that one since it was already documented on this site... there are so many more but I am not "going there".

And now, all the other issues have finally surfaced. Vote of no confidence. Protests. Our academic rankings continue to plunge. The law school incident, etc. Embarassing.

In his vernacular, overall, I give him a "D".

[RiseAndGrind]

If anyone could ever give me a satisfactory answer as to why SLU's Law School and Undergraduate rankings continue to drop, I'd be inclined to support the current administration a lot more.

And no, yelling "RANKINGS DON'T MATTER" is not a satisfactory answer.

[RiseAndGrind]

A message from the President and Vice Presidents: https://docs.google....t9dS/edit?pli=1

Lot of interesting numbers in there.

[slufan13]

Lot of interesting numbers in there.

But yet nothing on why our ranking continues to fall

[AlumniFan]

A message from the President and Vice Presidents: https://docs.google....t9dS/edit?pli=1

Thanks for sharing this. I have been a long-time supporter of Biondi but recently have become somewhat disillusioned. I am still very active at the University and involved in a lot of different ways. I hear a lot of things, good and bad. The people I talk to on a regular basis are people for whom I have a very significant amount of respect and they are certainly closer to the situation than me. I just wonder what and where the truth really is. The numbers in the document Box posted are very encouraging and I have been aware of many of them, but seeing them all together is impactful.

On the other hand, there seem to be a small subset of other unflattering numbers out there that people (e.g. the media, people on this board, students, some teachers) both fixate on and repeatedly reference. I wonder, if in their quest to cast Biondi in a bad light, they are actually painting an inaccurate and very negative picture of the University. If that is the case, it really is the classic cutting off of one's nose to spite one's face and that is really sad.

I don't know where the truth lies, but fighting this out in the media and through the childish use of social media where every nitwit can blather on, saying ANYTHING they want, will ultimately be much more harmful to the University as a whole and its reputation which will in turn diminish the value of our degrees, hurt things like athletic recruiting, adversely impact student recruitment, adversely impact alumni giving, etc. Is that what we really want?

BTW, Biondi is 70 something. He is going to retire relatively soon anyway and he has, in his 25 years, done incredible things which few of his predecessors can even hold a candle to in the past 50-60 years. I think it is small-minded and absurd to suggest that any administrator would have done what he did - if that is so, what in the hell happened the 30 years previous to Biondi's arrival? People have made their case and dragged the school through the mud in the process. It is time to shut up and let this be worked out internally.

[majerus mojo]

let's just say that SLU has found a way to nickel and dime and piss off nearly every student during their time as a student. Most alumni remember their own personal stories and choose not to donate. Donations are a reflection of how you were made to feel while at school.

This. Almost everyone I went to school with resents their SLU experience in some way. It's the larger issue as to why no one follows the athletics and chooses to continue to follow the schools they grew up rooting for as kids. It may have been different in the past, but recently the school has tried it's hardest to ###### on everyone while they are enrolled, while giving nothing memorable in return but excessive loans and a diminishing degree.

[AlumniFan]

This. Almost everyone I went to school with resents their SLU experience in some way. It's the larger issue as to why no one follows the athletics and chooses to continue to follow the schools they grew up rooting for as kids. It may have been different in the past, but recently the school has tried it's hardest to ###### on everyone while they are enrolled, while giving nothing memorable in return but excessive loans and a diminishing degree.

I find this a little amusing. You should have gone to the SLU I went to back in the early '80s. That's back when SLU was still largely a commuter school. "Visitors" to campus included the elderly, incoherent and wearing nothing but a sheet, from a run down retirement slum right where the clock tower is now. And you had the exciting Laclede Town where the soccer field, baseball diamonds and Chaifetz now stand. A 6'4" cop who was giving me a ride back to my apartment after my car was stolen told me that the thugs would run into Laclede Town because they knew the cops wouldn't follow them. When you talked about SLU, no one talked about rankings because SLU was barely considered in that capacity. You really have no idea how good you had it. And, yes, I came out with some loans too (and that is after working about 25-30 hours a week). So did my sons. It is a part of going to college in the United States, that is it is NOT unique to SLU.

Also, I remember other students being pissed off about fees in the 1980s too. It is nothing new.

I am not trying to pick a fight, but it just seems that a lot of students think they are going through something uniquely bad at SLU and that is just not an accurate representation of reality.

[SpartanBilliken]

I find this a little amusing. You should have gone to the SLU I went to back in the early '80s. That's back when SLU was still largely a commuter school. "Visitors" to campus included the elderly, incoherent and wearing nothing but a sheet, from a run down retirement slum right where the clock tower is now. And you had the exciting Laclede Town where the soccer field, baseball diamonds and Chaifetz now stand. A 6'4" cop who was giving me a ride back to my apartment after my car was stolen told me that the thugs would run into Laclede Town because they knew the cops wouldn't follow them. When you talked about SLU, no one talked about rankings because SLU was barely considered in that capacity. You really have no idea how good you had it. And, yes, I came out with some loans too (and that is after working about 25-30 hours a week). So did my sons. It is a part of going to college in the United States, that is it is NOT unique to SLU.

Also, I remember other students being pissed off about fees in the 1980s too. It is nothing new.

I am not trying to pick a fight, but it just seems that a lot of students think they are going through something uniquely bad at SLU and that is just not an accurate representation of reality.

+1. well said AlumniFan

[billikenfan05]

+1. well said AlumniFan

I don't understand the "be thankful for what you have" bs. Shouldn't we strive to have the best University and if Biondi can't bring that than I don't think he should be in control.

[ARon]

I don't understand the "be thankful for what you have" bs. Shouldn't we strive to have the best University and if Biondi can't bring that than I don't think he should be in control.

Yes we should, but that doesn't mean that a bunch of teachers who are primarily concerned about protecting their tenure are right that Biondi isn't the right guy for the job. These arguements are happening all over the country. SLU student protesting one damn thing or another had been going on for decades, I can think of 3 or 4 that happened just before and during my undergrad ('99-'03). Don't assume that this situation has to be as dramatic as some are making it out to be.

[RiseAndGrind]

Yes we should, but that doesn't mean that a bunch of teachers who are primarily concerned about protecting their tenure are right that Biondi isn't the right guy for the job. These arguements are happening all over the country. SLU student protesting one damn thing or another had been going on for decades, I can think of 3 or 4 that happened just before and during my undergrad ('99-'03). Don't assume that this situation has to be as dramatic as some are making it out to be.

How many times has there ever been a vote of no confidence in the University President? Serious question. IIRC, I believe the recents votes are the first time ever.

I don't know whether Biondi is the right guy for the job, but that's beside the point. SLU's name and reputation continues to be tarnished in the media due to the fighting between students, faculty, and administration. These votes of no confidence, competing power point slides (seriously?!), and headlines in local and national papers has got to stop. I'd like my two degrees to be worth something in a couple of years.

Also, anyone else find it highly unlikely that SLU will be a better institution after all this if Patankar, the faculty, and Biondi all remain? Sounds like the makings of a really cohesive and positive work environment....

[jimbofive]

http://www.news.stlp...ndi-slu-faculty

Will be updated.

In an unprecedented move, the faculty of Saint Louis University has voted "no confidence" in University President Father Lawrence Biondi.

The Faculty Senate voted 51-4 with 2 abstaining.

The vote is just the latest in an ongoing war between faculty and administration.

During his 25 years as president, Biondi has faced his share of criticism, investing millions of dollars in campus building projects, sometimes at the expense of what professors viewed as more pressing academic needs.

The animosity came to a head this past summer following a new system of metrics-based criteria for tenure review.

The plan was viewed by faculty as a plot to make it easier to fire tenured professors.

The issue of tenure review has since been tabled, but Political Science Professor Tim Lomperis says the damage was done.

“It’s the end for us, its enough,” Lomperis said. “We have had enough of the Biondi era and I don’t think this movement will go away until that is guaranteed.”

Earlier in the day on the campus of Saint Louis University, several hundred students turned out to voice support of their faculty calling for Biondi to step down.

In addition to the faculty pushback against the proposed form of tenure review, the movement against Biondi has been building for months, including the issue of the elimination of certain departments and degrees.

Sophmore Rebecca Killian in student in the Urban Studies program, which is slated for closure.

“I feel like it has totally crippled the worth of my degree,” Killian said. “I mean, much of my faculty in my program fled. And a lot of students have been saying that this is turning into a business-oriented university, which is not what I came here for, and its not what a lot of other students came here for.”

It’s not yet clear what immediate impact the vote may have. A letter dated Sept. 24 from the Chairman of the Board of Trustees reiterated the board’s confidence in Biondi.

Another letter from Biondi and the Vice Presidents, which addresses some of the developments of recent days, was sent to SLU faculty, staff and students today.

fuoking NEAT. see you later, biondi, you diokhead. the power you so fancifully wield makes you seem the gotdamn devil to me. shape up AND ship out, you turd.

[jzstldc]

Biondi has done so many good things for SLU in terms of both the campus and academics but no doubt it is time for him to go. He has just become an embarrassment the last few years in so many ways. Plus if you look at large corporations (or universities for that matter) how many have had the same president for 25 years? Not many at all so it is time for a change.

I was a firm supporter of him when I was there in the late 90s but i would have voted no confidence as well.

The 1 way I never liked him was his support (or lack thereof) for SLU athletics.

Hopefully we will be saying Bye to him soon.

[AlumniFan]

I don't understand the "be thankful for what you have" bs. Shouldn't we strive to have the best University and if Biondi can't bring that than I don't think he should be in control.

Yes, we should strive for that. That's why quite a few people on this board, 10, 20, 30+ years AFTER graduation still give a lot of their time and money to the University to make it better.

But, emphatically YES, you should be thankful for the quality of the University that you attend. And I have heard time and again people who have been away from the University for 20+, who years come back, get re-acquainted, and say,"Wow! What happened here? This place is awesome and there are actually students who don't go home at night and I actually hear about the school (in a positive way) in the press now." It was NOT like that 25+ years ago.

Now, you can say that it all happened because of luck, or because of Debbie Yow, or because of Cheryl Levick, or because of Rick Majerus, or because of Ernie the grounds keeper, but the reality is that the one consistent figure of authority through this entire period was Biondi. Might it be time for him to move on? Very possibly. But the way some of the people on this board address the situation strikes me as very simplistic (and emotional) and, in most cases, without the benefit of the lens of experience.

[AlumniFan]

How many times has there ever been a vote of no confidence in the University President? Serious question. IIRC, I believe the recents votes are the first time ever.

I don't know whether Biondi is the right guy for the job, but that's beside the point. SLU's name and reputation continues to be tarnished in the media due to the fighting between students, faculty, and administration. These votes of no confidence, competing power point slides (seriously?!), and headlines in local and national papers has got to stop. I'd like my two degrees to be worth something in a couple of years.

Also, anyone else find it highly unlikely that SLU will be a better institution after all this if Patankar, the faculty, and Biondi all remain? Sounds like the makings of a really cohesive and positive work environment....

You can find a heck of a lot of instances throughout history where a band of people agitated for change, effectively managed the media of the time, and effected a change...and the result was a disaster. Just because people are loud does not mean that their approach is right or that it will lead to a better outcome. I am not saying that it might not be time for Biondi to move on, but the way this war is being waged is dragging down everyone, not just Fr. Biondi.

One more small point that really irks me. When these tenured teachers complain about no raises. HELLO - are they aware of the term "the lost decade"?!!?! Many people are unemployed and more are under-employed. A lot of those who are working, are worried about their jobs. Very few people in my industry have had a raise in the past five and even ten years let alone in the past year. And a lot of people have seen their pay drop, in come cases dramatically. Now, I know many of the professors and I know that it is definitely not all of them that are whining, but those who are the loudest on this subject are kind of embarrassing themselves.

[slufan13]

Maybe I'm not looking at this right, but as a current student that's going to graduate soon, I really just want SLU to have a high ranking so my degree looks better. Biondi promised top 50 and it's moving in the opposite direction and a pretty dramatic pace. I honestly couldn't care less about the endowment numbers or tenured professors or whatever. This is a time where the administration and faculty are both being selfish so as a student I am too. Give me a ranking that is moving up. That's not happening now so something has to change.

[billiken_roy]

Yes, we should strive for that. That's why quite a few people on this board, 10, 20, 30+ years AFTER graduation still give a lot of their time and money to the University to make it better. But, emphatically YES, you should be thankful for the quality of the University that you attend. And I have heard time and again people who have been away from the University for 20+, who years come back, get re-acquainted, and say,"Wow! What happened here? This place is awesome and there are actually students who don't go home at night and I actually hear about the school (in a positive way) in the press now." It was NOT like that 25+ years ago. Now, you can say that it all happened because of luck, or because of Debbie Yow, or because of Cheryl Levick, or because of Rick Majerus, or because of Ernie the grounds keeper, but the reality is that the one consistent figure of authority through this entire period was Biondi. Might it be time for him to move on? Very possibly. But the way some of the people on this board address the situation strikes me as very simplistic (and emotional) and, in most cases, without the benefit of the lens of experience.

i agree with alumni fan. i have been quiet throughout this thread and somewhat sympathetic to the cause of some vs father biondi. no doubt he has made mistakes and in some cases stepped over the line of decency. but reading his letter in response to the teachers and students surely paints a picture with some pretty hard and strong facts about the path of saint louis university during his time as president.

some of you are too young to even know what the university looked like prior to Father Biondi. and i am not just talking about streets, buildings and statues. the whole picture. you all may want to take some time to review the facts father biondi presented in his letter.

[RiseAndGrind]

i agree with alumni fan. i have been quiet throughout this thread and somewhat sympathetic to the cause of some vs father biondi. no doubt he has made mistakes and in some cases stepped over the line of decency. but reading his letter in response to the teachers and students surely paints a picture with some pretty hard and strong facts about the path of saint louis university during his time as president.

some of you are too young to even know what the university looked like prior to Father Biondi. and i am not just talking about streets, buildings and statues. the whole picture. you all may want to take some time to review the facts father biondi presented in his letter.

First, thanks for the discussion guys. Yes, I did look at the numbers and while the numbers painted a rosy picture there were a couple that were noticeably absent. For example, why has our OVERALL ranking continued to drop? That is a fact that is not being addressed. It's nice that we have increased in several discrete rankings, but the University must be failing elsewhere.

Secondly, why has our law school continued to drop in the rankings while the class sizes have continued to grow (except for this year due to a nationwide decrease in attendance)?

Third, yes, the campus is beautiful. I get it. Biondi did an excellent job building out the campus. That doesn't mean he's now infallible on all else.

Like I said, I don't know whether Biondi should stay our go. But what I do know is that a continued drop in rankings and negative headlines are doing real damage to my degrees.

[ARon]

Maybe I'm not looking at this right, but as a current student that's going to graduate soon, I really just want SLU to have a high ranking so my degree looks better. Biondi promised top 50 and it's moving in the opposite direction and a pretty dramatic pace. I honestly couldn't care less about the endowment numbers or tenured professors or whatever. This is a time where the administration and faculty are both being selfish so as a student I am too. Give me a ranking that is moving up. That's not happening now so something has to change.

I completely understand why you'd feel that way and if I were in your place I'd probably feel the same.

But from my experience, which is in the business world and not law, most HR people know that SLU is a good (not great) school. They are mostly ignorant to the rankings. Unless you are talking about an Ivy league school, their alma mater, or the University of Phoenix; not a lot of weight is given to where you went to school, just THAT you went to school. Especially once you are in the door. After that it's all about what you do, not where you've been.

Not trying to say the rankings don't matter. Just that there is a limit to how useful they are in some fields.