UK university senate to call for vote of no confidence in President Capilouto next week

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The University of Kentucky university senate will consider a resolution of no confidence in President Eli Capilouto at its meeting on Monday.

The vote comes after months of disagreements with the president over the role of the senate, and a vote from the board of trustees last week that will restructure the university’s governance. Under the new structure, the university senate loses its policy-making power and moves to an advisory role, which faculty members have said removes their role in shared governance.

Though staff and student groups support the changes, faculty members have said they worry about the long-term implications of the moves. A “resolution of no confidence” has been added as an agenda item for the university senate’s meeting on Monday, the last meeting of the semester. The resolution also calls on the board of trustees to “redo the process of shared governance reform” to address the senate’s concerns, and to develop new recommendations.

“In formulating his recommendations, the President made significant, repeated management errors that have created unnecessary confusion, anxiety, and risk within the UK community,” the resolution reads.

The resolution also says Capilouto “created unnecessary and harmful division when he amplified false narratives that faculty members on the University Senate do not prioritize student needs or value diverse representation.”

A no confidence vote is largely symbolic, and does not immediately result in the removal or firing of a university president. It signals from the voting faculty that they find “some aspect of the senior leader’s behavior, management style openness, and decision-making problematic,” according to research published in the Journal of Research on the College President.

A 2022 analysis by the Chronicle of Higher Education found the number of no-confidence votes at universities has increased in recent years, and about 51% of the time, a president who receives a no confidence vote leaves the position within a year.

Hundreds of UK faculty attended the April 26 board meeting, where nine people spoke in opposition of the proposed changes. Five people spoke in favor of the changes, with three of them being college deans. The proposed changes were approved almost unanimously by the board, with one faculty trustee, Hollie Swanson, voting against.

Capilouto has been the president of UK since 2011, and holds the longest tenure of any other current public university president in the state. He’s one of the highest-paid public university presidents in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report. Capilouto has been praised for his job performance by trustees, but in his most recent performance evaluation, the board listed strengthening relationships with faculty and shared governance as areas for improvement.

“The UK Board of Trustees unequivocally supports President Eli Capilouto and the work of the UK community to meet Kentucky’s needs,” board of trustees chair Britt Brockman said in a statement. “We respect those among our faculty who are speaking out. That is a hallmark of a healthy community. But we will keep going. The efforts underway are too important. They are supported by the UK community. And they align with our mission to advance this state in everything that we do. The UK Board of Trustees has full confidence in President Capilouto.”

How did we get here?

Capilouto presented the new governance structure to the board of trustees last week, which moves the university senate, established in 1917, from a policy-making body to an advisory faculty senate. The Student Government Association and the staff senate will remain as advisory bodies at UK. A president’s council, made up of students, faculty and staff who will advise the president, will also be created.

The driving force behind the changes has been to streamline decision-making at UK and to include more voices, university administrators said. Additionally, Capilouto said he’d heard from staff and students throughout this process that they often felt left out of the decision-making process at the university. Both the staff senate and SGA passed resolutions in favor of the changes to governance.

Capilouto spent the weeks after receiving the directive from the board meeting with students, faculty and staff. He said he met with over 1,000 people in that time, and reviewed feedback forms submitted online before forming the proposed changes.

While faculty have said they support bringing additional student and staff voices into decision-making, the university senate has opposed the process used to propose changes to the board. Additionally, members of the senate have repeatedly voiced concerns about losing policy-making power. Under the new structure, university policies that previously were made in the senate, like admissions standards and approving new courses and degrees. Now, new courses, curriculum and academic programs will instead be proposed by departments or colleges, then go to the provost, before going to the board for approval.

In addition to changes to the senate, the board also approved a slate of changes to the university’s governing regulations, which lay out how the university operates and what authority is given to the president, board of trustees and other university bodies.