Friday, July 26, 2019 | 2 a.m.
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As chair of the UNLV Faculty Senate, I feel compelled to respond to the potentially misleading statements concerning Acting President Marta Meana in the recent Sun article “Analysis: Was threat against UNLV part of a power play by regents?”
I can unequivocally deny conjecture on campus that there was a “plan all along to install Meana in the president’s office long-term” because I was on the executive committee of the UNLV Faculty Senate, both when President Len Jessup resigned and when Meana was made acting president.
Many UNLV faculty were devastated by Jessup’s sudden departure, particularly because they believed that real progress had been made after years of disruptive leadership turnover. We expressed our concerns clearly to both the chancellor and the Nevada Board of Regents, and as a result, they were very inclusive of both academic and administrative faculty voices as they considered how to handle the vacancy.
The Faculty Senate’s executive committee was asked to provide suggestions for interim candidates; we included Meana. We were pleased when she was chosen and accepted the position.
Last fall, the chancellor and board of regents chair conducted forums for various constituencies across campus, including two for faculty, to gather feedback about the search process. Two things became very clear:
n Most faculty wanted a national search for the position of president
n Most faculty expressed strong support for Meana and wanted her to have the option to apply for the job and go through the search if she chose to do so.
When the regents met in February to officially vote on whether to allow Meana to apply for the position, the chairs of the Faculty Senate and Student Government both strongly supported this option in public comment.
We have faith in the mechanisms and procedures in place to deal with issues that both academic and administrative faculty may have. These may be slower processes than some would like, but we are convinced that faculty can make use of them to give multiple constituencies a voice.
Instability in leadership has been “crippling for UNLV” for all the reasons stated in the analysis. As an institution, we wish to move forward and capitalize on our recent accomplishments, such as R1 status and the new medical school. There is no benefit to rehashing the circumstances of Jessup’s departure or to speculate about the appointment of Meana as acting president.
Janis McKay is a longtime professor of music at UNLV.
