A number of Lincoln University faculty members told Academic Affairs Vice President Said Sewell Thursday they're not happy with the way LU administrators are handling the jobs of two longtime LU leaders.
During Thursday's Faculty Senate meeting, Sewell confirmed what mostly had been rumored on the campus: "We will have a search for the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and an open search for the dean of Professional Studies."
Those posts currently are held by Ruthi Sturdevant and Linda Bickel, both longtime Lincoln professors and campus leaders.
Sewell said administrators decided during a recent Leadership Retreat to pursue national searches for the two posts. "It's critically important that everyone have a voice as far as selecting the next dean for those two colleges," he told the faculty members.
"No longer should we disappoint people and not allow them - you all - to be a part of the process (and) have different voices at the table."
He reminded the faculty, and later repeated in an interview, the two women were placed in their positions during previous administrations - and department directors and college deans generally are appointed for a limited time.
"It doesn't mean that Dr. Sturdevant or Dr. Bickel are not qualified - they can apply, and I've encouraged them to apply," Sewell said. "But ... this is not an inherited position."
Bickel, who also heads the Office of Graduate Studies, told colleagues she's "been a dean for 16 years, and I've had one-year appointments, two-year appointments and three-year appointments. This year, I have a one-year appointment."
She declined to be interviewed after Thursday's meeting.
Sturdevant, who also is dean of the College of Behavioral & Technological Sciences, told the News Tribune she didn't know about the planned search until her secretary was crying about it.
"Nobody said a word to me about this before he started announcing it to other people," she said. "That's shabby treatment."
Will she apply for the job during the search? "No. That's totally insulting."
Sturdevant told the Faculty Senate meeting: "I can definitely tell when I'm not wanted."
Sewell said the Professional Studies dean search will begin next spring, while the Arts and Letters dean search won't start until next fall.
But, he said, Thursday's Faculty Senate meeting was his first chance to announce the plans.
Sewell said he was trying to follow the campus' published rules for filling leadership positions, noting some past appointments were not made following those rules.
Mara Aruguete, Ph.D., a Social and Behavioral Sciences professor, agreed LU administrators should follow the rules, and have not always done so in the past.
But, she told Sewell: "I think we have not been following the rules in many other ways than what you said."
Several faculty members complained administrators had not communicated their plans well; some reported hearing about the planned searches from people outside Lincoln.
"I felt like we weren't part of the process, and we should have been," Eric Burgess, head of LU's Business department, told Sewell.
Many of the faculty members applauded when one colleague asked: "If the faculty are not unhappy with the performance of our current dean, why are we changing?"
Sewell defended the search plan as a benefit to taxpayers. "People should be involved in the overall process," he said. "This is a part of the process - any university in the state, when they have an opening, they have a national search."