Ruthi Sturdevant, a former Lincoln University professor and administrator, has questioned some of the information Said Sewell gave LU's faculty last month, shortly before they voted "no confidence" in Sewell's work as Lincoln's provost and vice president for Academic Affairs (VPAA).
The final vote Sept. 29 was 88-18, with six abstentions.
Sturdevant, a 1975 Lincoln graduate, served as an interim VPAA before Sewell came to Jefferson City in August 2014.
Last week, she sent her former colleagues a four-page letter she said was intended to clarify some issues contained in Sewell's seven-page letter to the faculty, encouraging them to vote against the no confidence resolution.
"The turmoil which my Alma Mater is currently experiencing has been very distressing for me," Sturdevant wrote at the beginning of her letter. "When I read Dr. Sewell's response to the Faculty Senate, I was struck by the many inaccuracies in his reporting of events.
"I wrestled with my conscience and finally decided I needed to set some things straight."
This story does not look at all the issues raised in either letter, nor in the Faculty Senate's rationale for its no confidence vote proposal.
Sewell's letter, issued about 40 minutes before the LU Faculty Senate meeting began Sept. 29, was a response to the faculty executive committee's no confidence resolution and a nine-page rationale for proposing the no confidence vote.
The resolution noted: "Dr. Sewell has not responded in any substantive way to the concerns expressed by our members," and the rationale included a three-page appendix listing seven resolutions the Senate passed during the 2015-16 school year and Sewell's short email responses.
In his letter, Sewell told the faculty: "I unequivocally deny the allegations leveled against the Office of VPAA by the Executive Committee of the faculty senate."
Sewell told the faculty he had been involved in a number of situations that "could be resolved by either the department head or dean," but "for whatever reason, many, if not most, have insisted on bringing to the VPAA's office a multitude of issues."
Sturdevant's response told the faculty Sewell "repeatedly interfered and micromanaged every attempt to handle situations by the Department Heads and Deans."
Grievance procedures
In one example, the Faculty Senate's rationale accused Sewell of ignoring Lincoln's grievance procedures "in hopes to administer disciplinary action against (a) faculty member based on a student's accusations," citing an instance where "a female faculty member was called to a meeting (in) Dr. Sewell's office in order to answer accusations made by a student (which) did not follow the established protocol for handling student conduct or complaints."
Sewell told the faculty: "The dean brought this faculty-student issue to me. I along with the dean met with all parties, so that all could have a clear understanding. To be clear, the VPAA had no prior knowledge of any of the individuals, and the solution came from the dean and also, I believe, the student judicial council."
Sturdevant reported Sewell's "response included many factual errors."
"The student came to Dr. Sewell without first meeting with the Department Head or Dean (and) Sewell did not follow protocol by sending her back to the Department Head," she said. "The first I knew about the situation was when I received the email from Dr. Sewell's office asking me to attend the meeting."
The issue was "settled when the Student Conduct Committee voted to suspend the student for a year," Sturdevant reported.
'Higher Learning' accreditation
Sewell told the faculty: "As most of you know, prior to the current (Rome) administration, Lincoln was beset with great challenges - (including) being deficient in five areas by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) "
However, Sturdevant wrote: "As Chair of the Accreditation Steering Committee, I can attest that Lincoln University was not in trouble with the Higher Learning Commission when Dr. Sewell arrived. In its Evaluation Report, the visiting team recommended 'continued accreditation.'"
Missouri Higher Education criteria
Sewell also reminded the faculty the state's Higher Education department (MDHE) criteria for degree programs include maintaining "a critical mass of majors and graduate annually an average, calculated over the prior three years, of at least 10 majors at the associate or baccalaureate degree level."
Sturdevant's letter countered: "Although in 2011 MDHE required every institution of higher education to review programs with average graduation rates lower than 10 per year, it has never ordered any (school) to deactivate or cancel such a program."
History degree
On July 18, after a presentation by Sewell, LU's curators voted 4-2 during a telephone conference call to deactivate the school's history degree program - which means it's eliminated in three years unless it's reorganized and re-established with the school president's approval.
The Faculty Senate's rationale said Sewell "supplied the Board of Curators with several pieces of inaccurate information regarding the History major" during that conference call.
Sewell's letter to the faculty said the curators' vote "upon the recommendation of the administration authorized the President (to) commission a plan for reactivating the program.
"If the plan is accepted, the department of History will be allowed to admit students in the Fall of 2017."
Sturdevant wrote: "What is at issue is how the decisions were made to recommend suspension of the Music degrees and deactivation of the History degree. The (review) committee members did NOT recommend such action."
LU's future
Sewell's response to the no confidence proposal noted he had "charged a committee of the faculty, within 90 days of my arrival, to develop an Academic Affairs Strategic plan. The university is using this strategic plan as a roadmap to return Lincoln to a place of intellectual prominence and as a top tier historically black college/university (HBCU) in the United States."
He reminded Lincoln's faculty his job "always (is) to work with and advocate on behalf of the faculty and students. In addition, I am willing to sit down and address any issue with the faculty senate, individual faculty, or a collective of the faculty, because I still know that Lincoln University's best days are in the future."
Sturdevant wrote: "During the many years of my relationship with Lincoln University, I have experienced good times and turbulent times. I know that Lincoln University is always better when there is a climate of mutual respect between the administration and the faculty.
"I love Lincoln University, and I have spent my entire professional career supporting its mission. We are currently celebrating our 150th anniversary. I am so fearful we won't celebrate many more."