LU provost taking leave of absence

Dr. Said Sewell
Dr. Said Sewell

Citing personal reasons, Said Sewell - Lincoln University's provost and vice president for Academic Affairs - is taking an extended leave of absence.

LU President Kevin Rome announced the change in appointment late Friday morning in a mass email to Lincoln's faculty, staff and students, which was forwarded to the News Tribune by a student.

Rome said in the email an interim appointment for both jobs would be announced Tuesday. He did not announce whether Sewell's leave would be paid or unpaid.

Sewell is in his third year as provost and VPAA.

He came to Jefferson City in August 2014 from Ohio's Kent State University, where he had been that school's dean of the College of Undergraduate Studies and ultimately assistant provost for Academic Affairs.

But for much of the last year, Sewell, now 46, has been in a growing dispute with members of LU's faculty, culminating in last month's 88-18 Faculty Senate vote of "no confidence" in Sewell's work as provost and VPAA.

"Dr. Sewell has repeatedly violated the principles of shared governance and has not responded in any substantive way to the concerns expressed by our members," the Senate's resolution reported. "We do not expect any improvement from the current VPAA.

"Since the Fall of 2015, the faculty - through the Faculty Senate - has alerted the administration to this problem. No behaviors have changed.

"If anything, even more violations of our shared governance principles have occurred since that time."

About 35 minutes before that Sept. 29 meeting began and the no confidence vote was taken, Sewell sent faculty members a seven-page statement that said: "I unequivocally deny the allegations leveled against the Office of VPAA by the Executive Committee of the faculty senate.

"Because the LU administration values shared governance, the VPAA consults with faculty before decisions are made, especially those involving academic programs."

More than 150 LU faculty members are part of the Faculty Senate and eligible to vote.

More than 56.4 percent of the total faculty - and 78.6 percent of those who actually cast a ballot - voted "no confidence" in Sewell's performance.

Of the 112 votes cast, six were abstentions.

Not mentioned in the faculty's no confidence vote was Sewell's role as defendant in a federal lawsuit filed May 31 in Ohio.

The seven-page lawsuit by Lisa D. Roberto, of Aurora, Ohio, accused Kent State University and four of its officials - including Sewell - of violating federal whistleblower laws by not renewing her employment contract in retaliation "for her role in exposing the submission of false claims for payment by the United States Department of Education."

Sewell told the News Tribune in August - when LU officials learned of the Kent State lawsuit - he couldn't comment on the details of the lawsuit or its allegations but noted the Ohio attorney general's office "already (had) filed a motion to dismiss it against all named individuals."

Nancy Grim, the Kent, Ohio, attorney who filed the suit for Roberto, said Friday they were waiting for a court ruling on a defendants' "procedural motion."

Four months after coming to Jefferson City two years ago, Sewell told the News Tribune he wanted to create a strategic plan for Academic Affairs "to make this university what I call 'distinct.'"

He said then he shared Rome's vision of helping LU "be so distinct here that people will come from all over the country to come to this place to go to school, to engage with our faculty."

Friday's announcement did not specify how long Sewell's leave of absence is expected to last.