Following a roughly two-hour descent into a private meeting Tuesday and a statement promising better efforts toward “shared governance” from the University of Wyoming's president, the UW Board of Trustees chairman announced he’ll appoint a committee to bolster that principle.
University of Wyoming spokesman Chad Baldwin confirmed after the meeting that Ed Seidel is still the president of the university. An official statement is forthcoming, Baldwin said.
The UW Faculty Senate on Monday evening had drafted a resolution of “no confidence” in Seidel’s leadership following some departmental turnover and recent funding controversies, and allegations that he falls short on pursuing “shared governance," or involving others in major decision-making.
"This behavior has even created a culture of fear among some faculty on campus who would otherwise share their views in the spirit of Shared Governance but remain silent due to a fear of retaliation," says the resolution. "The President’s lack of leadership and loss of faculty trust has resulted in significant impacts on campus that are critical to faculty delivering our shared mission. These have included serious declines in morale resulting in good faculty leaving, programs struggling to provide capacity and content, research agendas being paused or abandoned, and the quality of education declining as we struggle to hire high quality faculty to put into classrooms."
Seidel promised publicly in Tuesday morning’s board meeting to address faculty and leadership concerns.
He said he had a “very constructive” Monday meeting with UW’s deans and has begun to address those issues, including by committing to meet regularly and engage faculty, staff, students and “other stakeholders.”
After that statement, the board went into executive session to discuss a personnel matter. Seidel was not invited into the private meeting.
After the session, Board Chair Kermit Brown said he would appoint a committee that would include two trustees — Laura Schmid-Pizzato and Michelle Sullivan — and probably one faculty member, one staff senate member, one students’ association member, one dean, the president and the provost.
The committee’s exact formation is not established yet, said Brown.
Seidel, who like the trustees appeared by virtual link at the Zoom meeting, clasped his hands and displayed a relieved and grateful expression.
The Turnover
Abrupt and controversial leadership changes have surfaced at UW in recent months.
Then-Provost Kevin Carman resigned Sept. 30, telling his colleagues at the time that Seidel asked him to step down, Wyoming Public Media reported. Carman still has his faculty position as professor of zoology and physiology.
UW removed College of Health Sciences Dean Jacob Warren in January 2024, amid concern by some stakeholders about Warren’s plans for reorganization at the college. Warren retained his faculty position at the time but has since left the university, said Baldwin.
Monday’s Faculty Senate resolution references leadership changes, and says faculty were not properly involved in them.
“Over the past five years, we cannot recall the removal of ANY Academic Officer that has involved significant faculty participation,” the resolution says. “They have been dismissed under a shroud of secrecy that prevents holding leadership accountable for any decision that is made.”
Seidel in a Thursday letter to the faculty senators attributed some of the outrage against him to Wyoming’s public-meeting laws, which call for officials to discuss personnel matters in private.
“I am bound by law, and out of respect for former CEPS Dean Wright, not to discuss any specifics of the Board of Trustees action that removed him from his role as Dean,” wrote Seidel. “Even if I would like to highlight other sides of this story that are not public, I cannot comment any further.”
He briefly mentioned the faculty senators’ earlier statements that there had been intimidation and threats amid Warren’s demotion.
“I have not heard any concerns about my behavior and do not recall any such event, but I am open to discussing it,” he wrote, adding that he became involved in bringing in a new dean after hearing from faculty, staff and students for many hours over the 2023-2024 school year.
Cowboy State Daily dispatched a request for comment to every member of the Board of Trustees on Friday, to which none have responded with comment.
Just The Catalyst
But the more recent catalyst for the no-confidence vote appears to be Seidel’s involvement in the August 2024 formation of a memorandum of understanding meant to siphon $500,000 in annual money designated to elevate the performance of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (CEPS) to the School of Computing, amid efforts to pull the computing school from the engineering college and make it a standalone institution.
Seidel’s romantic partner Gabrielle Allen was named director of the School of Computing in 2022. She has since signaled she will leave that position at the start of the 2025-2026 academic term.
Wright did not sign the MOU.
He stood “on these principles” to keep the funds in the CEPS as the Legislature intended, according to a letter state Sen. Chris Rothfuss and Rep. Karlee Provenza, both Democratic delegates of Laramie, wrote at the time to Gov. Mark Gordon. Rothfuss told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that Seidel was passionate about improving the School of Computing, but that the "Tier 1" money of which the $500,000 was a part was meant specifically to launch the engineering college into nationally-renowned levels of excellence.
The lawmakers warned Gordon at the time that Wright could suffer retaliation for his refusal.
A Big Back-And-Forth
In response to UW’s official statements about his involvement in the September funding controversy, Carman bristled in a Monday email to Seidel, Faculty Senate Executive Committee Chair Ray Fertig and Brown, saying UW misled the news media.
It is technically true, as UW said, that Carman asked Wright to sign a memorandum of understanding that would siphon the $500,000 to the School of Computing.
He drafted the MOU; Seidel and Vice President for Budget and Finance Alex Kean reviewed and approved it. On Aug. 28, Carman sent the email to Wright and Director Allen with the MOU attached, asking for their signatures, Carman wrote.
Wright did not sign the MOU.
UW told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that Carman and Seidel both “clarified” that Wright did not have to sign the MOU.
On Tuesday, UW sent the Sept. 19 email referencing Carman’s supposed clarification to Cowboy State Daily as an attachment and said Carman was consulted on that.
In what has now become a back-and-forth between Carman and Baldwin, through Cowboy State Daily, Carman conversely told the outlet that he made no such clarification — though he confirmed he was cc’d on the Sept. 19 email — and that he was not consulted. Rather, he was surprised when other university leaders changed course on trying to get Wright to sign the MOU, he said.
“I WAS DIRECTED BY THE PRESIDENT NOT TO DISCUSS MATTERS RELATED TO THE CEPS AND I HONORED THAT DIRECTION,” wrote Carman, in all-caps, in a Tuesday email to Cowboy State Daily.
Regarding Carman’s having nothing to do with changing course on whether Wright had to sign the MOU, Carman wrote: “I STAND BY MY STATEMENT.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
