PERRYSBURG – The Owens Community College faculty association has taken a non-confidence vote in college leadership.
In a May 17 vote, 86% of the members of the Owens Faculty Association voted no confidence in the board of trustees, President Dione Somerville and Jeff Ganues, the vice president of business affairs and chief financial officer.
There are approximately 150 members in the OFA.
“It is our intent that the board of trustees, the president, and the vice president of business affairs/CFO understand that we are willing, enthusiastic and creative partners for solutions, but that we are unable to trust you. Change must occur for us to succeed in these challenging times,” wrote OFA President Paul Adams in a letter sent to college leadership on Tuesday.
“First of all, our outstanding faculty are one of the best things about Owens,” Somerville said in a statement. “The current faculty union leadership has pushed for no-confidence votes against every single Owens administration for the last 14 years, and that’s their choice.
“I remain committed to building upon our successes for our students and the community and I’m excited about our increasing enrollment and the success of our students, and I can’t wait to see those who join us for summer term or later this fall,” she said.
This is the fifth no-confidence vote in 14 years for the faculty association.
The first one was against President Christa Adams in 2009, then against President Mike Bower in 2015; against the board and college administration in 2016 when Bower was still president; and against the board in 2018 when Steve Robinson was president.
Somerville was named president in June 2021.
An internal investigation was started in August regarding allegations of sexual discrimination and retaliation by Somerville and Ganues against a former female vice president.
Special counsel and the Office of the Attorney General reviewed the complaint and recommended it and all allegations be dismissed.
The final investigation reports clearly show that the college is in a state of dysfunction due to a non-responsive board of trustees, a president with serious leadership and management issues, and a vice president with anger issues, Paul Adams wrote in an email sent to college leadership on May 13 alerting them to the upcoming vote.
Somerville responded with a campus-wide email on May 15, in which she said “every employee at Owens has the responsibility to make sure that we have a culture of trust, respect, and accountability. The current leadership team, including me, is committed to assuring that our college culture is one that our students and our community deserve.”
She said she believes that the current senior staff will provide the leadership, collaboration and partnership to help achieve institutional success.
Adams said in a Tuesday email that for the past few years he and many faculty have felt increasingly disheartened at the state of the college.
“The administration has repeatedly urged faculty and staff to set aside their criticisms and complaints to come together to address various crises — but this appeal has been used as a distraction, in effect a tactic to squelch dissent. Because our leaders employ a top-down approach that lacks transparency, there is no opportunity for employees to come together for a common good. Instead, we careen from crisis to crisis,” Adams wrote.
Rather than use the knowledge and experience of faculty, and work with them to create things like effective enrollment plans and viable curricular decisions, the administration has delayed sharing information and failed to solicit input in a timely manner. This has resulted in poorly conceived paper solutions to systemic problems, Adams wrote.
The vote is not a sign of lack of confidence in Owens, its students, mission or the college community, which the members of the OFA vehemently support, he wrote.
It is an attempt to check some of the more egregious actions of the administration, and to alert the board of trustees to the need to hire and support a truly academic president who has the faculty-based experience to truly grasp the “big picture” that this administration so often touts, Adams wrote.
“The board of trustees have full confidence in Dr. Dione Somerville and her team as they have done an exceptional job at Owens Community College,” said board Chair Sherina Ohanian in a prepared statement. “The progress we have seen under her leadership is evident by positive events that are happening at the college. It is disappointing to see the unfounded negative communications from one of the unions on campus.
“The dedication of Dr. Somerville and the entire Owens team are important to the success of Owens Community College. The president, administration, faculty and staff are what our college needs as we look to the opportunities ahead,” Ohanian said.
